Changes in the Focus of North Korea’s ‘oral literature’ research and 『Oral Literature of Joseon』 by Kim Kwang-jo

This article aims to trace the changes in the focus of “oral literature” research in the flow of North Korean folklore and literature, and reviews Kim Kwang-jo’s 『Oral Literatures of Joseon』(2015) as a work that shows significant changes since the 2000s. North Korea’s research on oral literature seems to have not been in full swing in the 1950s and 1960s under the background that “Joseon folklore” field was established mainly from historical and archaeological perspectives. Since then, as the distinction between the areas of “Joseon folklore” and “Joseon literature” became clear, the discussion of oral literature was transferred from folklore to literature and was mainly dealt with at the literary level until the 2000s. However, since the 2000s, especially in the 2010s, the theoretical review of oral literature has not been revealed, but only popular publications that re-write the work are found, but there is a tendency to discuss oral literature such as tales and legends as research in the folkloric field. Among them, Kim Kwang-jo’s 『Oral Literatures of Joseon』 is a new proposal by Kim Kwang-jo, a folkloric researcher, to reconsider the perspective and area of research in oral literature, showing a new trend in oral literature. As Joseon literature, it suggests the need to study the history and works of folktales in an independent way, away from the boundaries of oral literature studies. This trend shows that research on oral literature in North Korea has been called throughout the era, projecting the premise and orientation of various academic fields. Through this, it will be necessary to comprehensively review the changes in the focus and target of the study between the 1950s-60s and the late 2000s.