This course is a survey of twentieth-century Korean history, with emphasis on the social movements and economic development following Korea’s division in 1945. Although initial lectures and discussions review early twentieth-century history, the course focuses on late twentieth-century developments, including US and USSR occupations (1945-1948) after Japanese colonization and the Korean War (1950-1953).
Students then review the consequences of the war including Kim Il-Sung’s policies in the DPRK and Park Chung-Hee military regime (1961-1979) in the ROK. Finally, students consider the consequences of late-twentieth modernization, the labor and student movements of the 1970s and 1980s and the civil movements of the 1990s. The course concludes with a discussion of prospects for unification. The approach is interdisciplinary, inter-periodic, inter-regional and international.
