Nationalist inclusion or emancipatory identity? north korean women in japan

—This article considers the structure in which women’s gendered identity is subsumed under nationalist identity formed around the notion of patriotic-patriarchy. By focusing on the case of Korean women in Japan, who regard themselves as North Korea’s overseas nationals, this article examines how women’s emancipatory identity was connected to their positive redefinition of “patriotic motherhood” within the limits of nationalist discourse. Especially in the process of decolonization and self-identification as North Korea’s nationals overseas, which was done largely by way of learning the public language given by the North Korean organization in Japan, women secured their position in joining the public life of nationalist cause. By taking an historical perspective, the article considers how language of emancipation shifts from the process of decolonization, with a potentially serious gap between the demise of “patriotic motherhood” and the rise of a new form of gendered identity, to a more decentered terrain of postcolonial everyday life found among the younger generation.