ARTICLES

The Changing Faces of Inequality in South Korea in the Age of Globalization
Hagen Koo, 1

The social and cultural landscape of inequality in South Korea has changed significantly in the recent period. This article investigates the emerging pattern of social inequality in South Korea since the financial crisis in 1997–1998, focusing on changes in three major areas of social life: work, consumption, and education. The general trend of change has been increasing job insecurity for white-collar workers, the rise of consumption as a dominant basis of class distinction, and the intensification and globalization of educational pursuits. The study explores how these changes are connected to the globalization process and how South Korea’s middle class is being transformed in this process.

Silla Buddhism and the Hwarang segi Manuscripts
Richard D. McBride II, 19

This article assesses the authenticity of the recently publicized Hwarang segi manuscripts by comparing the information they contains relating to the hwarang and Silla Buddhists and Buddhism to the information found in the traditional Chinese Buddhist materials and the Korean literary materials dating to the mid-Koryŏ period. The evidence suggests that the manuscripts are not “authentic” or “genuine,” but are probably an in-progress historical fiction dating to the colonial period, because they concoct problematic genealogies for known figures, because they promote Buddhist identities for sixth-century figures that are anachronistic, and because they deploy specialized terminology inconsistently.

Pan ch’inyŏng Wedding Rites, Residential Rules, and the Status of Women in Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn: An Analysis Based on Miam-ilgi, the Diary of Yu Hŭi-ch’un
Mee Hae Park, 39

This study focuses on wedding rites, residential rules, and the status of women in the mid-Chosŏn dynasty. Based on Miam-ilgi (眉巖日記), a diary of Yu Hŭi-ch’un (柳希春), a famous sixteenth-century Korean Confucian scholar, the marriage of his grandson Kwang-sŏn (光先) is examined. The nuptial procedure consisted of the discussion of marriage, the sending of presents to the bridal house, and finally the ceremony itself, nominally called pan ch’inyŏng (半親迎). In the wedding described in the diary, the bride continued to live in her natal home while the bridegroom alternated between residing at his and his in-laws’ home. Despite the fact that it was a departure from the strict patrilocality advocated by Confucian principles, the diary makes it clear that even Yu Hŭi-ch’un retained some characteristics of the traditional customs. The bridegroom’s stay with his paternal grandfather implies the significance of socioeconomic factors and the experience necessary to serve as the successor of the Yu family. This article argues that the characteristics of pan ch’inyŏng wedding and variations in the practices thereof is evidence of the flexibility of marriage procedures, residential patterns, and the status of women within a patrilineal society.

Imperial Japan’s Preparations to Conscript Koreans as Soldiers, 1942–1945
Brandon Palmer, 63

On May 9, 1942, the Japanese colonial government of Korea announced that beginning in December 1944 Korean men would be drafted into the Japanese military. By the end of World War II, 110,000 Korean conscripts served with the Japanese armed forces. Why did the Japanese postpone the enlistment of Korean recruits for thirty months after the initial announcement? This article examines the reasons for the delay. It argues that Japan needed the time to expand Korean proficiency in the Japanese language, to provide basic military training, to solidify its ideological control over Koreans, and to rectify the dilapidated Korean family registry system.

BOOK REVIEWS

Wontack Hong, Korea and Japan in East Asian History: A Tripolar Approach to East Asian History
reviewed by Gina L. Barnes, 79

Keith Pratt, Everlasting Flower: History of Korea
reviewed by Michael J. Seth 82

Michael J. Seth, A Concise History of Korea: From the Neolithic Period through the Nineteenth Century
reviewed by Eugene Y. Park, 84

James B. Lewis, Frontier Contact between Chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan
reviewed by Nam-lin Hur, 86

Keith Howard, Perspectives on Korean Music
reviewed by Yong-Shik Lee, 88

Hyung-ju Ahn, Between Two Adversaries: Korean Interpreters at Japanese Alien Enemy Detention Centers during World War II
reviewed by Timothy L. Savage, 92

Allan R. Millett, The War for Korea, 1945–1950: A House Burning
reviewed by Adam J. Cathcart, 93

Chae-jin Lee, A Troubled Peace: U.S. Policy and the Two Koreas
reviewed by James I. Matray, 97

Bruce Cumings, North Korea: Another Country
reviewed by Graeme P. Auton 100

Hyung-chan Kim with Dong-kyu Kim, Human Remolding in North Korea: A Social History of Education
reviewed by Sheena Choi, 103

Junmo Kim, The South Korean Economy: Towards a New Explanation of an Economic Miracle
reviewed by Joseph J. Stern, 104

Gi-Wook Shin, Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy
reviewed by Robert Oppenheim, 107

Young Whan Kihl, Transforming Korean Politics: Democracy, Reform, and Culture
reviewed by Jungmin Seo, 110

Gabriel Jonsson, Towards Korean Reconciliation: Socio-Cultural Exchanges and Cooperation
reviewed by Graeme P. Auton, 112

John Horne and Wolfram Manzenreiter, ed., Japan, Korea and the 2002 World Cup
reviewed by Barbara Mori, 116

CONTRIBUTORS, 119

Azalea is a new annual journal of Korean literature and culture published by the Korea Institute at Harvard University and distributed by the University of Hawai‘i Press. Volume 1 is now available.

Azalea aims to promote Korean literature among English-language readers. The first volume includes works of several contemporary Korean writers and poets, as well as essays and book reviews by Korean studies professors in the United States. Azalea will introduce to the world new writers and also promising translators. The journal will provide the academic community of Korean studies with well-translated texts for college classes. Writers from elsewhere in the world will also share their experience of Korean literature or culture with wider audiences.

