Reviews

One Dystopian Korea: A Review of Our Aspiration is War by Jang Kang-myung

By | January 11, 2017

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

By | December 19, 2016

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

By | December 16, 2016

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

By | December 16, 2016

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.

South Korean Identity: The Return of Ethnic Exclusivism?

By | October 28, 2016

It is both necessary and interesting to take regular snapshots of identity. South Korea just did so. The “Korean identity survey” was conducted for the third time in 2015, and the results have now been published. Steven Denney parses the data.