Korean Studies, vol. 23 (1999)

Contents

ARTICLES

Bellonet and Roze: Overzealous Servants of Empire and the 1866 French Attack on Korea by Daniel C. Kane

A Critique on Traditional Korean Family Institutions: Kim Wonju's "Death of a Girl" by Yung-Hee Kim

Kim Il Sung's Campaign against the Soviet Faction in Late 1955 and the Birth of Chuch'e by Andrei N. Lankov

Creating the National Other: Opposing Images of Nationalism in South and North Korea by Dennis Hart

Change in U.S. Policy toward South Korea in the Early 1960s by Tae-Gyun Park

Korean History Studies in Japan: The 1998 Shigaku Zasshi Review of Historiography by Yi Songshi, Rokutanda Yutaka, and Matsumoto Takenori

BOOK REVIEWS, pp. 142-171 (View list)

Bellonet and Roze: Overzealous Servants of Empire and the 1866 French Attack on Korea, pp. 1-23
Daniel C. Kane

In February 1866 anti-Christian persecutions by the Taewongun resulted in the execution of nine French Jesuit missionaries secretly proselytizing in Korea. French reaction was extreme, with the French Far Eastern Squadron undertaking a small-scale invasion that fall. The attack, made in hopes of inflicting retribution and gaining concessions, was a dismal failure, ending in French withdrawal and the end of French missionary activity in Korea for a decade. The decision to attack has usually been viewed solely in its "Korean context" and thus been interpreted as a rash reaction to events there by the leading French diplomat in China. When viewed in the broader context of French policy in the Far East, especially China, the French decision to attack can be better understood.

A Critique on Traditional Korean Family Institutions: Kim Wonju's "Death of a Girl," pp. 24-42
Yung-Hee Kim

Kim Wonju's "Death of a Girl" is a work with a thesis. The short story represents the author's sharp criticism of traditional Korean family structure and practices, which, she believes, have had deadly ramifications on Korean society's young, especially females. Kim drives her message home by having the exemplary young heroine of the narrative commit suicide in defiance of the horrifying and dehumanizing demands of her parents intent upon selling her as a concubine. In so doing, Kim underscores the compelling urgency of reforms in dictatorial parental authority over children, in polygamy and male philandering, and in the commercialization of the female body prevalent in the early decades of twentieth-century Korea. In short, the story promotes Kim's vision of an ideal society, which, freed of coercion stemming from familial and gender hierarchy, would allow its members freedom of individual choice, basic human dignity, and, ultimately, personal happiness.

Kim Il Sung's Campaign against the Soviet Faction in Late 1955 and the Birth of Chuch'e, pp. 43-67
Andrei N. Lankov

In 1955 Kim Il Sung had every reason to feel uneasy about de-Stalinization ideas in the Communist camp. Since Soviet Koreans were the most likely conduit for the new and dangerous trends, in late 1955 Kim launched a preemptive strike against this powerful group. During the winter of 1955-56 many prominent Soviet Koreans suffered humiliating attacks. The entire campaign was rather low profile, but it was of great importance for DPRK history. The term chuch'e was coined in the midst of this campaign. This article uses declassified materials from Soviet archives to give a picture of these important events.

Creating the National Other: Opposing Images of Nationalism in South and North Korean Education, pp. 68-93
Dennis Hart

This article is a study of how the North and South Korean governments have sponsored differing national identities through their school curricula. Each regime has instructed its people in a specific definition of Korean identity by incorporating a national Other into its national identity. For both governments, national identity has been based upon historical legacies as well as a need to distinguish itself from its rival while following the idiom of it own ideology. For the South, I study Todok (Ethics) textbooks taken from early 1960s and 1979. For the North, I examine seventeen textbooks books published between 1986 and 1991.

Change in U.S. Policy Toward South Korea in the Early 1960s, pp. 94-120
Tae-Gyun Park

The United States changed its policy toward South Korea in 1961. Policies focusing on stabilization programs, military support, and foreign private capital were replaced by policies stressing economic development, social reforms, and long-range U.S. public assistance. The establishment of the junta in South Korea resulted in a complementary condition in which the United States could change its policy. This change was stimulated by political, economic, and personnel changes in South Korea in the late 1950s and the transition in the overall foreign policy of the Kennedy administration. The appearance of new ideas in both the South Korean and the American governments in the early 1960s played decisive roles.

Korean History Studies in Japan: The 1998 Shigaku Zasshi Review of Historiography, pp. 121-141
Yi Songshi, Rokutanda Yutaka, and Matsumoto Takenori

Shigaku zasshi, the leading history journal in Japan, devotes its fifth issue every year to historiography reviews of scholarship published in Japan over the previous year on various national and regional histories. The reviews for Korean history are written by specialists and introduce and direct readers to publications in many fields, including archaeology, economic history, and social history. The summaries are not as lengthy as those prepared for Japanese and Chinese histories, but a glance at those written since 1949 shows the growth of Korean history studies in Japan, the emergence of successive generations of scholars, the breadth of topics being investigated, and the diversity of methodologies and interpretations.

BOOK REVIEWS

Adrian Buzo, Guerilla Dynasty: Politics and Leadership in North Korea, pp. 142-143
reviewed by Charles K. Armstrong

Weiqun Gu, Conflicts of Divided Nations: The Cases of China and Korea, pp. 144-147
reviewed by Andrei Lankov

Wi Jo Kang, Christ and Caesar in Modern Korea: A History of Christianity and Politics, pp. 148-150
reviewed by William A. Hayes

Eun Mee Kim, Big Business, Strong State: Collusion and Conflict in South Korean Development, 1960-1990, pp. 150-154
reviewed by Timothy C. Lim

Tae-Hwan Kwak and Edward A. Olsen, eds., The Major Powers of Northeast Asia: Seeking Peace and Security, pp. 154-156
reviewed by David Kelly

Kenneth B. Lee, Korea and East Asia: The Story of a Phoenix, pp. 156-162
reviewed by Andrei N. Lankov

Kyeyoung Park, The Korean American Dream: Immigrants and Small Business in New York City, pp. 162-164
reviewed by Karl E. Kim

Mark Setton, Chông Yagyong: Korea's Challenge to Orthodox Neo-Confucianism, pp. 165-169
reviewed by Chung Doo-hee

Leon V. Sigal, Disarming Strangers: Nuclear Diplomacy with North Korea, pp. 169-171
reviewed by B. C. Koh

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