David R. McCann
Editor’s Note, 7

“Azalea is about Korean literature and literary culture, and therefore about writing, publishing, translating, and reading. The writing has already happened, the translation too, but now for the reading! We have looked at original works, wondering who might best translate a gem. Or we have discovered a strong translation and asked, ‘Can we publish it?’ And how might artwork of various kinds, or perhaps photographs of Korea contemporaneous with the literary works, be added to the mix? The occasional hortatory note, such as my own in this issue about the 1953 short story ‘Cranes’ by Hwang Sunwŏn, may add another edge, perhaps, to the reader’s framing and reframing of the piece.” —from the Editor’s Note

Writer in Focus : Kim Young-ha

Kim Young-ha
This Tree of Yours, 9

Dafna Zur
Interview with Kim Young-ha 27

Kim Young-ha
Their Last Visitor, 31
My Brother’s Back, 37

Fiction

Sung Suk-je
First Love, 61

Yoon Sung-Hee
To Bury a Treasure Map at the U-turn, 81

Yun Dae Nyeong
The Silver Trout Fishing Network, 113

Kim Jung-Hyuk
Inuk the Inventor, 137

Ha Seong-nan
Blooms of Mold, 171

Park Min-gyu
Raccoon World, 193

Kim Aeran
Run, Dad!, 227

Lee Hye-kyung
Between Us and the Rest, 257

Feature : Another Perspective

Hwang Sunwŏn
Cranes, 305

David R. McCann
On Hwang Sunwŏn’s “Cranes,” 313

Lee Chang-dong
The Dreaming Beast, 317

Heinz Insu Fenkl
On the Narratography of Lee Chang-dong: A Long Translator’s Note, 339

Poetry

Kim Hyesoon
Boiling, Two Pages of Tongue, Spring Rain, A Hundred-Year-Old Fox, Water Spider’s House, 97

Hwang Jiwoo
Contour Lines of the Rain 1,
The Greeting 2, A Flash,
My Lotus Pond, My Sanatorium,
Stone Buddha Leaning Against a Wall in the Subway, 105

Huh Su-gyung
Evening Soaks Us and, That Time,
Yŏngbyŏn, Leaves of Reed, Sound of Trees Swaying,
Thus Laughing Days Continued, 159

Lee Si-Young
A Dried Fish, Parallel, Distance,
Risky Abode, Evening Hours, 167

Kim Seung-Hui
A Parcel of Eggs, Santa Cello, Blue 5 Amazing Grace,
The Rainbow’s Promise, Pots Banging, 215

Lee Moon-jae
Between Heaven and Earth, Joke,
Heart, Poet and Farmer, 223

Hwang In-sook
I Wish to Be Born as a Cat, Pink Bird,
Drowsiness, Regret, The Birds Set the Sky Free, 277

Kim Chiha
There Will Be No Return, Fig, At Haech’ang,
Fifty Simultaneous Pecking from Inside and Out, 283

Ko Un
Ŏnnyŏn in Siberia, Hallelujah,
Yi Jŏng-yi’s Family, DDT, Kwŏn Jin-gyu, 295

Chonggi Mah
The Fall of Paterson, Calling Names,
Alaska Psalm 1, 4, and 5, 357

Song Ch’an-ho
An old tale taken from a trunk, Camellia,
Camellia opening wide, Orchard with a hedge of bitter orange trees,
Camellias falling, 365

Book Review

Ronald Suleski
The Guest by Hwang Sok-yong, 289

Interview

Mickey Hong
Peter H. Lee: Fifty Years with Korean Literature in America, 371

Korea from the Outside

Orhan Pamuk
First Impressions, 391

Robert Pinsky
Peace, Poetry, and Negation, 395

Images Index, 406
Notes on Contributors, 408

Guest Editor: Kenneth R. Robinson

ARTICLES

Guest Editor’s Introduction
Kenneth R. Robinson, 1

Economic Growth in P’yŏngan Province and the Development of Pyongyang in the Late Chosŏn Period
Soo-chang Oh, 3

Pyongyang, one Korea’s oldest cities, was considered an important defense site during the Koryŏ dynasty, but did not develop significantly until the Chosŏn dynasty in the seventeenth century. This was partly because of its border location and unsuitability for farming but most of all because of discrimination by the central government. After the eighteenth century, however, Pyongyang led in the social development of Chosŏn. With stability in the relationship with Qing China, the area was free from the threat of war. The accumulated money and grains were used to entertain foreign diplomats and prepare for war while also providing commercial capital. The fact that the traditional ruling order and ideology were not strong was an advantage for the development of commerce. On the other hand, the government tried to induce Pyongyang’s development within the system, as by, for example, holding a special civil service examination and recruiting members for the Royal Guard. During that time, Pyongyang progressed and continued to develop as the new urban cultural center of the region.

Economic Status According to the Distribution of Housing Size in Kaesŏng around 1900
Sung Oh, 23

Homes ranging from one-room dwellings to forty-five-room mansions were constructed in the Kaesŏng area around 1900. Analysis indicates that 23 percent were small, 57 percent were medium, and 20 percent were large. Medium-sized dwellings constituted 80 percent of the total number of habitations, indicating that the middle class constituted approximately four-fifths of the area population. The large middle class is unusual compared to other urban areas of the period and is related to commercial activity. More than 80 percent of the citizenry of Kaesŏng engaged directly in merchant activities or in something related. The merchants of Kaesŏng had outstanding financial skills that transformed their commercial capital into industrial capital via the ginseng trade. The people of Kaesŏng did not aspire to high government positions, but rather for commercial success. For this reason, Japanese businessmen could not penetrate the Kaesŏng market during the colonial period.

