Reviews
Before the Collapse: The Micro-foundations of Marketization in North Korea
Much Korean-language research about North Korea goes unread in the English-speaking world. In an effort to bridge the divide and make us all whole, Peter Ward embarks on a series of review essays dealing with key Korean research into marketization. The first piece looks at the surprising role of markets in the Kim Il-sung period.
A Bifurcated Review of De-bordering Korea: Tangible and Intangible Legacies of the Sunshine Policy
Seven full years have passed since the second and final “sunshine policy” president, the late Roh Moo-hyun, left office. Yet debate over the historic value of the decade of sunshine persists. In Sino-NK’s latest review, two members of the team look at a brand new Routledge edited volume that attempts to assess the social legacy of the era.
A Roundtable Review of Dr. Suzy Kim’s Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution, 1945–1950
In this roundtable review of Suzy Kim’s Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution, 1945–1950, Sino-NK contributors weigh the new stories told about North Korea against the author’s distinctive theoretical outlook. Introduction by Darcie Draudt.
Author’s Response to Sino-NK Roundtable on Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950–1992 (updated)
Some scholars are reluctant to actively engage with critiques of their work. This is a dreadful shame, for it is only in so-doing that the rising tide of academic knowledge can raise all boats to a new and better level. Fortunately, it was in this very spirit that Charles K. Armstrong seized upon #ArmstrongRoundtable convenor Benjamin Young’s request for a response to our review of his latest work.
“Unification Aesthetics:” A Review of Lee Si-Woo’s Life on the Edge of the DMZ
Can the desolation of the North-South border region be understood as a “huge canvas for a meditation on life itself?” Adam Cathcart explores the relationship between the human condition and the peninsula-as-environment in this review of Lee Si-Woo’s Life on the Edge of the DMZ.