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Missing Keystones: Echoes of Empire in Kobayashi Masaru’s “Bridge Building” International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Nicholas Lambrecht
Postwar writings by and about Japanese repatriates often serve to illustrate the incomplete nature of Japanese decolonization. While the process of repatriation physically removed Japanese colonists from the former empire, it also deferred the necessary process of coming to terms with Japan’s imperial past. This article examines how unresolved memories of empire reemerge in the postwar writings of
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The Conundrum of Queen Min’s Portrait: A Denied or Partial Identity? International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Antonetta L. Bruno,Kukjin Kim
Queen Min (1851-1895) is described in numerous texts including diaries and newspaper articles written by Western, Japanese and Korean authors who lived in Korea between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, she is without visual identity, i.e., facial identity, even though King Kojong (1864-1907) referred to the existence of a portrait. This article holds that visual and non-visual identities
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Remnants of Manshūkoku (Manchukuo): Imamura Eiji, Korean Identity under Japanese Imperialism, and Postcolonial Asian Studies International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Joshua Lee Solomon
This paper takes Imamura Eiji (1911–?) as a case study in developing a theory of minor literary style and pedagogical poetics in Japaneselanguage Manshū literature. At the same time, it grapples with reading Japanese-language Manshū literature with postcolonial reflexivity. Imamura Eiji was an ethnic Korean who was an active participant in the Japanese language literary community of Japan-occupied
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Guest Editor’s Introduction: Japanese Imperialism, Modernity, and Korean History International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Joshua Lee Solomon
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Discontinuities and Discrepancies in the Hybridization Process of Nangnang Culture International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Andrea de Benedittis
This article analyses some “discrepancies” in the development of Nangnang society with a view to finding an alternative historical narrative for the territory, namely one that can explain some processes in Nangnang’s history from the point of view of the local people. In the absence of any records written by contemporaneous inhabitants of Nangnang, we try to examine some discrepancies in the course
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To Realize Our Decolonization: South Korea’s Deployment of Troops to Vietnam International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Dongil Shin
In the 1960s, less than two decades after its liberation, South Korea was still struggling to establish its position in the postwar international order amid waves of decolonization and the Cold War. As a newly independent country, South Korea had one task it considered to be of utmost importance: gaining international recognition by demonstrating its sovereignty to the world. This article focuses on
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The Politicality of Modern Japan: Korea Editions’ Use of Korean Literature International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Natsuko Ozaki
It is well known that the editor of Modern Japan (Modan Nippon), published by Bungei Shunju, was Ma Haesong, a native of the Korean peninsula. Although Modern Japan fell short of attaining the same level of popularity as Kōdansha’s King (Kingu), it reached a broader range of readers than the rival modern magazine New Youth (Shin seinen), associated with the important writers Edogawa Ranpo and Yokomizo
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(Mis)-Interpretations of the 1943 Cairo Conference: The Cairo Communiqué and Its Legacy among Koreans During and After World War II International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2022-02-28 Mark E. Caprio
In December of 1943, three leaders of the Allied forces gathered in Cairo, Egypt to discuss wartime and postwar issues. The Communiqué that they completed in the last of the four-days of meetings, however, reflected issues related to the postwar fate of the Japanese empire, rather than the wartime issues that had dominated their discussions. The rather obtuse phrase, “in due course,” inserted to qualify
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Items of Tributary Gifts (Pangmul 方物) Sent to the Ming Dynasty by Chosŏn and their Changing Trends International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-08-31 Doyoung Koo
This paper examines changes and trends in tributary gifts (pangmul 方物) sent by Chosŏn regular envoys to the Ming Emperor during the 15th and 17th centuries. First, pangmul items sent by the Chosŏn to the Ming were partially inherited from the Koryŏ era. Second, it examines how King Sejong’s 1429 request that the Chosŏn court pay its tribute by means other than gold and silver led the court to offer
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Religion, Business, and Global Visions: An Exploration of South Korea’s Discourse on Halal International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-08-31 Ray Kim
Driven by economic exigencies, the Korean government began to strategize entering the rapidly expanding Islamic economy during the early 2000s. Subsequently, decisions to invest into the global halal market ignited public opposition from Korean evangelicals who rejected the positive economic framing of halal—an Islamic concept most commonly used to inform Muslim dietary laws. Based on fieldwork in