An Island’s Place in History: Tsushima in Japan and in Chosŏn, 1392–1592
Kenneth R. Robinson, 40

The proximity of the Japanese island of Tsushima to the Korean peninsula made plausible the views among Korean elites in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that the island had been Korean territory in the historical past. The Chosŏn court expressed historical and contemporary possession of Tsushima/Taema-do through assertions of the island’s Korean history, dispatch of officials bearing domestic administration posts, and cartography. The court’s claims neither challenged the Muromachi bakufu nor threatened the authority of the governor of Tsushima, who encouraged treatment of the island as Korean territory as well as Japanese territory. The incomplete insertion of royal power into the island highlights different forms of sovereignty. In the early Chosŏn period, the area was encompassed within the king’s territorial sovereignty. The jurisdictional Chosŏn composed a different space than the territorial. Within this gap between the two Chosŏns can be seen underappreciated features of Korean history and Chosŏn society.

The Repatriation of Castaways in Chosŏn Korea-Japan Relations, 1599–1888
Hoon Lee, 67

In Chosŏn-period Korea, calamities at sea occurred with some frequency, leaving the ships and their occupants to be washed onto the shores of both Chosŏn and Japan. With the large number of Koreans drifting to the shores of Japan, the study of repatriation of castaways illuminates aspects of the historical interactions and relations between the two countries. This article discusses the question of whether the castaways’ drifting was predetermined and the effect their repatriation had on Chosŏn-Japan relations.

Sirhak in Late Chosŏn Korea and Ancient Learning in Early Modern Japan from the Perspective of the History of Interaction
Woobong Ha, 91

Ancient Learning, an approach to overcoming Zhu Xi Neo-Confucian metaphysics, emerged and developed as an intellectual track at about the same time in Korea, China, and Japan. This school was introduced to Chosŏn via Korean elites who visited Japan as members of diplomatic embassies. Upon returning, these Sirhak elites wrote commentaries on the Japanese Ancient Learning school text. This article discusses the historical interaction between Sirhak and the Japanese Ancient Learning school and examines Sirhak commentaries on Japanese Ancient Learning writers.

BOOK REVIEWS

Chun Soonok, They Are Not Machines: Korean Women Workers and Their Fight for Democratic Trade Unionism in the 1970s
reviewed by Mary Margaret Fonow, 110

Tobias Hübinette, Comforting an Orphaned Nation: Representations of International Adoption and Adopted Koreans in Korean Popular Culture
reviewed by Barbara Katz Rothman, 112

Jackie J. Kim, Hidden Treasures: Lives of First-Generation Korean Women in Japan
reviewed by Barbara Mori, 114

Roy Richard Grinker, Korea and Its Futures: Unification and the Unfinished War
reviewed by Changzoo Song, 118

Bradley K. Martin, Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty
reviewed by James I. Matray, 120

James M. Minnich, The North Korean People’s Army: Origins and Current Tactics
reviewed by James E. Hoare, 124

Chongko Choi, Law and Justice in Korea: South and North
reviewed by Tom Ginsburg, 126

Robert Bley-Vroman and Hyunsook Ko, ed., Corpus Linguistics for Korean Language Learning and Teaching
reviewed by Jinsook Kim, 128

CONTRIBUTORS, 131

ARTICLES

Yayoi Wave, Kofun Wave, and Timing: The Formation of the Japanese People and Japanese Language, p. 1
Wontack Hong

A sudden change in climate, such as the commencement of a Little Ice Age, may have prompted the southern peninsular rice farmers to cross the Korea Strait ca. 300 B.C.E. in search of warmer and moister land. This may answer the timing of the “Yayoi Wave.” Evidence confirms the seminal role played by peninsular peoples in the formation of Middle and Late Tomb culture and the inadequacy of the “evolutionary” thesis, restoring our attention to the “event” thesis. Around 300–400 C.E., a drought may well have forced the Paekche farmers around the Han River basin to search for a new territory. This may answer the timing of the “Kofun Wave.”

The Korean Courtiers’ Observation Mission’s Views on Meiji Japan and Projects of Modern State Building, p. 30
Donghyun Huh
Translated by Vladimir Tikhonov

This article is a study of the first large-scale observation mission sent abroad by the Korean government in modern times—the so-called Korean Courtiers’ Observation Mission dispatched by King Kojong to Japan in 1881. While a minority of the Mission members perceived Japan as a model for building a modern nation-state in Korea, the more conservative majority was interested only in limited technical borrowing along the lines of the “Eastern Morality and Western Skills” reasoning that was popular in China at that time. Unlike the famous Iwakura Mission (1871), the Korean Mission did not produce any widely published account of its experience that could be used for the popularization of reformist ideas. Handwritten accounts of the mission were kept in the royal library, available only to the king and his closest associates. The accounts were used as blueprints for modernization during the Kabo reform drive (1894–95). Thus, it can be concluded that the Korean Mission’s experiences eventually were utilized for the sake of promoting Westernizing reforms.

Cho Ki-ch’on: The Person Behind the Myths, p. 55
Tatiana Gaboussenko

The article questions the traditional perceptions and revisionist reinterpretations of Cho Ki-ch’on, a Soviet Korean poet and literary official who played a special role in early North Korean history. The article analyzes the figure of Cho in the historical context of the epoch, adds some previously unknown data, and reflects on Cho Ki-ch’on’s legacy and impact on the North Korean literary world. The argument is largely based on information from new primary sources (Cho’s personal dossier, his letters, private papers, interviews with the poet’s friends and relatives) and an analysis of the original texts of his works.

