London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Chong Yagyong: Korea’s Challenge to Orthodox Neo-Confucianism

From the publisher’s website: Describes the historical background and philosophy of the reform-minded, eighteenth-century Korean thinker, Chong Yagyong. During the last decade, Chong Yagyong, also known as Tasan, the eighteenth-century Korean thinker who dared attack the hallowed orthodoxy of his dynasty, has become a household name in Korea. In this study, the first ever in … [Read More]

Big Business, Strong State: Collusion and Conflict in South Korean Development, 1960-1990

From the publisher’s website: Focuses on the paradox of development in the newly industrializing country of South Korea. This book debunks the rosy success story about South Korean economic development by analyzing how the state and businesses formed an alliance, while excluding labor, in order to attain economic development, and how these three entities were … [Read More]

Peasant Protest and Social Change in Colonial Korea

The period from 1876 to 1946 in Korea marked a turbulent time when the country opened its market to foreign powers, became subject to Japanese colonialism, and was swept into agricultural commercialization, industrialization, and eventually postcolonial revolutionary movements. Gi-Wook Shin examines how peasants responded to these events, and to their own economic and political circumstances, … [Read More]

Buddhism in the Early Choson: Suppression and Transformation

From the publisher’s website: Contrary to the Buddhism in the Koryo period, Buddhism in the early Choson period suffered from a great deal of suppression. The society was dominated by the Confucian elite and there was little power or financial resources available to the Buddhists. The monasteries were struggling. Nevertheless, out of this community, came … [Read More]

Sources of Korean Tradition: Volume One: From Early Times Through the Sixteenth Century

From the back cover: Drawn from Peter H. Lee’s Sourcebook of Korean Civilization, Volume One, this abridged introductory collection offers students and general readers primary readings in the social, intellectual, and religious traditions of Korean from ancient times through the sixteenth century. Sources of Korean Tradition is arranged according to the major epochs of Korean … [Read More]

Echoes of the Past, Epics of Dissent: A South Korean Social Movement

From the publisher’s website: Echoes of the Past, Epics of Dissent, the story of a South Korean social movement, offers a window to a decade of tumultuous social protest in a postcolonial, divided nation. Abelmann brings a dramatic chapter of modern Korean history to life—a period in which farmers, student activists, and organizers joined to … [Read More]

Sourcebook of Korean Civilization: Volume 2: From the Seventeenth Century to the Modern Period

From the publisher’s website: This is the most comprehensive and authoritative English-language anthology of primary source material on Korean civilization ever assembled. Encompassing social, intellectual, religious, and literary traditions, this volume covers the seventeenth century to the modern period. Contemporary histories, social documents, Buddhist scripture, philosophical treatises, and popular literature selected for this book reflect … [Read More]

Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyongwon and the Late Choson Dynasty

Seventeenth-century Korea was a country in crisis—successive invasions by Hideyoshi and the Manchus had rocked the Choson dynasty (1392-1910), which already was weakened by maladministration, internecine bureaucratic factionalism, unfair taxation, concentration of wealth, military problems, and other ills. Yu Hyongwon (1622–1673, pen name, Pan’gye), a recluse scholar, responded to this time of chaos and uncertainty … [Read More]

The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong

Lady Hyegyong’s memoirs, which recount the chilling murder of her husband by his father, form one of the best known and most popular classics of Korean literature. From 1795 until 1805 Lady Hyegyong composed this masterpiece, depicting a court life Shakespearean in its pathos, drama, and grandeur. Presented in its social, cultural, and historical contexts, … [Read More]

Buddhism in Koryo: A Royal Religion

In this volume, we catch glimpses of Buddhism in the Koryo period at its height. It was a time when the religion made significant contributions to the development of Korean culture. Art and literature flourished under the support of the central government. Monasteries of great beauty were constructed, and the monastic community was productive in … [Read More]

Korean Adoption and Inheritance: Case Studies in the Creation of a Classic Confucian Society

The cases in Korean adoption and inheritance reveal steps in the transition called “Confucianization” that took place mostly in the seventeenth century. The transition from partible inheritance, equally divided between sons and daughters, to primogeniture; the attempt to use soja as heirs; the movement toward agnatic adoption as the way to provide an heir when … [Read More]

A History of Korea

“Go with me to a land whose life for ages has been a mystery”, wrote a 19th-century visitor to Korea, “a land which from time unknown has kept aloof, whose people might have been the denizens of another planet”. He may not have known that in the 4th century AD they had controlled much of … [Read More]

The Naked Tree

A coming-of-age novel set during the Korean War, by Park Wan-Suh, one of Korea’s leading contemporary writers. The award-winning author of more than twenty novels, and numerous short stories and essays, Park often deals with the themes of Korean War tragedies, middle-class values, and women’s issues. The novel is rich with scenes of cultural clashes, … [Read More]

South Korea’s Minjung Movement: The Culture and Politics of Dissidence

From the publisher’s website: The minjung (people’s) movement stood at the forefront of the June 1987 nationwide tide that swept away the military in South Korea and opened up space for relatively democratic politics, a more responsible economy, and new directions in culture. This volume is the first in English to grapple specifically with the nature of … [Read More]

The Clan Records

Publisher’s description: Although little known in the West, Kajiyama Toshiyuki was one of Japan’s most prolific and popular writers. Celebrated for his crisp, fast-paced style and incisive analysis, Kajiyama’s popularity may be attributed to his finely tuned sense of what many Japanese felt but could not articulate: the feeling of irreplaceable loss that lay beneath … [Read More]

True Stories of the Korean Comfort Women

From the back cover: Between 100,000 and 200,000 women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military between the early 1930s and 1945. Yet successive post-war Japanese governments have refused to acknowledge what took place and no reparations have been made to the mainly Korean victims. The international community, in awe of Japan’s economic … [Read More]