Abstract

This study investigates discursive strategies that North and South Korea recruit in constructing ‘the otherness’ of the common cultural enemy, the United States, regarding the controversy surrounding the movie 007 Die Another Day. The findings of this study indicate that both North and South Korea successfully construct negative representations of their mutual opponent, who is reiteratively embedded in the following lexical items: the US, America, Hollywood, the movie, and the James Bond film. In so doing, North and South Korea establish a bond despite their political and ideological disagreements. However, the arguments presented by North and South Korea in the discourse of demonizing the enemy differ. North Korea presents a somewhat monolithic critique of the US. It consistently argues that America is plain evil and the US attacks the entire Korean nation. In contrast, the arguments constructed by South Korea range from the political to the cultural. North and South Korea present a unified front in condemning the US, while remaining faithful to their respective political ideologies in building their arguments.