{"title":"Mounded Mnemonics: Tumuli and Collective Memory in Old Silla","authors":"S. Müller","doi":"10.22372/IJKH.2021.26.1.35","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/IJKH.2021.26.1.35","url":null,"abstract":"The monumental and lavishly equipped burial mounds located north of the historical site of Wŏlsŏng Castle in the famous city of Kyŏngju in the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula are among the most prominent archaeological remains of the Silla kingdom (traditionally 57 BCE – 935). Despite being commonly perceived as representative for the kingdom, most of the mounded graves were constructed in a comparatively limited period of Silla’s history and in all likelihood at a time when the development of the polity to a centralized kingdom was not yet completed. Usually, the size, construction, and the equipment of the mounds are analyzed and interpreted as reflections of Silla’s social structure, in close alignment to the narratives of the historical records. Although there is no doubt that the mounded graves represent the elite of the polity (including Silla’s rulers), particular aspects of the tumuli","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41657729","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When the Political Spotlight is On: Social Evaluations of Ri Sŭnggi and Ryǒ Kyǒnggu, Two Chemical Engineers in North Korea","authors":"Eunsun Cho","doi":"10.22372/IJKH.2021.26.1.255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/IJKH.2021.26.1.255","url":null,"abstract":"In the history of North Korean chemical engineering, two scientists stand out above all others: Ri Sŭnggi (李升基, 1905-1996) and Ryǒ Kyǒnggu (呂慶九, 1913-1977). Ri and Ryǒ were both born in the southern region of the Korean peninsula, studied in Japan, and returned home after Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945. They were both professors at Seoul National University for some time and then went to the North. In North Korea, Ryǒ and Ri conducted experimental projects on polyvinyl chloride (PVC) fiber and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber respectively. Ryǒ was once a leading scholar in his field; however, his top position was taken over by Ri after the PVA fiber that Ri was researching was successfully industrialized. Despite the fact that Ryǒ Kyǒnggu also contributed to the development of the North Korean chemical industry, his name and whereabouts received little attention in North Korea for quite a while. Experimental science is closely intertwined with society and politics. Socio-politics influences the direction of experimental science and the result of the experiment is connected to the evaluation of the political","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48907903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Seeds of Control: Japan’s Empire of Forestry in Korea. By David Fedman. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020. ix, 292 p [ISBN: 9780295747453]","authors":"Anne Whitehouse","doi":"10.22372/ijkh.2021.26.2.181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2021.26.2.181","url":null,"abstract":"Environmental histories of Korea and the Korean landscape remain scant in the English-language scholarly corpus. Studies like David Fedman’s Seeds of Control: Japan’s Empire of Forestry in Colonial Korea represent some of the first book-length contributions (in English) to this emerging field. Fedman’s first monograph makes interdisciplinary contributions that will appeal to scholars across disciplinary frameworks who study forestry, colonialism, the environment, the Japanese Empire, and Korea. The book not only draws attention to imperial forestry in a region that is frequently overlooked in conversations of global environmental history and colonial forestry, but it also reframes conservation as a tool of imperialism, expanding understandings of colonial violence in the Japanese Empire to include silvicultural rhetoric and policy. While Seeds of Control focuses on the Korean peninsula geographically, Fedman’s insights about Japanese forestry ideology also inform environmental histories of the “green archipelago” in his exploration of colonial policies of reforestation and assimilation. The arguments made in Seeds of Control","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68311546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“We Are Not Foreigners”: Constructing Migrant Subjects through Korean Chinese Migrants’ Claims-Making in South Korea","authors":"Yang-Sook Kim, Yi-chun Chien","doi":"10.22372/ijkh.2021.26.2.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2021.26.2.11","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we approach citizenship as a claims-making process consisting of social construction practices that emerge from ongoing negotiations and contestations. We examine the migrant subject-making process of Korean Chinese migrants in South Korea. We draw on the voices of migrants to discuss how Korean Chinese construct their migrant subjectivity by mobilizing a collective understanding of ethnonational belonging and thereby deploy distinctive strategies to support their claims. Our analysis of the data gathered from ethnographic observations and interviews with Korean Chinese migrant workers, activists, South Korean bureaucrats, and policymakers show that Korean Chinese migrants have called upon blood ties and ethnic affinity, continued allegiance, economic contributions, and human rights to construct themselves as legitimate candidates for citizenship in South Korea. By shifting our analytical focus from the state to the migrant subjectivity that emerges through day-to-day negotiations, we aim to unpack the complicated dynamics of social constructions of citizenship.","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68310751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Joseon