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The Shifting Moral Authority of the Conservative Evangelicals’ Anti-LGBT Movement in South Korea International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-08-31 Wondong Lee
This paper reports on content analysis of the Korean Christian newspaper Kidok Sinmun (1998-2020) with regard to how conservative evangelical elites (CEs) change their discursive resources to construct persuasive appeals against the global LGBT movement. Our findings demonstrate that the CEs focus on different sources of moral authority in response to changing political ideologies of the Korean government
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Joseon Exorcist and the ‘Uncanny Valley’ of Korean Historical Dramas: On the Problems of ‘Distorted’ Representations of History in Korean Popular Culture Products International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-08-31 Kyoung-ryang Ki
It was in March 2021 that SBS, one of the representative private TV broadcasting stations in South Korea, launched a new drama series Joseon Exorcist (Chosŏn kumasa). From the beginning, it was publicized as an ambitious, large-scale project, to be aired in sixteen episodes, with the production budget amounting to 32 billion won (approximately 28 million dollars). Considering that its genre identity
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Seeds of Control: Japan’s Empire of Forestry in Korea. By David Fedman. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020. ix, 292 p [ISBN: 9780295747453] International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-08-31 Anne Whitehouse
Environmental histories of Korea and the Korean landscape remain scant in the English-language scholarly corpus. Studies like David Fedman’s Seeds of Control: Japan’s Empire of Forestry in Colonial Korea represent some of the first book-length contributions (in English) to this emerging field. Fedman’s first monograph makes interdisciplinary contributions that will appeal to scholars across disciplinary
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“We Are Not Foreigners”: Constructing Migrant Subjects through Korean Chinese Migrants’ Claims-Making in South Korea International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-08-31 Yang-Sook Kim,Yi-Chun Chien
In this paper, we approach citizenship as a claims-making process consisting of social construction practices that emerge from ongoing negotiations and contestations. We examine the migrant subject-making process of Korean Chinese migrants in South Korea. We draw on the voices of migrants to discuss how Korean Chinese construct their migrant subjectivity by mobilizing a collective understanding of
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Ideas, Discourse, and the Microfoundations of South Korea’s Diasporic Engagement: Explaining the Institutional Embrace of Ethnic Koreans Since the 1990s International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-08-31 Timothy C. Lim,Changzoo Song
This article endeavors to explain South Korea’s institutional turn to “diaspora engagement,” which began in earnest in the late 1990s. This shift can easily be attributed to instrumentalist calculations on the part of the South Korean state, i.e., as an effort to “tap into” or exploit the human and capital resources of ethnic Koreans living outside of the country. But instrumental calculations and
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Editors’ Introduction: Socio-Cultural and Political Changes in South Korea through a Discursive Lens International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-08-31 Timothy C. Lim,Changzoo Song
It is fair to say that South Korea has been undergoing a lot of changes, both big and small, over the past few decades. One of the most salient is the gradual but still quite noticeable transition from an outwardly homogenous society into a multi-ethnic and multicultural one—that is, into a society that acknowledges, rather than hides, the empirical fact or reality of (growing) ethnic and racial diversity
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Beyond Frontiers and Borderlands: A Reexamination of Tsushima’s/Taema-Do’s Geopolitical Position in Fifteenth Century East Asia International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-02-28 Isaac C.K. Tan
In January 2017, a five-year long dispute over the repatriation of a bronze Buddhist statue that was reportedly stolen from a Buddhist temple in the fishing hamlet of Kozuna, Tsushima, came to a close. Based on historical documents in Buseoksa Temple, the South Korean court ruled that the stolen statue should remain in the possession of the Korean temple as it had been taken by Japanese pirates several
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Mounded Mnemonics: Tumuli and Collective Memory in Old Silla International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-02-28 Sebastian Müller
The monumental and lavishly equipped burial mounds located north of the historical site of Wŏlsŏng Castle in the famous city of Kyŏngju in the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula are among the most prominent archaeological remains of the Silla kingdom (traditionally 57 BCE – 935). Despite being commonly perceived as representative for the kingdom, most of the mounded graves were constructed in
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The Strange Story of Monk Ariyabalma International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-02-28 Maurizio Riotto
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Vicious Desire: The Insect Woman of Kim Kiyoung and Imamura Shōhei International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-02-28 Chungkang Kim