Uncovering Ch’onggyech’on: The Ruins of Modernization and Everyday Life, p. 95
Hisup Shin

By November 2004, Seoul’s Ch’onggyech’on reclamation project had advanced into its final stage of construction and landscaping. A remarkable feat of advanced urbanization in which the natural environment and commercialism coexist, the project offers a felicitous, symbolic conclusion to the tumultuous, often dehumanizing paths of the nation’s modernization that left behind trails of devastation and misery. This curative view of the project is informed by a sustained effort of nationalist historiography to promote a potential for cultural creativity and social progress in the formation of modern Korea’s selfidentity. This essay argues, however, that such an approach fails to take into account a sense of ambivalence lodged in the restoration project, which reflects the contentious site of the everyday in which Ch’onggyech’on’s drastic change is translated into job loss, business relocation, and changing opportunities. This article draws attention to varying images of rubbish or rubbish salvaging that are often inextricably linked to different phases of the area’s modernization. These images bear out the material or practical realities of modernization devoid of a tendency of nationalist historiography for “self-inflated” story-telling. Such an unassuming observation of the region’s changing façade brings to light the challenging aspect of the everyday in coping with adverse circumstances of modernization. Attention is given to different types of “rubbish discourse” set in Ch’onggyech’on and its immediate localities. Using these discursive types as loops of meaning to interweave, the article offers an interdisciplinary insight into the tension between modernization and everyday life.

Changing Labor Processes of Women’s Work: The Haenyo of Jeju Island, p. 114
Gwi-Sook Gwon

This article delves into the subject of women and work as applied to the female divers (haenyo) of Jeju Island in Korea. It supports the development theory critiques about women and confirms Boserup’s seminal study. Remarkably, the Jeju haenyo have been economically productive in the Confucian culture of Korea, but their labor processes have been conditioned by economic as well as non-economic factors. The article analyzes the effects of gender in the rise and fall of this women’s working group. Even though the Jeju haenyo have had a relatively higher economic status in the family and community from the colonial period onward, the organization of their production has been closely interrelated with the gendered cultural context. Likewise, the decline of the haenyo’s diving is associated with the further development of capitalism and the reordered gender division of labor.

Apologizing in Korean: Cross-cultural Analysis in Classroom Settings, p. 137
Andrew Sangpil Byon

This paper investigates the sociopragmatic features of American learners of Korean-as-a-foreign language (KFL) in the Korean speech act of apology. As an interlanguage pragmatic study that deals with cultures that are distant to English, such as Korean, this study considers cross-cultural and pedagogical implications. The data were collected from a Discourse Completion Task (DCT), then analyzed descriptively, and Korean apology formulae were identified. In general, the most popular apology formulae the three groups use are similar. The deviations of the KFL learners are found mainly in the frequency rather than in the types of the semantic formulae. The findings of this study indicate that Koreans reflect much stronger power-sensitivity than KFL learners, and the distance variable seems to take precedence over the power variables in America. On the whole, the apology formulae usage of Korean native speakers supports the stereotypical description of Koreans as being more collectivistic, hierarchical, and formalistic in comparison with Americans. Furthermore, the results that the semantic formulae usage patterns of the KFL learners are, in general, consistent with those of the American English native speakers indicate the traces of L1 transfer effects.

BOOK REVIEWS

Christopher I. Beckwith, Koguryo, the Language of Japan’s Continental Relatives, p. 167
Reviewed by Thomas Pellard

Victor D. Cha and David C. Kang, Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies, p. 170
Reviewed by Leon V. Sigal

William Stueck, The Korean War in World History, p. 172
Reviewed by Lester H. Brune

CONTRIBUTORS, p. 175

ARTICLES

An Introduction to the Samguk Sagi, p. 1
Edward J. Shultz

Korea’s oldest extant historical source is the Samguk sagi, which was compiled by Kim Pusik (1075–1151) and others during Injong’s reign (1122–1146) in the Koryo kingdom. This history and its compilers have been at the center of controversy as critics have challenged the work’s accuracy and its omissions. Despite its failings, this history is a reaffirmation of Koryo’s identity, which had been seriously challenged by events of the early twelfth century and is an excellent expression of that society’s values and historical understanding.

The Emergence and Expansion of Silla from an Archaeological Perspective, p. 14
Gina L. Barnes

In this article, the author examines the available archaeological record for evidence illuminating the origin and development of the Silla state, which historians traditionally claimed to have been a major force on the Korean peninsula as early as the first century B.C.E. Archaeological research in the Kyongju basin, the home of the Silla state, suggests, however, that Silla developed as a state in the late fourth and early fifth centuries C.E. Further archaeological research in the area will no doubt increase understanding of Silla’s development.

The Indigenous Religions of Silla: Their Diversity and Durability, p. 49
Kidong Lee

This article examines the indigenous religions of the Silla dynasty. According to the Silla annals of the Samguk sagi, religion was significant in all walks of life in Korea’s premodern societies and formed a basis for state rule. Although Buddhism was recognized as Silla’s central religious belief from the early sixth century, other religions and convictions existed in Silla society. Introduced and discussed here are shamanism, Taoist thought, belief in spirits of springs and dragons, progenitor myths, state sacrifice rituals, and portent ideology.

Silla Economy and Society, p. 75
Chong Sun Kim

This article uses the Samguk sagi, one of premodern Korea’s most valuable historical resources, as a basis for an examination of the economy and society of the Silla dynasty. It begins by offering the historiographical limitations of the document, followed by a discussion of the significance of the policy of nongjajongbon (agriculture-is-the-basis-of-the-government) on Sillan society and economy. Other scholarly writings on the Samguk sagi and Silla are also considered.

