Brian Reynolds Myers (born 1963), usually cited as B. R. Myers, is an American professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea, best known for his writings on North Korean propaganda. He is a contributing editor for The Atlantic and an opinion columnist for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Myers is the author of Han Sŏrya and North Korean Literature (Cornell, 1994), A Reader's Manifesto (Melville House, 2002), The Cleanest Race (Melville House, 2010), and North Korea's Juche Myth (Sthele Press, 2015).
Early life and education Myers was born in New Jersey, near Fort Dix. His mother is British, and his father was a U.S. Army officer from Pennsylvania who served in South Korea as a military chaplain, often helping out local orphans. Myers is also a descendant of John F. Reynolds though his father.
Myers spent his childhood in Bermuda and his high school youth in apartheid-era South Africa, and received graduate education in West Berlin during the early 1980s, occasionally visiting East Germany. He earned an MA degree in Soviet studies at Ruhr University (1989) and a PhD degree in Korean studies with a focus on North Korean literature at the University of Tübingen (1992). Myers subsequently taught German in Japan and worked for a Mercedes-Benz liaison office in Beijing during the mid-1990s.Karen K. Smith. “KS Contact Info for Brian Myers?” KoreaWeb.ws. 20 November 1998. (Retrieved February 1, 2010)
Career Before his appointment at Dongseo University, Myers lectured in North Korean literature and society at the Korea University's North Korean Studies Department.북한학과 (Puk’an hakkwa; North Korean Studies Department). Korea University. (Retrieved February 1, 2010) He also taught globalization and North Korean literature at the Inje University Korean Studies Department.2006학년도 1학기 강연내용 (2006 School Year First Semester Lecture Content). Korea University. (Retrieved February 1, 2010)
Journalism Opinion columns Myers's opinion columns for the Atlantic, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal generally focus on North Korea, which he says is not a Marxist-Leninist or a Stalinist state, but a "national-socialist country."“The Constitution of Kim Jong Il.” Wall Street Journal. 1 October 2009. (Retrieved February 1, 2010) He has also commented in The New York Times on the common view of the ROKS Cheonan sinking in South Korea with regard to its perception of North Korea. He stated that there was a lack of outrage over the incident among South Koreans due to the racialized nature of Korean nationalism; in other words, there was no major uproar over the incident in South Korea because of the concept of racial solidarity with the North Koreans that many South Koreans feel, which Myers said overruled patriotism towards South Korea in many cases. Myers stated that inter-Korean racial solidarity manifests itself by South Koreans supporting the North Korean soccer team at the FIFA World Cup and such. He contrasted the racialized nature of South Korean nationalism with the civic nature of U.S. nationalism, stating that South Korea's antipathy over attacks by North Korea was potentially dangerous to the national security of the South Korean state:
Book reviews His book reviews have included denunciations of American historian Bruce Cumings“Mother of All Mothers: The Leadership Secrets of Kim Jong Il.” Atlantic. September 2004. (Retrieved February 1, 2010) (who he says is an admirer of the North Korean regime), American author Toni Morrison, (Retrieved February 1, 2010) American author Denis Johnson,B. R. Myers. “A Bright Shining Lie.” Atlantic. December 2007 (Retrieved February 1, 2010) South Korean novelist Hwang Sok-yong,B. R. Myers. “The Caged Bird Sings.” New York Times. 8 September 2008. (Retrieved February 1, 2010) and American author Jonathan Franzen.B. R. Myers. “Smaller Than Life Atlantic. October 2010 (Retrieved October 15, 2011)
Books
Myers' Han Sŏrya and the North Korean literature: The Failure of Socialist Realism in the DPRK (1994) was adapted from his 1992 dissertation at the University of Tübingen and published as the sixty-ninth volume of the Cornell East Asia Series. (Retrieved February 1, 2010)
A Reader’s Manifesto: An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose (2002) was developed from his critical review essay of the same name published in the Atlantic in 2001.
The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters (2010) is a discussion of North Korean propaganda, contending that North Korea under Kim Jong Il was guided by a "paranoid, race-based nationalism with roots in Japanese fascism."“Book Discussion with Author B. R. Myers.” North Korea International Documentation Project. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. (Retrieved February 1, 2010) Myers asserts that the North Korean political system is not based on communism or Stalinism, and he contends that the official Juche idea is a sham ideology for foreign consumption and intended to establish Kim Il Sung's credentials as a thinker alongside Mao Zedong. Myers also claims that post-Cold War attempts to understand North Korea as a Confucian patriarchy, based on the filial piety of Kim Jong Il and the dynastic transfer of power from his father, are misguided and that the North Korean leadership is maternalist rather than paternalist.
Myers furthers his argument about the status of Juche as a non-ideology in his book North Korea's Juche Myth (2015). According to his own account, promoting him to write the book was the realization he was making "not the slightest bit of headway" with The Cleanest Race in challenging the conventional wisdom about Juche in the academia. North Korea's Juche Myth develops a three-pronged categorization of North Korean propaganda. Some works are in the "inner track", meant for North Korean eyes only. Others are in the "outer track", meant primarily for North Korean consumption but mindful of the fact that foreigners can access them too. "Export track" propaganda specifically targets foreigners.
