The Production of Mt. Geumgang as a “Second Nature” through Discussions on the Designation of Geumgangsan National Park by Japanese Empire

Abstract

This article traces the production of Mt. Geumgang as a “second nature” by recasting the time and space of Mt. Geumgang during the colonial period with the lens of “Geumgangsan national park.” Social forces and actors materially constructed Mt. Geumgang through the process of designating Geumgangsan as a national park. In the 1910s and 1920s, there were voices calling for the designation of Geumgangsan national park and the accompanying spatial changes, but the production of Mt. Geumgang as a “second nature” began in earnest in 1931 with the Plan for the Landscape of Mt. Geumgang by the Forestry Department of the Government-General of Korea (GGK). This plan was implemented after the establishment of the Diamond Mountains Association in 1932. In the wake of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, the Plan for the Landscape of Mt. Geumgang was succeeded by the Plan on Mt. Geumgang Sightseeing Facilities by the Social Education Division of the Bureau of Education of GGK. The Plan for Geumgangsan National Park was operated in multiple layers by social forces and actors related to Mt. Geumgang during the colonial period.