How peace narratives avoid or invoke ontological insecurity: South Korean language games about building peace with North Korea

This article contributes to scholarship on ontological security’s role in conflict by investigating, through the case of South Korea, how and when ontological insecurity arises during peacebuilding. Peace processes inevitably involve reconfigurations of who ‘we’ are, where we are from, and where we are going. Through an analysis of narratives of key constituents, this article demonstrates that when agreement in language is reached and put into use in conflict related ‘components’ (challenging, humanizing, recognizing, and envisioning), destabilizing prevailing relationships does not lead to ontological insecurity. This is possible when constituting peace narrative elements buttress ontological security by other means. The article demonstrates how redrawing narrative boundaries by challenging conflict narratives and humanizing the other during incipient stages of redefining relationships creates a new context. It then becomes possible to construct narratives that recognize the other and envision a peaceful future. Gaining support and maintaining broad participation in the language of peace narratives, is crucial to overcoming contesting interpretations that collapse intersubjective understanding and create ontological insecurity, imperiling peacebuilding.