Let’s begin with some images from the films of Kim Kiyoung (19191998) and Imamura Shōhei (1926-2006): animals such as rats, cats, squirrels, pigs, insects, and mostly images of women. [Image 1] As these images show, Kim Kiyoung and Imamura Shōhei are both known as eccentric art house directors with women (that is, gender and sexuality), animals, and the primitive aspects of human beings at the heart
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When the Political Spotlight is On: Social Evaluations of Ri Sŭnggi and Ryǒ Kyǒnggu, Two Chemical Engineers in North Korea International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-02-28 Eunsung Cho
In the history of North Korean chemical engineering, two scientists stand out above all others: Ri Sŭnggi (李升基, 1905-1996) and Ryǒ Kyǒnggu (呂慶九, 1913-1977). Ri and Ryǒ were both born in the southern region of the Korean peninsula, studied in Japan, and returned home after Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945. They were both professors at Seoul National University for some time and then went to the
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Painting the Void: The Instrumentalization of Cartography in Neo-Confucian Chosŏn and Renaissance France through Landscape Painting and Perspective (15th-16th centuries) International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-02-28 Jérémie Eyssette
Maps derive value from the balance between the information their cartographers supply or subtract. When involuntary, absence of data is attributed to negligence or ignorance. When intentional, it tends to connote deceit. Previous studies praised the plethora of entries which points to scientific precocity in Yi Hoe’s (李薈, 1354-1409) P’altodo (八道圖, Map of the Eight Provinces, 1400) and Honil kangni
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Snakes or Ladders? Measuring the Intergenerational Performance of Chosŏn’s Munkwa Exam Candidates International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2021-02-28 Robin Wooyeong Na,Javier Cha
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Editor’s Introduction: Korean Sports History International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-08-31 Seok Lee
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Sport from Imperial Japan to Postcolonial Korea: Dr. Lee Sangbaek and his Participation in the Olympic Movements International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-08-31 Guoxian Jin,Younghan Cho
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Admitting an Attraction: Colonial Villainy, Visuality, and The Handmaiden (2016) as Critique International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-08-31 Keungyoon Bae
2016’s The Handmaiden is unusual among contemporary Korean films for more than one reason. Firstly, we have an explicitly queer, in fact erotically queer narrative from a country where LGBT rights are still very much a point of contention, especially in recent years (although there are grounds for optimism). Secondly, it is a South Korean film that has received a substantial amount of attention from
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Driver of Peace? Ping-Pong Diplomacy on The Korean Peninsula International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-08-31 Brian Bridges
“Table tennis has had a long history as a driver of peace, and we are happy to open a new chapter of table tennis diplomacy to promote peace on the Korean peninsula.” With these dramatic words, Thomas Weikert, President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), welcomed news of a joint Korean women’s doubles team being created in July 2018. Weikert has certainly not been alone in depicting
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A Confucian State and Its Commerce: The Commerce of Early Chosŏn Revisited International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-08-31 Pyeongsik Park
Chosŏn Dynasty has always been a Confucian state as well as an agricultural society. It is only natural that its leaders placed utmost importance on agriculture while restricting commerce, and implemented economic policies in line with these ideas from the founding of the dynasty in 1392. Given that this Confucian state was primarily agrarian, scholars have long understood that the Chosŏn government
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Expansion, Contestation, and Boundary Making: Chosŏn Korea and Ming China’s Border Relations over the Yalu River Region International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-08-31 Jing Liu, Yan Piao
Although the Ming and Chosŏn states recognized the Yalu River (K. Amnok River) as the demarcation of their territories, this boundary was far from a static and distinct line free of controversy and rivalry. Throughout the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, the two governments and their subjects increasingly encountered and interacted on the dotted river islands of the lower reaches of the Yalu River
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Cultivating Settler Colonial Space in Korea: Public Works and the Urban Environment under Japanese Rule International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 Tristan R. Grunow
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Engaging Differences in Chosŏn Korea: A Post-Ming Context International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 Jeong-il Lee
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Editor’s Introduction: New Perspectives from Korean Environmental History International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 John S. Lee
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Transition under Ambiguity: Koryǒ-Mongol Relations around 1260 International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 Chunyuan Li
