Abstract South Korea has long been looked to as an exemplary case of rapid economic expansion. Further, proponents of the South Korean development model have tended to not only extoll its industrial ascent during the 1960s and 1970s but also herald the fact that its breakneck developmental pace was attained in conjunction with a relatively…
Abstract This paper illustrates the role of Seoul-based researchers within Japan’s efforts to expand fieldwork and scholarship into central Inner Mongolia, and the creation of the puppet state of Mengjiang (Mōkyō) in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Academics based at Keijō Imperial University (the antecedent institution to Seoul National University) made efforts to document…
Abstract The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History in Seoul was first proposed in 2008 by conservative president Lee Myung-bak (Yi Myŏngbak), and opened its doors in late 2012. Its permanent exhibition was criticized as a manifestation of conservative historical narratives. As a result, once progressives regained power, the museum was remodeled, only to see…
Abstract While increasing social inequality and precarity is a common global phenomenon, the ways in which social inequality is felt, perceived, and responded to by young citizens differ from country to country. This paper investigates institutional contexts in which young people in Japan and South Korea make sense of social inequality in different ways: why,…
Abstract This paper explores how the culture of protest in South Korea has changed since the pro-democracy movement against the military authoritarian regime in the 1980s and thereby contextualizes how the routinization of the candlelight vigils from the early 2000s impacts the nation’s politics. Candlelight vigils—outdoor assemblies of people lighting candles after sunset in the…
Abstract The expression N-p’o sedae describes young Koreans who give up everything in their lives because of socio-economic pressures. As the phenomenon of renunciation, especially of marriage and family, persists among young Koreans today, this paper examines how renunciation manifests among them and possible gender-based differences in the phenomenon. The paper, based on a sequentialexploratory……
Abstract Understanding North Korean migrant experiences in South Korea is essential not only for advancing the topic of marginalization of newcomers, but also because it reveals elements of the capitalist economic system overlooked by those who simply emphasize the importance of unification and integration of the new migrants. To assess the life satisfaction of North…
Abstract North Korean ethnic migrant students who are excluded from the South Korean school system often continue their schooling in alternative schools. This paper examines the impact of the hierarchical relationship between teachers and students on the educational engagement of North Korean ethnic migrant students in South Korean classrooms. The study aims to identify classroom…
Abstract South Korea overcame the crisis of democracy in 2016–2017 by a heterarchy of massive candlelight demonstrations in the field of politics and the impeachment of President Park Geun Hye with due process of representative democracy, and renormalized democracy through elections. During the Moon Jae-in presidency, democratic politics had been polarized between rightist and leftist…
Abstract Korean screen culture, including television dramas and film, has rapidly changed in genres and themes over the past several decades. The Korean screen industries have substantially advanced the quality of their local cultural content through diverse strategies; in particular, the diversification of genres and themes. Cultural genres and themes are significant elements because they…