History

Debates and Sentiment toward the National Security Act in South Korea 

By and | March 29, 2024

South Korea’s National Security Act is contentious for its restrictions on political freedoms under the guise of national security. New research indicates that law remains due to legislative inertia and public recognition of security needs, with proposals for revisions far more popular than outright abolition.

The Rhetorical Politics of Ending the Korean War: Eisenhower, Dulles and Mao’s China

By | March 25, 2023

In this essay, Rory de Mellow examines the reconceptualisation of US foreign policy during and after the Korean War.

Free to be Controlled: Press and Protest under Park Chung-hee

By | November 30, 2022

A review of two recent works examining the role of the media and the development of protest culture in South Korea during the Park regime.

Hunger, Ethnic Affinity, and Exodus: Jaeeun Kim on Chinese Koreans during the Great Leap Forward

By | October 24, 2022

To what extent did Chinese Koreans in Yanbian in the 1950s and 60s turn to North Korea out of necessity?

Aura of Criminality: Perspectives of Empire in Japan’s East Asian Conquests, 1932-1945

By | October 04, 2022

In the second part of this series, Jessica Pitcher examines the relationship between Japanese imperial authorities in China and the practice of narcotics trafficking, which “weakened” the inhabitants of the occupied territories while filling government coffers in Manchukuo.