A Study of Koguryo Relations Recorded in the Silla Annals of the Samguk Sagi, p. 105
Tae-Don Noh

This article arranges the records regarding Koguryo in the Silla annals of the Samguk sagi and reexamines aspects of the debate on Silla-Koguryo relations. Since the records of Koguryo found in the Silla annals are of a military and diplomatic nature, an examination of those records is primarily concerned with the power relations and territorial changes between the two countries. This article emphasizes a general understanding of the progressive relationship between Silla and Koguryo and employs a comparative analysis of historical texts.

BOOK REVIEWS

Young-Key Kim-Renaud, editor, Creative Women of Korea: The Fifteenth through the Twentieth Centuries, p. 129
Reviewed by Michael J. Pettid

Donald N. Clark, Living Dangerously in Korea: The Western Experience 1900–1950, p. 131
Reviewed by Daniel C. Kane

Diane E. Davis, Discipline and Development: Middle Classes and Prosperity in East Asia and Latin America, p. 134
Reviewed by Erik Mobrand

Richard A. Mobley, Flash Point North Korea: The Pueblo and EC-121 Crises, p. 136
Reviewed by James I. Matray

CONTRIBUTORS, p. 140

ARTICLES

Prince Misahun: Silla’s Hostage to Wa from the Late Fourth Century, p. 1
Chizuko T. Allen

Three of the oldest extant chronicles of Korea and Japan, the Samguk sagi, the Samguk yusa, and the Nihon shoki, recount the story of the Silla prince Misahun’s escape from extended captivity in Wa. Regarding Wa as the early Yamato confederacy based in western Japan, this article clarifies the chronology and characteristics of the Misahun incident in reference to the series of related events described by the inscription on the Koguryo king Kwanggaet’o’s stele. Between 391 and 399, Silla succumbed to Wa’s military attacks and sent Misahun to Wa as a means of appeasement. Silla, however, soon chose to return to Koguryo’s sphere of influence to ward off further Wa assaults. After Koguryo annihilated the Wa forces, Silla managed to retrieve the prince from Wa with a clever scheme. Unlike Paekche’s reciprocal relationship with Wa, Silla’s relationship with Wa was unilateral, based on the latter’s incessant demands.

The Vision-Quest Motif in Narrative Literature on the Buddhist Traditions of Silla, p. 16
Richard D. McBride II

Iryon’s Samguk yusa preserves several accounts of Buddhist monks of the ancient Korean state of Silla encountering supernatural beings in what may be termed vision quests. Information of this kind has hitherto been understood by scholars as evidence of the persistence of ancient Korean shamanism. As context, this article problematizes the idea of shamanism and its relationship to Tantric Buddhism and provides evidence for the vision-quest motif in Sino-Indian Buddhist literature. It focuses on examples of this motif in the Samguk yusa to suggest that connections between ancient Korea, China, and India are closer than previously believed. The motif does not demonstrate the rapprochement between indigenous shamanism and Buddhism so much as attest to an ancient approach to religious experience.

Koryo as an Independent Realm: The Emperor’s Clothes, p. 48
Remco E. Breuker

This article examines the status of the mid-Koryo polity as an independent realm. Often ideological extremes are contrasted with one another, and one or the other is seen as representing Koryo’s defining quality, but this article argues the necessity of examining Koryo from a pluralist point of view. Koryo’s pluralist ideology is reflected in the way it looked at itself and its neighbors and in its policies. In order to clarify middle Koryo’s status as an independent realm, issues closely connected to Koryo identity, such as the clothes of the ruler, state rituals, foreign policies, and ruling ideologies, are scrutinized.

Once Again on Lenition in Middle Korean, p. 85
Alexander Vovin

The present article attempts a revision of the traditional lenition theory for the Middle Korean language by presenting internal and typological evidence in favor of interpreting non-leniting Middle Korean consonants as originating from original *nC (sometimes possibly *lC) clusters and providing further support for the fact that leniting consonants were just plain voiceless obstruents.

Unheard Voices: The Life of the Nobi in O Hwi-mun’s Swaemirok, p. 108
Kichung Kim

Many things are known about the nobi and the nobi system in premodern Korea, such as their demographic data and their social and legal status during the Choson dynasty (1392–1910). But we know little about the private and personal side of their lives, what their day-to-day life was like as individuals or families, the personal and social relationships among the nobi, and nothing at all of their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The sole purpose of this study is to cast a little light on the human face of the men and women who were nobi.

BOOK REVIEWS

Charles K. Armstrong, The North Korean Revolution, 1945–1950, p. 138
Reviewed by Kristine Dennehy

Young Back Choi, Yesook Merrill, Yung Y. Yang, and Semoon Chang, ed., Perspectives on Korean Unification and Economic Integration, p. 140
Reviewed by Changzoo Song

Selig S. Harrison, Korean Endgame: A Strategy for Reunification and U.S. Disengagement, p. 142
Reviewed by Young Whan Kihl

Chongho Kim, Korean Shamanism: The Cultural Paradox, p. 144
Reviewed by Laurel Kendall

Juergen Kleiner, Korea, A Century of Change, p. 146
Reviewed by Daniel C. Kane

Peter H. Lee, editor, A History of Korean Literature, p. 150
Reviewed by Michael J. Pettid

Chung-Shin Park, Protestantism and Politics in Korea, p. 153
Reviewed by Timothy S. Lee

James V. Young, Eye on Korea: An Insider Account of Korean-American Relations, p. 157
Reviewed by James I. Matray

Ji-Yeon Yuh, Beyond the Shadow of Camptown: Korean Military Brides in America, p. 160
Reviewed by Brandon Palmer

