This study examines how and why Chinas military intervention in the Korean War came into existence within the time span from May 1949 to July 1951. China was involved in the war preparations much earlier and deeper than was previously known. Beijings preconditions to enter the war boiled down to three: (1) its full control of China; (2) foreign enemy forces invasion of North Korea; and (3) Moscows logistic and air support. Beijing had incorrectly calculated that Washington would dispatch o...

****Named one of the best books of 2015 by The Economist**Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors.**North Korea is one of the most troubled societies on earth. The country's 24 million people live under a violent dictatorship led by a single family, which relentlessly pursues the development of nuclear arms, which periodically incites risky military clashes with the larger, richer, liberal South, and which forces each and every perso...

In the rich and varied life stories in Under the Black Umbrella, elderly Koreans recall incidents that illustrate the complexities of Korea during the colonial period. Hildi Kang here reinvigorates a period of Korean history long shrouded in the silence of those who endured under the "black umbrella" of Japanese colonial rule.Existing descriptions of the colonial period tend to focus on extremes: imperial repression and national resistance, Japanese subjug...

"A crisp, dramatic examination of how technology and human ingenuity are undermining North Korea's secretive dictatorship."— Kirkus ReviewsOne of the least understood countries in the world, North Korea has long been known for its repressive regime. Yet it is far from being an impenetrable black box. Media flows covertly into the country, and fault lines are appearing in the government's sealed informational borders.Drawing on deeply personal inter...

In the mid-1990s, as many as one million North Koreans died in one of the worst famines of the twentieth century. The socialist food distribution system collapsed primarily because of a misguided push for self-reliance, but was compounded by the regime's failure to formulate a quick response-including the blocking of desperately needed humanitarian relief.As households, enterprises, local party organs, and military units tried to cope with the economic collapse, a grassroots proces...

Japan and South Korea are Western-style democracies with open-market economies committed to the rule of law. They are also U.S. allies. Yet despite their shared interests, shared values, and geographic proximity, divergent national identities have driven a wedge between them. Drawing on decades of expertise, Brad Glosserman and Scott A. Snyder investigate the roots of this split and its ongoing threat to the region and the world.Glosserman and Snyder isolate competing notions of na...

Choice Outstanding TitleWhen the major powers sent troops to the Korean peninsula in June of 1950, it supposedly marked the start of one of the last century’s bloodiest conflicts. Allan Millett, however, reveals that the Korean War actually began with partisan clashes two years earlier and had roots in the political history of Korea under Japanese rule, 1910–1945.The first in a new two-volume history of the Korean War, Millett’s study offers the most compre...

Korean Culture Series 7Seasonal Customs of KoreaThe seasonal customs of Korea are the folk traditions of everyday life that have been repeated annually throughout the ages. As such, the residents of a particular community came to share a uniformity of everyday customs by living within the same natural environment and cultural setting. In this regard, seasonal customs are closely related to the rhythms of everyday life, and as the same customs are repeated at the same time e...

The tragedy of the Jews during the Second World War is well-known to the world, but you don’t know much about the torture that Koreans suffered during the same period. You will never imagine it without reading this book.   Korea was under Japanese colonial rule for 35 years. (1910 ~ 1945) Japan annexed Korea by threatening with her military power. They treated Koreans as slavery. They had ninjas slaughter the Queen of Korea who were against Japan.   There were ...

More Than Witnesses is a truly living witness of dedicated missionaries who fought with their body and spirit for peace and justice in Korea.

This revised edition examines North and South Korea's political, socio-economic, and cultural history from the Neolithic period to the early 21st century, including issues of recent political unrest and preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics.Korea continues to be featured in the news, especially after the succession of Kim Jong-un as leader of North Korea and his threats of nuclear attack. Yet the reported instability of the North is contrasted by the rapid modernization revolut...

Never before translated into English, this official history of the reign of King T’aejo—founder of Korea’s long, illustrious Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910 CE)—is a unique resource for reconstructing life in late-fourteenth-century Korea. Its narrative of a ruler’s rise to power includes a wealth of detail not just about politics and war but also about religion, astronomy, and the arts.The military general Yi Sŏnggye, posthumously named T’aejo, assumed the throne in 1392. During his sev...