Exorcist and the ‘Uncanny Valley’ of Korean Historical Dramas: On the Problems of ‘Distorted’ Representations of History in Korean Popular Culture Products","authors":"Kyoung-ryang Ki","doi":"10.22372/ijkh.2021.26.2.193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2021.26.2.193","url":null,"abstract":"It was in March 2021 that SBS, one of the representative private TV broadcasting stations in South Korea, launched a new drama series Joseon Exorcist (Chosŏn kumasa). From the beginning, it was publicized as an ambitious, large-scale project, to be aired in sixteen episodes, with the production budget amounting to 32 billion won (approximately 28 million dollars). Considering that its genre identity was decidedly nonmainstream, its large production budget was considered unusual. We can speculate that SBS had been stimulated by the worldwide success of Netflix’s Kingdom, a zombie horror TV series set in the 17 century Chosŏn Korea following the Imjin Wars. Running for two seasons in 2019 and 2020, Kingdom has received a good deal of praise both inside and outside Korea for its fresh subject, innovative direction and captivating storyline. Initially, Joseon Exorcist seemed like a surefire hit. Its first episode","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"68311621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Admitting an Attraction: Colonial Villainy, Visuality, and The Handmaiden (2016) as Critique","authors":"Keungyoon Bae","doi":"10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.175","url":null,"abstract":"2016’s The Handmaiden is unusual among contemporary Korean films for more than one reason. Firstly, we have an explicitly queer, in fact erotically queer narrative from a country where LGBT rights are still very much a point of contention, especially in recent years (although there are grounds for optimism). Secondly, it is a South Korean film that has received a substantial amount of attention from European and American media; while Korean films have certainly been making the rounds at film festivals and art house cinema circles for years, it is still relatively uncommon to see a Korean film break into the American mainstream in terms of marketing and distribution, and receive coverage in publications as varied as The New Yorker, Indiewire, and Gawker (now Gizmodo)","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46240287","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sport from Imperial Japan to Postcolonial Korea: Dr. Lee Sangbaek and his Participation in the Olympic Movements","authors":"Guoxian Jin, Younghan Cho","doi":"10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.11","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44953393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘When Sport Met Ideology and Colonial Bitter Memories’: The Impact of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on North and South Korean Sports","authors":"Jongsung Lee","doi":"10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.45","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.45","url":null,"abstract":"Over the course of the twentieth century, Korea underwent very unfortunate and tragic experiences from Japanese colonization to the Korean War and the split into two states, the communist North and the capitalist South. Consequently, it was natural that South Korea was subsumed into the Cold War and that South Korean society was filled with strong antiJapanese sentiments. It is beyond doubt that South Korean society has been characterized by anti-communism and anti-Japanese feelings. However, there were other complex aspects to the two most dominating political and social tenets in South Korea. It cannot be denied that the people residing in North and South Korea had a common ethnic background. This racial homogeneity impacted North and South Korean relations despite their different political and economic systems in an age of the Cold War where the global competition between the United States and the Soviet Union fiercely developed and rapidly spread to every field.","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46716928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editor’s Introduction: Korean Sports History","authors":"Seok Lee","doi":"10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42920831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Driver of Peace? Ping-Pong Diplomacy on The Korean Peninsula","authors":"B. Bridges","doi":"10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.75","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2020.25.2.75","url":null,"abstract":"“Table tennis has had a long history as a driver of peace, and we are happy to open a new chapter of table tennis diplomacy to promote peace on the Korean peninsula.” With these dramatic words, Thomas Weikert, President of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), welcomed news of a joint Korean women’s doubles team being created in July 2018. Weikert has certainly not been alone in depicting sport as a positive force that brings together and even unites peoples and countries. The Olympic movement, indeed, was grounded in the beliefs of its founder Baron Pierre de Coubertin that sport would support and promote peace and friendship amongst peoples and countries. This idealism has continued to prevail within the Olympics and across a range of other global sports. But irrespective of the degree of justification for this idealism, there is little doubt that sport has become a major element of global socie-","PeriodicalId":40840,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Korean History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2020-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44096623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}