Xiaoming Zhang, Red Wings over the Yalu: China, the Soviet Union, and the Air War in Korea, p. 161
Reviewed by Andrei N. Lankov

CONTRIBUTORS, p. 166

ARTICLES

Buddhism and Polity in Early Sixth-Century Paekche
Jonathan W. Best, 165

Using written and material evidence to criticize the Samguk sagi’s relatively static depiction of the Paekche political structure and court culture, this article examines the importance of Buddhism in the early sixth-century political and cultural transformation of the kingdom, which passes virtually unnoticed in the Samguk sagi. Prior to the end of the fifth century, court life in Paekche was similar in notable respects to that of contemporary Koguryo, which, in turn, was partly influenced by earlier Chinese forms. At this early time, Buddhism was acknowledged by Paekche’s kings but neither held a prominent place in the court nor played a significant role in policies of state. This changed after the loss of the Han River valley to Koguryo in 475. Paekche’s early sixth-century kings Muryong and Song evidently recognized that if the dynasty was to survive, a fundamental restructuring of the kingdom had to occur. The court intensified diplomatic and cultural ties to China. The ardently Buddhist Liang emperor Wu Di evidently inspired Paekche to enhance its patronage of Buddhism and to use it to centralize and strengthen royal authority.

Representation of the Ruler in Buddhist Inscriptions of Early Koryo
Sem Vermeersch, 216

This article traces the legacy of Buddhist kingship in the early Koryo period. T’aejo (r. 918–943), the founder of the Koryo dynasty (918–1392), was keen to follow in the footsteps of Silla kings and use Buddhist symbols of power. He also set great store on attracting eminent monks, granting them special favors and titles, and overseeing the construction of stelae inscriptions to commemorate them. These inscriptions also feature the king prominently and illuminate his relation to Buddhism. Although the king is not explicitly identified as a Buddhist ruler, the Buddhist dharma features as an integral element of kingship. In this universe, the worldly authority, personified by the king, always coexists with and depends on a spiritual counterpart, personified by the royal or state preceptor. One effect of this was that the authority of a ruler was never complete without a preceptor to validate and correct the royal power. Thus a great deal of ritual power was invested in these preceptors.

Taoism and East Asian Literary Theories: Chuang Tzu’s Theory of Selflessness and the Poetics of Self-effacement
Eun-kyung Shin, 251

This article examines several East Asian literary theories that emphasize self-effacement, self-abandonment, and self-surrender and explores Chuang Tzu’s ideas of self-forgetting or selflessness as part of the philosophical background of the theories. Examples are drawn from the works of Ssu-K’ung T’u, Yi Kyu-bo, Yi I, Yi Sang-jong, Zeami, Matsuo Basho, and Wang Fu-chih.

Western Attitudes toward the Korean Language: An Overview of Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Mission Literature
David J. Silva, 270

Descriptions of Korea’s linguistic situation written by Westerners during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries not only reveal native and foreign attitudes toward the Korean language but also provide insight into language-focused evangelization tactics embraced by Christian missionaries. Upon their arrival in Korea during the 1800s, Westerners encountered a long-standing system of diglossia: socio-historical relations between China and Korea gave rise to the use of various Korean “lects” in which the degree of Chinese elements differed. Moreover, the nation’s indigenous writing system, han’gûl, was widely regarded by Koreans as culturally subordinate to Chinese script, an attitude that garnered much attention from Western observers. These sorts of language attitudes were further reinforced by Westerners’ deterministic interpretations of Korea’s linguistic situation; believing the Korean language to be linguistically defective, many Westerners concluded that the Korean people suffered from corresponding deficiencies of intellect, education, and morality. In a campaign to “educate” the Korean populace, Christian missionaries worked to raise the status of the native language and orthography as part of what would prove to be a highly effective evangelization strategy.

Korean History Studies in Japan: The 2001 Shigaku Zasshi Review of Historiography
Inoue Naoki, Yamauchi Tamihiro, and Kawa Kaoru
Translated by James Lewis and Kenneth R. Robinson, 287

BOOK REVIEWS

Nathan Hesselink, ed. Contemporary Directions: Korean Folk Music Engaging the Twentieth Century
reviewed by Myosin Kim, 306

Yi In-Hwa, Everlasting Empire
reviewed by Michael J. Pettid, 309

Andre Schmid, Korea between Empires, 1895–1919
reviewed by Peter Duus, 311

David R. McCann and Barry S. Strauss, ed., War and Democracy: A Comparative Study of the Korean War and the Peloponnesian War
reviewed by Donald W. Boose, Jr., 314

Michael Slater, Hills of Sacrifice: The 5th RCT in Korea
reviewed by Donald W. Boose, Jr., 316

Louis Baldovi, ed., A Foxhole View: Personal Accounts of Hawaii’s Korean War Veterans
reviewed by Henry G. Gole, 318

Edward A. Olsen, Toward Normalizing U.S.-Korea Relations: In Due Course?
reviewed by James I. Matray, 320

Jenny Ryun Foster, Frank Stewart, and Heinz Insu Fenkl, ed.
Century of the Tiger: One Hundred Years of Korean Culture in America 1903–2003
reviewed by Wayne Patterson, 323

CONTRIBUTORS, 326

ARTICLES

Creating New Paradigms of Womanhood in Modern Korean Literature: Na Hye-sok’s ‘‘Kyonghui’’
Yung-Hee Kim, 1

