Politics
Yongusil 80: The Developmental State and Politics of Industrial Complex Development in South Korea
Seoul National University geographer Bae-Gyoon Park challenges the validity of the developmental state thesis in a recent paper on the Masan Free Export Zone. Park recapitulated his findings at an event hosted at the University of Toronto. Daniel Park recaps his presentation.
War by Other Means: South Korea’s Textbook Battlefield
The Ministry of Education plans to (re)implement a state-run textbook production system. Representatives from both the ruling and opposition parties use a recent parliamentary review session into the situation to verbally assault the other side’s position on the issue.
2nd Miracle on the Han: Mass Media Unites over History by Ministerial Fiat
The South Korean mass media rarely unites in condemnation of a domestic policy, but controversial and deeply flawed plans to “re-nationalize” the production of secondary school history textbooks made it happen. Christopher Green investigates.
Summer Special: #Shigak no. 24
#Shigak returns from a brief summer hiatus, with analysis-lite on a wealth of developments in South Korea: education reform, #LotteGate, internet banks, and Jang Geu-rae marches, among other things.