The Dual Effect of COVID-19 on Intergroup Conflict in the Korean Peninsula

• Author: Nimrod Nir,Eran Halperin,Juhwa Park
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00220027221107088
• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Date: 01 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Journal of Conf‌lict Resolution

2022, Vol. 66(10) 1908–1930

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/00220027221107088

journals.sagepub.com/home/jcr

The Dual Effect of COVID-19

on Intergroup Conf‌lict in the

Korean Peninsula

Nimrod Nir

1

, Eran Halperin

1

and Juhwa Park

2

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally shifted the way human beings interact,

both as individuals and groups, in the face of such a widespread outbreak. This paper

seeks to investigate the effects of COVID-19 on intergroup emotions and attitudes

within an intractable intergroup conf‌lict, specif‌ically, through the lens of the Korean

conf‌lict. Using a two-wave, cross-sectional design, this study was able to track the

profound psychological changes in intergroup emotions and attitudes both prior to the

pandemic and during its onslaught. Results of these two wave representative samples

show that South Korean citizens demonstrated higher levels of fear of their neighbors

in North Korea after the outbreak of COVID-19 than before. In turn, this led to

increased societal support of hostile government policies towards North Koreans.

Conversely, the same participants exhibited higher levels of empathy towards North

Koreans during the pandemic, which led to a higher willingness to collaborate with

their outgroup. This dual effect on intergroup emotions within intractable conf‌licts

brings forth new avenues from which societies may be able to restrain the destructive

inf‌luence of the COVID-19 threat on intergroup relations —as well as harvesting its

constructive potential for reconciling warring intergroup relations.

Keywords

COVID-19, conf‌lict, Korea, international cooperation, conf‌lict resolution, Intergroup,

Group Based Emotions

1

Faculty of Social Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

2

Korea Institute for National Unif‌ication, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Corresponding Author:

Nimrod Nir, Faculty of Social Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scoop, Jerusalem, 91905,

Israel.

Email: NimrodN@thebrief.co.il

The Dual Effect of COVID-19 on Intergroup Conf‌lict in the

Korean Peninsula

1

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a serious threat to the health and wellbeing of hu-

manity, with the full extent of its ripple effects stillunknown. Beyond its inf‌luence on

various aspects of our lives such as in health and economy, the pandemic may alsosee

dramatic effectson relations between groups withinan intractable conf‌lict. Such conf‌licts

usually involve members of warring groups who have already—without the added

impetus of coronavirus—experienced a variety of both psychical and psychological

threats that stem from the very nature of violent, chronic disputes (Coleman 2003). In

order to cope with such threats, group members adopt socio-psychological beliefs,

emotions and attitudes aimed at preserving their wellbeing and positive self-image

(Bar-Tal and Halperin 2011). While these constructs may be effective in helping

individuals cope with a threatening reality, they also act as powerful barriers that

stand in the way of intergroup reconciliation (Halperin 2015).

Exploring the inf‌luence of external threats on intergroup relations is a major crusade

for social scientists, given that tragic outcomes of intractable intergroup conf‌licts are

not conf‌ined to warring groups alone, but may spread to threaten and undermine

international stability. In light of this, this study seeks to reveal the implications of

COVID-19 on intergroup emotions and, in turn, on citizens’attitudes relating to in-

tergroup escalation and reconciliation, using the divided Korean peninsula as a

litmus test.

The main question driving the current work is whether external threat such as the

COVID-19 outbreak, may lead to both constructive (i.e. intergroup cooperation) and

destructive (i.e. intergroup hostility) intergroup outcomes, and whether those seem-

ingly contradicting effects are mediated by social identif‌ication and intergroup

emotions –in the context of the Korean peninsula.

Intergroup Conf‌licts in the Face of COVID19

Threatening events can substantially inf‌luence attitudes and behaviors (Heine et al.

2006;Xu and McGregor 2018), as they generate ‘compensatory responses’(Brandt and

Crawford 2020;Jonas et al. 2014) such as cognitions, emotions and behavioral shifts in

both personal and social contexts. These responses provide individuals with some relief

from anxiety and uncertainty (Mirisola et al. 2014),butatthesametimemayalsoun-

dermine more tolerant attitudes towards outgroups (Van Bavel et al. 2020). On the other

hand, external threats may not always lead to pejorative behaviors towards outgroups.

When faced with collective danger and threat (e.g. shared enemy), people sometimes

demonstrate a tendency to seek aff‌iliation and proximity, express mutual aid, and act

collaboratively, suggesting that one possible collective response to the pandemic may also

be alliance when under threat (Adam-Troian and bagci 2020;Bodenhausen et al. 2000).

Thus, social psychological theories regarding people’s reactions to threats, such as

COVID-19, can be generally divided into two classif‌ications (Cruwys et al. 2020); with

Nir et al. 1909