Na Hye-sok (1896–1948) lived a pioneering life as an individual woman, artist, and writer during the turbulent period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea. A beneficiary of progressive education in Korea, Japan, and Europe, rarely available to average Koreans of her time, Na enjoyed high social visibility and reputation. She broke new ground in Western oil painting as the first Korean woman professional painter and also had an indelible impact on modern Korean literature and culture as a reform-minded writer and critic. Her life and creative activities, often iconoclastic and audacious, were rarely free of press attention and controversy because they challenged the conventional thinking and status quo of her own society. Her major work, ‘‘Kyonghui,’’ polemicizes some of the urgent and thorny issues of Korean society in the throes of modernization, focusing on gender and patriarchal relations, Confucian family and marriage institutions, and women’s identity and autonomy. Na’s most accomplished work of fiction, ‘‘Kyonghui’’ qualifies itself as the first full-blown, feminist short story in Korean literature, marked by its heroine’s successful completion of self-discovery and her difficult quest for meaning in life as a ‘‘new woman.’’ As such, the story represents one of the towering points in the intellectual annals of modern Korea as well as in modern Korean women’s writing traditions.

Kyonghui
Na Hye-Sok, 61

Full text of Kyonghui’s story, translated by Yung-Hee Kim

Kim Takes Control: The ‘‘Great Purge’’ in North Korea, 1956–1960
Andrei N. Lankov, 87

The unsuccessful attempt to oust Kim Il Sung in 1956 triggered significant changes in North Korean politics and society. North Korea began to drift away from the Soviet patterns, slowly developing its own brand of ‘‘national Stalinism.’’ North Korean relations with the Soviet Union and China also underwent deep transformation. These changes met resistance, but all dissenters were wiped out during large-scale purges, reminiscent of Stalin’s ‘‘Great Purge’’ of 1937. This article, based on previously unknown material from Soviet archives, traces the history of this purge as well as the social, political, and cultural changes of the late 1950s.

Living with Rhetoric, Living against Rhetoric: Korean Families and the IMF Economic Crisis
Seung-kyung Kim and John Finch, 120

This article examines the impact of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) crisis on families in South Korea and the ways that the crisis brought competing ideologies (conservative vs. progressive) to the foreground. Based on fieldwork in South Korea during the financial crisis, we look at how individual families coped with economic insecurity and at the public discourse about family and gender generated by the crisis. The economic crisis caused widespread unemployment and even broader economic uncertainty that created hardships for many families. It also triggered a debate over gender roles and modernization as the country tried to determine the best strategy to cope with its effects. Finally, we look into the differential impact of the crisis on families in different social strata.

BOOK REVIEWS

John B. Duncan, The Origins of the Choson Dynasty
reviewed by Yong-ho Ch’oe, 140

Hildi Kang, Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea, 1910–1945
reviewed by Wayne Patterson, 148

Robert J. Myers, Korea in the Cross Currents: A Century of Struggle and the Crisis of Reunification
reviewed by James I. Matray, 150

H. K. Shin, Remembering Korea 1950: A Boy Soldier’s Story
reviewed by Yong-ho Ch’oe, 153

Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr., The Armed Forces of North Korea
reviewed by Guy Arrigoni, 155

Laura C. Nelson, Measured Excess: Status, Gender, and Consumer Nationalism in South Korea
reviewed by Elise Mellinger, 158

CONTRIBUTORS, 163

ARTICLES

The Parliament of Histories: New Religions, Collective Historiography, and the Nation
Boudewijn Walraven, 157

Historiography is a social process, and professional historians are not the only ones to create images of the past. Therefore an understanding of what history means within a particular society requires an examination of the views of nonprofessional contributors to the historical debate. In this article, the problem of collective historical representation and identity construction at different levels of social organization is mainly illustrated with the recent historiography of religious groups that base themselves on the teachings of Chûngsan Kang Il-sun (1871–1909). In the conclusions, it is argued that a focus on national history, shared by such groups, is not necessarily repressive but offers them an opportunity to carve out a collective identity.

The Nation, the World, and the Dissolution of the Shin’ganhoe: Nationalist Historiography in South Korea
Kenneth M. Wells, 179

This article forwards an interpretation of the Korean united front movement of 1927–1931, the Shin’ganhoe, that might offer some insight into the dynamics of the movement, especially of its dissolution, and that complements the nationalist accounts of it. That the Shin’ganhoe was created under the conditions of Japan’s colonial rule gave the movement its character as a part of the resistance against that rule. But I propose that the movement is not fully explained by that role and that it took on a logic or dynamic of its own that led toward its dissolution in some sense independently of its being a nationalist resistance organization. I then relate the discussion to recent developments in South Korean nationalist historiography, paying particular attention to attempts to “localize” Korean national imperatives by linking them with theories of a global or world system. I conclude with the observation that the linkages made between local and global phenomena, related as they are to the severe internecine competition on the Korean peninsula over the past five decades, appear to be a restatement of central demands of the nationalist position. As such they do not chart a clear route beyond the nationalist paradigm and may suffer from intractable difficulties similar to those that plagued the Shin’ganhoe movement.

The Nation Exorcised: The Historiography of Collaboration in South Korea
Koen De Ceuster, 207

The cloak of silence surrounding collaboration in South Korea was lifted in the 1980s as part of the wider political struggle for democratization. Initially, the discourse on collaboration was caught in the same nationalist paradigm as the state-sanctioned narrative it sought to undermine. By the late 1990s, with democracy firmly established and a new, less-politicized generation of historians entering the field, the historiography of collaboration moved beyond facile incriminations and judgments toward a more comprehensive understanding of this delicate issue. Historical understanding does not, however, resolve the enduring demand for (moral) justice.

