From the publisher’s website: In recent decades, Korean communication and media have substantially grown to become some of the most significant segments of Korean society. Since the early 1990s, Korea has experienced several distinctive changes in its politics, economy, and technology, which are directly related to the development of local media and culture. Korea has … [Read More]
Archives: Books (page 57)
Protesting America: Democracy and the U.S.-Korea Alliance
From the publisher’s website: When the U.S.-Korea military alliance began to deteriorate in the 2000s, many commentators blamed “anti-Americanism” and nationalism, especially among younger South Koreans. Challenging these assumptions, this book argues that Korean activism around U.S. relations owes more to transformations in domestic politics, including the decentralization of government, the diversification and politics of … [Read More]
America’s Man in Korea: The Private Letters of George C. Foulk, 1884-1887
From the publisher’s website: America’s Man in Korea is the story of America’s initial involvement in Korea as told through the private family letters of U.S. Navy ensign George Clayton Foulk, Washington’s representative in Seoul in the mid-1880s. “The Hermit Kingdom,” as Korea was known, was no ordinary diplomatic posting at this time. Emerging from centuries … [Read More]
Diplomacy, Trade, and South Korea’s Rise to International Influence
From the publisher’s website: This volume details how the diplomatic successes of South Korean presidents removed the country from the international isolation it experienced in the aftermath of the Korean War and also provided the necessary international connections for the expansions of international trade it experienced. Patterson and Choi explain how diplomacy then was the … [Read More]
Minor Transpacific: Triangulating American, Japanese, and Korean Fictions
There is a tendency to think of Korean American literature—and Asian American literature writ large—as a field of study involving only two spaces, the United States and Korea, with the same being true in Asian studies of Korean Japanese (Zainichi) literature involving only Japan and Korea. This book posits that both fields have to account … [Read More]
Class Struggle or Family Struggle? The Lives of Women Factory Workers in South Korea
From the publisher’s website: This study complements the burgeoning literature on South Korean economic development by considering it from the perspective of young female factory workers. In approaching development from this position, Kim explores the opportunity and exploitation that development has presented to female workers and humanizes the notion of the ‘Korean economic miracle’ by … [Read More]
Future Yet to Come: Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Modern Korea
South Korea is home to cutting-edge electronics, state-of-the-art medical facilities, and ubiquitous high-speed internet. The country’s meteoric rise from the ashes of the Korean War (1950–1953) to rank among the world’s most technologically advanced societies is often attributed to state-led promotion of science and technology in nation-building projects. With chapters that discuss Korea’s dynastic past, … [Read More]
Rights Claiming in South Korea
From the publisher’s website: Although rights-based claims are diversifying and opportunities and resources for claims-making have improved, obtaining rights protections and catalysing social change in South Korea remain challenging processes. This volume examines how different groups in South Korea have defined and articulated grievances and mobilized to remedy them. It explores developments in the institutional … [Read More]
Introduction to Korean Law
From the publisher’s website: As a result of globalization, the barriers between countries are coming down. There is more interaction between countries than ever and mutual understanding and communication have become essential considerations. In such an atmosphere, the Korea Legislation Research Institute has published this book to spread awareness of outstanding Korean law and of … [Read More]
The Spirit of Korean Law: Korean Legal History in Context
From the publisher’s website: This is the first book on Korean legal history in English written by a group of leading scholars from around the world. The chapters set forth the developments of Korean law from the Chosŏn to colonial and modern periods through the examination of codified laws, legal theories and practices, and jurisprudence. … [Read More]
Law and Custom in Korea: Comparative Legal History
From the publisher’s website: This book sets forth the evolution of Korea’s law and legal system from the Chosǒn dynasty through the colonial and postcolonial modern periods. This is the first book in English that comprehensively studies Korean legal history in comparison with European legal history, with particular emphasis on customary law. Korea’s passage to … [Read More]
De-Bordering Korea: Tangible and Intangible Legacies of the Sunshine Policy
From the publisher’s website: As tensions remain on the Korean peninsula, this book looks back on the decade of improved inter-Korean relations and engagement between 1998 and 2008, now known as the ‘Sunshine Policy’ era. Moving beyond traditional economic and political perspectives, it explores how this decade of intensified cooperation both affected and reshaped existing … [Read More]
Politics and Leadership in North Korea: The Guerilla Dynasty
From the publisher’s website: Politics and Leadership in North Korea, now fully updated in this second edition, presents an accessible and comprehensive account of North Korea’s political, economic and foreign policies since its creation in 1945. Moving away from media representations of North Korea as dangerously erratic and dysfunctional, Adrian Buzo provides a thorough analysis … [Read More]
Massive Entanglement, Marginal Influence: Carter and Korea in Crisis
From the publisher’s website: Using extensive documentation, this book examines how President Jimmy Carter’s troop withdrawal and human rights policies—conceived in abstraction from East Asian realities—contributed to the demise of Korean President Park Chung Hee. The author suggests that some lessons are relevant beyond Korea, for example, in our treatment of human rights problems in … [Read More]
Korea On The Brink: A Memoir of Political Intrigue and Military Crisis
In October 1979, a series of potentially catastrophic events was set into motion: President Park Chung-hee was assassinated, South Korean officers staged a coup d’état, and South Korean troops brutally suppressed civilian demonstrators during the controversial Kwangju uprising. Any one of these incidents could have sparked another major conflict on the Korean Peninsula. General Wickham … [Read More]
South Korean Democracy: Legacy of the Gwangju Uprising
From the publisher’s website: This new book offers a retrospective appraisal of the Gwangju Uprising by academics, activists and artists from Gwangju, Korea. In 1980, South Koreans took to the streets to demand democracy. When the military threatened brutal suppression of the popular movement, only in Gwangju did people refuse to submit. After horrific bloodshed, … [Read More]