We enjoyed Mike Breen’s first book – The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want, Where Their Future Lies – and are currently enjoying this completely new and updated version. It’s full of fascinating detail as well as giving you the big picture.
We were hoping to have written a review by now, but events have got in the way. We promise to have finished the book by the time this interview takes place.
The New Koreans – An interview with the author Michael Breen
Korean Cultural Centre UK
Monday, 12 June 2017, 6:45pm – 9:00pm
BKS Members: Individual and Corporate – £10, Young Person – £5, Non-members: £15
Reserve your place using the BKS booking form or by email to [email protected] giving name, telephone number and names of any guests.Payment to be made by bank transfer to:
Account: Britsh Korean Society | Sort code: 30-98-97 | Account No.: 32827868 | Ref: Your full nameMichael Breen will be interviewed by BKS Treasurer, Chris Hollands, about his new book: The New Koreans: The Business, History and People of South Korea.
There will be a question and answer session and an opportunity to buy signed copies of the book. The evening is followed by a Korean buffet with wine.
Publisher’s Description
In the course of a couple of generations, South Koreans took themselves out of the paddy fields and into Silicon Valley, establishing themselves as a democracy alongside the advanced countries of the world. Yet for all their ambition and achievement, the new Koreans are a curiously self-deprecating people. Theirs is a land with a rich and complex past, certain aspects of which they would prefer to forget as they focus on the future.
Having lived and worked in South Korea for many years, Michael Breen considers what drives the nation today, and where it is heading. Through insightful anecdotes and observations, he provides a compelling portrait of Asia’s most contradictory and polarized country. South Koreans are motivated by defiance, Breen argues: defiance of their antagonistic neighbour, North Korea, of their own history and of international opinion.
Here is an overlooked nation with great drive, determined to succeed on its own terms.
About the Author
Michael Breen is a writer and consultant who first went to Korea as a correspondent in 1982. He covered North and South Korea for several newspapers, including the Guardian, The Times and the Washington Times. He lives in Seoul.
Links:
- Reviews in Financial Times | Times Literary Supplement | British Korean Society
(automatically generated) Read LKL’s review of this event here.
It’s a great book. The potted history of Korea since before Dangun to (almost) Moon Jae-is a brilliant feat of condensation.
An interview in the Korea Times
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/culture/2017/06/142_230909.html