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Cultivating Settler Colonial Space in Korea: Public Works and the Urban Environment under Japanese Rule International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 Tristan R. Grunow
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Shifting Perceptions of Insects in the Late Chosŏn Period International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 Sangho Ro
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Youngja’s Heydays and the Broken Bodies of Authoritarian Construction International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 Rachel Min Park
Youngja’s Heydays (Yŏngja ŭi chŏnsŏng sidae, directed by Kim Hosŏn 1975) follows the story of a Korean woman named Youngja, as she tries to survive in the harsh environment of metropolitan Seoul. Leaving her countryside home in an effort to eke out a living in the city, she moves from job to job—first as a maid in a wealthy household, then as a bus conductress, and finally as a “hostess” (the euphemistic
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Transition under Ambiguity: Koryǒ-Mongol Relations around 1260 International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 Chunyuan Li
The rise and expansion of the Mongol empire in the first half of the thirteenth century created a serious crisis in the tributary (冊封-朝貢) system, which had been providing a feasible framework for five hundred years for exchange between the mainland regimes like the Tang, Song, Khitan Liao and Jurchen Jin, and those on the Korean Peninsula including the Silla and Koryǒ, which allowed the latter de facto
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Youngja’s Heydays and the Broken Bodies of Authoritarian Construction International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 Rachel Min Park
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Editor’s Introduction: New Perspectives from Korean Environmental History International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 John S. Lee
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The Waterlogged Limits of the Infrastructural State: The Failure of the T’aean Canalization Projects in Pre-Industrial Korea, 1134-1537 International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 John S. Lee
One of the chronic problems of pre-industrial Korean history has been the difficulty of material integration between core regions of the Korean peninsula. This article analyzes five major canalization attempts made by Koryŏ and Chosŏn states in the T’aean region to address the problem of infrastructural integration. Located along a critical shipping route between the southern grain basket and the capital
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Engaging Differences in Chosŏn Korea: A Post-Ming Context International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2020-02-28 Jeong-il Lee
For more than half a century, modern Korean scholarship has sought to counter the colonialist narrative of Japanese historiography by tying certain changes in pre-modern Korea to an orientation towards ‘the modern.’ The Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910) was regarded as the endpoint of premodern Korea and the beginning of modern Korea. In intellectual history, this supposition has reinforced such themes as
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1970s Korean Cinema and Ha Kilchong International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Molly H. Kim
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A New Path for the Study of the Koryŏ Dynasty: Exploring the Future of Online Historical Source Archives International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Soochan Park
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Silla’s Perception of the International World Order as Seen through Diplomatic Documents International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Heejoon Choi
Silla’s growth and development were the result of endless diplomatic exchanges with its surrounding states. In particular, with the emergence of the unified empire known as the Tang Dynasty, diplomacy became the main priority with Silla becoming a target for foreign negotiations. In this manner, Silla came to construct a relationship with the Tang Dynasty by actively corresponding with the international
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The Real North Korea: Life and Politics in the Failed Stalinist Utopia. By Andrei Lankov. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. xv, 283 pp [ISBN 9780199964291] International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Donghyun Woo
Over the years, Andrei N. Lankov has become firmly established in English-language academia as a preeminent scholar of North Korea, matched only by few in his breadth of knowledge, linguistic fluency, and prolific research contributions. It would be no surprise, then, if his 2013 The Real North Korea becomes one of the most informative and useful guidelines available over the coming years not only
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Big Data and the Prospects of Historical Research - A study of research in modern and contemporary Korean history - International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Minki Moon
At some point in Korean history, the term “Fourth Industrial Revolution” has become a word describing an age that will soon begin or has already begun. Klaus Schwab stated that “a ubiquitous and mobile internet, small powerful cheap sensors, artificial intelligence, and machine learning” are distinguishing characteristics of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 1 and as such the key to this revolution
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Monumental Burial Mounds in Kyŏngju: Remarks on their Socio-political Meaning International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Sebastian Müller