Reception Myers's book The Cleanest Race has been challenged by several academic critics.Charles K. Armstrong, "Trends in the Study of North Korea," Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 70, 2011; and Suzy Kim, "(Dis)orienting North Korea," Critical Asian Studies, Vol. 42, No. 3, September 2010. Charles K. Armstrong, then of Columbia University, suggested that the book "gives an intellectual gloss to attitudes many in the West already have about the DPRK".Charles K. Armstrong, "Trends in the Study of North Korea," Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 70, 2011, p 360. Felix Abt, a Swiss business affairs specialist who lived in North Korea for seven years, describes Myers' claims in The Cleanest Race as "flawed" and "shaky". Abt wrote that it was "rather absurd" to describe Juche as "window-dressing" for foreigners.
South Korean literary critic Yearn Hong Choi also regards the thesis of Myers's Han Sŏrya and North Korean Literature as erroneous:
Tatiana Gabroussenko points out that Myers is the only Western academic who thinks that North Korean literature does not have the hallmarks of socialist realism.
Scholar Andrei Lankov favorably reviewed The Cleanest Race as taking a "fresh approach" on North Korea.Andrei Lankov. Review of The Cleanest Race. Far Eastern Economic Review. 4 December 2010. (Retrieved February 1, 2010) Lankov also says Myers's work is "informative" but is not sure whether his thesis has any relation to reality.
Historian Suzy Kim criticized Myers's methodology, arguing that the overriding problem throughout his book is a flawed translation. She criticized Myers's race theory when analyzing inter-Korean (especially North Korean) politics; while he translates the word mimjok (민족; 民族), which means nation or ethnic group in Korean language, as the "race", but minjok and "race" are not synonymous. In Korean, the synonym for 'race' is injong (인종; 人種), rather than minjok.
Myers's North Korea's Juche Myth was favorably reviewed by Jan Blinka and Balazs Szalontai.Jan Blinka, "Brian R. Myers, North Korea's Juche Myth," Czech Journal of Political Science, No. 1 (2017), pp. 74-76; Balazs Szalontai, "North Korea’s Juche Myth," Chugoku 21, No. 46 (2017), pp. 163–168.
Scholar Pak Noja, also known as Vladimir Tikhonov, a Soviet-born Korean activist and historian, criticized Myers, commenting that had the academic rigor of overseas Koreanology had been a little bit higher, his work would have clearly been established as a non-academic, somewhat amateurish historical revisionist attempt like The Comfort Women of the Empire. He points out that the content of his book, regardless of Myers' inclinations, is so detached from a balanced account of historical facts that citing it can lead one into confusion.
Personal life and politics Myers is married to a South Korean woman, Myung-hee Myers. He lives and teaches in South Korea, where he moved to in September 2001. During the late 1990s, he lived in Valencia County, New Mexico.A 2015 interview with B.R. Myers on Notebook on Cities and Culture Politically, Myers is a supporter of the Green Party of the United States and animal rights. Myers can speak Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, and German. He is a vegan.
South Korea politics
Despite his progressive view of American politics, he is often regarded as a "conservative" in South Korea because he has a critical view of the "nationalist-left" political views of South Korean liberals and progressives. In a December 2014 interview with conservative Munhwa Ilbo, Myers identified himself as a "conservative and staunch anti-North Korea". He opposes anti-Japanese/anti-imperialist Korean [ethnic] nationalism () and advocates anti-communist South Korean [state] nationalism (). According to the Hankyoreh, a left-leaning media outlet in 2011, Myers was described as having a "typical view of American conservatism".“북한은 극단적 민족주의…극좌보다 극우”. 한겨레 (2011. 12. 06).
South Korean liberals and progressives support the view that the Republic of Korea (South Korea) was founded in 1919, when the Provisional Government was established, not 1948, the official establishment of the South Korea government. In contrast, South Korean conservatives recognize Aug. 15, 1948, as the 'founding day' of the Republic of Korea. Myers supported the position of South Korean conservatives by expressing the view that August 15, 1948, should be commemorated by enacting the founding anniversary.“北도발에도 조용… 한국인엔 ‘민족’만 있고 ‘국가’는 없다”. 문화일보 (2014. 12. 19). Also, he argues that honor of Syngman Rhee, the 'founding president' (건국 대통령) must be restored, rather than that of minjok independence activist Kim Gu;Brian Reynolds Myers - "사랑받지 못하는 공화국" [The Unloved Republic] (2024-02-08). p. 59–66. "유신정권에 전체주의라는 딱지를 가져다 붙이는 것에 대해서는 논의할 가치도 없지만 사실 나는 국가주의라는 딱지도 그리 정확하지 않다고 본다. ... [그들이] 북한이 끈임없이 전복시키려는 대한민국을 지키기에 가장 적합한 방법이 민족주의를 부추기는 것이라고 생각했다는 점이다. 그 이유로 일본과의 관계 정상화를 위해 노력하는 와중에도 전국 곳곳에 이순신장군 동상을 세웠고 건국 대통령 이승만의 명예를 회복시키는 대신 독립 운동가 김구를 민족의 지도자로 내세웠다." [There is no point in debating labeling the Yushin regime as totalitarian, but in fact, I also do not think the label 'state-nationalism' is entirely accurate. ... [They] believed that the most suitable way to protect South Korea, which North Korea was relentlessly trying to overthrow, was to incite minjok-nationalism. For that reason, even while striving to normalize relations with Japan, statues of Admiral Yi Sun-sin were erected across the country, and instead of restoring the honor of Syngman Rhee, the founding great leader, independence activist Kim Gu was presented as the leader of the minjok.] in South Korea, Rhee is known as a right-wing anti-communist "state nationalist" dictator, because Rhee prioritized state (국가) over minjok (민족).