Reviews
A Roundtable Review of Dictators and their Secret Police: Coercive Institutions and State Violence
Sheena Greitens examines the ways coercion is employed in authoritarian regimes in her new book, adding theoretical and empirical insights to the literature on authoritarian regime durability. Sino-NK reviews her contribution.
The Rise of the Anonymous Writer: A Review of Kim Yu-kyung’s “Place of Human Desecration”
Where Deborah Smith’s translation of “The Accusation” opened up Bandi’s short stories for the English-speaking world, there are several novels by defector writers that are only in Korean. “Place of Human Desecration” is one. Robert Lauler reviews it.
Divided Peninsula, Split Personalities: A Review of Hong Sang-hwa’s “The Intelligence Agent”
In a new review for Sino-NK, Robert Lauler once again turns his attention to Korean literature centered around national division, taking a magnifying glass to The Intelligence Agent, the latest novel by Hong Sang-hwa.
A Roundtable Review of Van Jackson’s Rival Reputations: Coercion and Credibility in U.S.-North Korea Relations
Adam Mount (Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress), Daniel Pinkston (Troy University), and Martin Weiser (graduate of Korea University) provide different evaluations of Van Jackson’s analysis of the history of the US-North Korea relationship in his newly published book, Rival Reputations: Coercion and Credibility in U.S.-North Korea Relations.
Yongusil 92: A New Perspective on the Evolution of South Korea’s Developmental State
Contrary to extant findings, evidence suggests the origins of South Korea’s industrial and economic transformation predated Park Chung-hee’s rise to power. A forthcoming piece for the Journal of Contemporary Asia argues that sweeping land reforms implemented in South Korea in the post-liberation period laid the foundations of the country’s economic development and industrial transformation.
One Dystopian Korea: A Review of Our Aspiration is War by Jang Kang-myung
Sino-NK doesn’t review many novels, but that doesn’t mean fiction is irrelevant. Quite the opposite. Here, Robert Lauler reviews the latest book by “Because I Hate Korea” author Jang Kang-myung, in which he sketches out a disturbing, dystopian portrait of a future unified Korea.
Yongusil 89: One River, Three States in Asian Perspective Special Issue
This autumn saw the journal Asian Perspective bring together five authors for a transnational investigation of issues confronting the DPRK-PRC-Russia border region. The journal special issue was guided by guest editor Park Hyun-gwi of Cambridge University. Anthony Rinna takes a look inside.
Four Salient Martial Orientations: A Review of Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea
The first volume of a new series on Park Chung-hee marks a step forward for our understanding of Park’s roots. The advance may be even greater where the structure of early 20th century Japanese rule in Northeast Asia is concerned. Writing exclusively for Sino-NK, Clark Sorenson (University of Washington) reviews the new text.
A Roundtable Review of Carter Eckert’s Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea: The Roots of Militarism, 1866-1945
Sino-NK presents a roundtable review of Carter Eckert’s splendid new book on the Manchurian roots of Korean militarism, offering readers a companion to the main review by Prof. Clark Sorenson.