One of the most impressive experiences for visitors of modern Kyŏngju, the former location of the capital of the Silla kingdom, is a walk through the ‘Taenŭngwŏn Tomb Complex’ from the southern entrance, where with every step along the path more mountain-like burial mounds appear in front of the observer. At this place, the deeply rooted history of Kyŏngju becomes a direct experience. The question
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The Historical Background and Content of Oh Kiyŏng’s Middle-of-the-Road Nationalism in Korea, 1919-1948 International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Taewoo Kim
Oh Kiyŏng was a political critic who was famous in South Korea during the US military government period (1945-1948). Oh wrote for the political criticism sections for magazines such as Sinch’ŏnji [A New World], Minsŏng [People’s Voices], and Saehan minbo [New Korean People’s Journal] from their early editions. These magazines were typical general magazines that recorded the highest sales in Korea during
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The Translation of Historical Documents and the Study of Korean History Using Artificial Intelligence International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Geunhye Hong
At the 2016 World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab presented the "fourth industrial revolution" as a topic for discussion. According to him, human life is expected to face radical and fundamental changes that may even be called a "revolution" due to new technology represented by artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT). His argument was that the fourth industrial revolution
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Advanced Technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Korean Ancient History - Study on the use of artificial intelligence to decipher Wooden Tablets and the restoration of ancient historical remains using virtual reality and augmented reality - International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Dongmin Lim
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is significant to our daily lives, with various advanced technologies ranging from artificial intelligence (AI) to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). The 4IR is based on the digital revolution, which involved the combination of the virtual and physical realities via ubiquitous mobile technology, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. 1
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Guest Editor’s Introduction: The Role of Historical Studies in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-08-31 Kiduk Kim
If we were to line up academic disciplines in the order of their speed of change in step with the times, the study of law will come at the very end. It is because laws change only after numerous precedents have been accumulated over time. Since laws change with the majority, not minority, consent of the people, law is considered the most conservative field of study. Then which academic disciplines
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Under the Ancestor’s Eyes: Kinship, Status and Locality in Pre-Modern Korea. By Martina Deuchler. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Asia Center, 2015. xviii, 609 pp [ISBN: 9780674504301] International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-02-28 Adam Bohnet
Martina Deuchler’s Under Ancestors’ Eyes: Kinship, Status and Locality in Pre-Modern Korea, is a vast and ambitious work that seeks to explore the development of kinship – and the persistent importance of kinship and inherited social status – in pre-modern Korea from the early Silla dynasty to 1894. The bulk of the book, which is concerned with Andong and Namwŏn from the fifteenth century to the nineteenth
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Guest Editor’s Introduction: Alternative Approaches in the Korean Archaeology International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-02-28 Yongwook Yoo
Archaeology has played a significant role in reconstructing and formulating Korean prehistory and history since it emerged as a subdiscipline of history and anthropology in the early twentieth century. Due to its unique methodology of discovering material records and deciphering their meanings and context, archaeology has identified itself either as a pure classical humanities approach or a new scientific
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Bothering to Look: Beyond the Maternal to Ethical Responsibility in Madonna International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-02-28 Seunghei Clara Hong
Ŏmma and ŏmmŏni, meaning “mom” and “mother,” often evoke sentiments of devotion, sacrifice, and strength in Korea. This is such the case that when writing about a possible “cultural icon” for Korea, columnist Kim Seung-kon even suggests the “Korean mother”: a “unique and exceptional” “life-saving force” ceaselessly nurturing, embracing, and comforting. 1 Indeed, as he notes, the mother has “a special
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The History of the Military Film Industry - From the inception of military films to the ROK Army Motion Picture Production Center (1948-1979) - International Journal of Korean History Pub Date : 2019-02-28 Sunyoung Park
In this paper, I examine the history of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army Motion Picture Production Center, which was an important pillar of the Korean film industry from the 1950s and 1970s. 1 During this time, the Army Motion Picture Production Center was South Korea’s official film production company, along with the National Film Production Center, and produced various news reels, culture (munhwa)