The Aesthetic Pasts of Space (1960-1990)
Alain Delissen, 243

Imagined communities and narratives of identity rely heavily on history. Studies of South Korea, however, focus exclusively on academic historiography. Other agencies that link formal history with public culture—such as Konggan, the group created by architect Kim Sugûn that centered on an influential magazine—need proper recounting. With popularization and cultural unification in view, Konggan strove to elaborate Korean identity through aesthetics and aesthetics through history. To take this rhetoric of the past seriously and identify its shifting tropes or mnemonic sites might also refine a cultural history of the Republic of Korea that was not entirely determined by clashing official and dissident cultures.

Affliction and Opportunity: Korean Literature in Diaspora, A Brief Overview
Kichung Kim, 261

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.

BOOK REVIEWS

Judith Cherry, Korean Multinationals in Europe
reviewed by Chung H. Lee, 277

Nicholas Eberstadt and Richard Ellings, ed., Korea’s Future and the Great Powers
reviewed by Timothy C. Lim, 279

Frank Hoffmann, comp., The Harvard Korean Studies Bibliography
reviewed by Kyungmi Chun, 285

Park Sungjong, Aboji, nan nuguyeyo
reviewed by Kichung Kim, 288

ARTICLES

Military Examinations in Late Chosôn, 1700–1863: Elite Substratification and Non-Elite Accommodation
Eugene Y. Park, 1

In late Chosôn, increasing domination of the civil branch of the central government by capital civil official families led to the political marginalization of other yangban families. Turning to military examinations, some in Seoul reproduced themselves as semihereditary military lines that enjoyed the powerful civil officials’ patronage and government support. Many among the provincial elite also chose military careers in the course of their exclusion from central politics. Possible weakening of their local political hegemony, however, may have made the elite status more purely ascriptive in nature, and the military examination degree seems to have lost its appeal. Despite the differentiation, the central civil official, central military official, and local elite families continued to constitute one yangban status group. This elite substratification process enabled the capital military men to retain their membership in yangban society, take pride in their profession, and loyally defend the existing order. Meanwhile, commoners began to participate en masse in the military examinations, but the degree merely helped to satisfy their aspirations for higher social status without actually allowing their political participation. By facilitating elite substratification and non-elite accommodation, the military examinations in late Chosôn appear to have promoted social stability and dynastic longevity.

Ch’anggûk Opera and the Category of the “Traditionesque”
Andrew Killick, 51

Ch’anggûk opera was first developed in the early twentieth century, when it was advertised as shinyôn’gûk, or “new drama,” emphasizing the novelty of its indoor theater setting and acting conventions. Today, ch’anggûk is often described in English as “traditional Korean opera,” mainly because it incorporates elements of the older musical story-telling genre p’ansori. While ch’anggûk has come to base a large part of its appeal on this association with tradition, it has not inspired the commitment to preservation and protection from change that typically distinguishes “traditional” art forms. By surveying the history of ch’anggûk’s relationship to “tradition,” I seek to define a separate category of art forms, the “traditionesque,” which I believe will prove to be an important one, not only in Korea but worldwide.

The Creation of National Treasures and Monuments: The 1916 Japanese Laws on the Preservation of Korean Remains and Relics and Their Colonial Legacies
Hyung Il Pai, 72

This article surveys the history of Korea’s heritage management laws and administration beginning with the current divisions of the Office of Cultural Properties and tracing its structure back to the 1916 Japanese Preservations Laws governing Korean remains and relics. It focuses on the eighty-year-old bureaucratic process that has led to the creation of a distinct Korean patrimony, now codified and ranked in the nationally designated registry of cultural properties (Chijông munhwajae). Due to the long-standing perceived “authentic” status of this sanctified list of widely recognized “Korean” national treasures, they have been preserved, reconstructed, and exhibited as tangible symbols of Korean identity and antiquity since the early colonial era.

“Ten Million Families”: Statistic or Metaphor?
James A. Foley, 96

This article assesses the number of surviving first-generation divided family members in Korea. The estimates of scholars and government agencies of population movement in the two periods in which the majority of families are compared: the liberation period (August 15, 1945, to June 25, 1950) and the Korean War (June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953). In this way, an estimate is made of the number of surviving first-generation divided-family members and of the veracity of the oft-used concept of “ten million families.” The article also examines another less frequently mentioned group of divided-family members: Japanese Koreans “repatriated” to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea between 1959 and 1984.

Korean History Studies in Japan: The 2000 Shigaku Zasshi Review of Historiography
Hamanaka Noboru, Kuwano Eiji, and Nagashima Hiroki, trans. by James Lewis and Kenneth R. Robinson, 111

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.

BOOK REVIEWS

C. Fred Alford, Think No Evil: Korean Values in the Age of Globalization
reviewed by Byung-ok Kil, 128

Taik-young Hamm, Arming the Two Koreas: State, Capital and Military Power
reviewed by Andrei Lankov, 132

Samuel S. Kim, ed., Korea’s Globalization
reviewed by Timothy C. Lim, 133

David R. McCann, Early Korean Literature: Selections and Introductions
reviewed by Kichung Kim, 138

Dennis L. McNamara, ed., Corporatism and Korean Capitalism
reviewed by Timothy C. Lim, 140

Hyung Il Pai and Timothy R. Tangherlini, eds., Nationalism and the Construction of Korean Identity
reviewed by Changzoo Song, 143

Hyung-chan Kim, Tosan Ahn Ch’ang-Ho: A Profile of a Prophetic Patriot
reviewed by Jacqueline Pak, 147

Dae Sook Suh and Chae-Jin Lee, eds., North Korea After Kim Il Sung
reviewed by Andrei Lankov, 151