Korea Europe Review: an interdisciplinary journal of politics, society, and economics
type: channel
language: en
publication name: Korea Europe Review: an interdisciplinary journal of politics, society, and economics
issn: 2750-4832
items: Conference Report
items: Down and Out in Eco-Dystopia: Class and Gender in Wonderful Days
items: Melos in the World of K-Drama
items: Measures to utilize international reduction performance for achieving the Republic of Korea’s 2030 NDC
items: Taxes and subsidies in EU energy policy - Fit for 55?
items: Upgrading for 30-60 Targets: China’s Policy Framework on Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality
items: Diplomatic Challenges for the EU and China in the Era of CORSIA
items: Legal Challenges of Tracing Carbon Emissions in Steel Trade
items: Book Review: Lee, Namhee. 2022. Memory Construction and the Politics of Time in Neoliberal South Korea. Durham: Duke University Press.
items: Book Review: Sungjoon Cho and Jürgen Kurtz: Investing the ASEAN Way: Theories and Practices of Economic Integration in Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press, 2022.
items: Guest editorial
items: Guest Editorial: Framing Sustainable Security on the Korean Peninsula
items: Securitization during Crises: the Korean Peninsula and the East Asian regional order
items: South Korea’s “3-D” Problem: De-risking and Diversifying in Response to China’s Economic Coercion
items: Cyber Security – pilot project for security cooperation between the EU and South Korea
items: Editorial: Compressed Modernity - Book Symposium
items: Compressed Modernity and Its Life World Predicaments: Replies and Elaborations
items: Parallel Problematics? Chang Kyung-Sup’s Logic of Compressed Modernity and Critical Human Geography
items: A Tale of two Cities: Revisiting compressed modernity(ies) and their logic(s)
items: Compressed Modernity or Elusive Modernity?
items: Chang Kyung-sup and The Logic of Compressed Modernity: A Review Article
items: Is it compressed modernity or colonial modernity? South Korea today
items: Against Over-Reliance on Military Power
items: Korea, Japan, and the Vienna School
items: Wilhelm Schmidt and his East Asian Legacy
items: Korea’s Role in Japan’s Ethnogenesis
items: A Close Reading of Alexander Slawik’s Kulturschichten in Altkorea (1936)
items: Building Bridges in Turbulent Times
items: Prospects for International Peace and Security Cooperation in East Asia and Korea’s Role
items: German and Korean Approaches to the Indo-Pacific

Conference Report
type: item
description: The 7th Berlin Forum on Korea, held on November 11-12, 2023, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Graduate School of East Asian Studies. Titled "Diversity in Unity – Cultural Diplomacy in East Asia," the conference brought together scholars to explore cultural diplomacy and heritage preservation. Discussions focused on how countries without significant political power can influence cultural discourses and the challenge of reconciling claims of cultural uniqueness with shared traditions. The forum emphasized the negotiation of tradition, the interplay between cultural and heritage diplomacy, and the reception of cultural narratives by international audiences
subject: Conference Report
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Dalila Hadzic
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Dalila Hadzic https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.46

Down and Out in Eco-Dystopia: Class and Gender in Wonderful Days
type: item
description: The film Wonderful Days plays out in a science fiction setting the history of Korea’s struggle against dictatorial rule. The plot concerns an attempt to end the exploitation of the oppressed workers. However, the symbolism is muddled and confused because of the reactionary approach to gender. The symbol of the Korean middle class and only female character is a passive observer, which elides the crucial role of the middle class in the struggle against dictatorship. By succumbing to gender roles typical of Korean romantic dramas, the film fails at effectively dramatizing Korean class conflict in its futuristic post-apocalyptic setting. This article brings history into the analysis of this film and by extension to analysis of science fiction and film overall. It offers an example of the integration of historical analysis into scholarly work on popular film.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Christopher Lovins
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Christopher Lovins https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2022-12-27
publication date: 2022-12-27
doi: 10.48770/ker.2022.no3.17

Melos in the World of K-Drama
type: item
description: This essay elucidates the concept of the “affective interlude,” a moment in the K-drama that showcases emotion, typically of a character within the drama, while soliciting viewers to feel something, such as sympathy or outrage, in relation to it. This moment is emblematic of the poetics of the K-drama and exemplary of popular moving image narrative more generally. Part two of this essay considers the affective interlude in the context of its reproducibility. In doing so, we can begin to understand the K-drama as an aesthetic form that functions as an archive of Korean emotion.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Steve Choe
rights: Copyright (c) 2022 Steve Choe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2022-12-27
publication date: 2022-12-27
doi: 10.48770/ker.2022.no3.18

Measures to utilize international reduction performance for achieving the Republic of Korea’s 2030 NDC
type: item
description: ROK submitted 37 percent of its 2030 emissions forecast as a reduction target in June 2015. Accordingly, RoK changed its existing goal based on highly variable and uncertain emission forecasts (BAU) according to changes in economic growth to an absolute amount method that is highly reliable in the international community, and confirmed a 24.4 percent reduction in 2017 to 2030 NDC in Dec. 2020. However, in the case of RoK, unlike the will to reduce greenhouse gases, it is not easy to achieve the reduction target due to the limitations of the current energy source and economic structure, and a cooperative approach under Article 6.2 of the Paris Agreement must be considered. Therefore, it shall require institutional grounds and the means of securing financial resources for implementing and activating overseas reduction projects to efficiently achieve national GHG emissions reduction targets established in the “GHG reduction hub in ROK”. Thus, the international carbon market shall be listed to be revitalized in the future, considering diverse efforts to accomplish RoK’s global objectives and goals for tackling the climate crisis and the declaration on 2050 carbon neutrality.
subject: Policy Insights
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Eun-Jung Kim
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Eun-Jung Kim https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-08-25
publication date: 2023-08-25
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no4.19

Taxes and subsidies in EU energy policy - Fit for 55?
type: item
description: In the “Fit for 55” package of July 2021, the European Commission proposed inter alia a revision of the energy taxation directive with the intent of increasing tax rates for fossil fuels that should contribute to achieving the EU’s emission reduction targets for 2030. Since then, climate policy challenges in the EU have been amplified by sharp increases in electricity and gas prices as a result of the war in Ukraine and unfavourable weather conditions. Energy price spikes have led to the implementation of numerous compensation measures for households and firms in EU Member States. In this article, we provide an overview of the discussion on energy taxation in the EU and analyse compensation measures implemented during the energy crisis. We find that energy-cost related compensation measures counter climate policy efforts. A stronger focus on vulnerable groups would have reduced the overall costs of measures and entailed stronger energy efficiency incentives.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Claudia Kettner
creator: Eva Wretschitsch
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Claudia Kettner https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-08-25
publication date: 2023-08-25
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no4.20

Upgrading for 30-60 Targets: China’s Policy Framework on Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality
type: item
description: As the largest developing economy and the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, China is contributing to global efforts to combat climate change by the commitment to peak carbon dioxide emission before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. Besides the considerations of fulfilling international obligations, China’s 30/60 targets are the result of continual evolution and upgrading of domestic decarbonization policies. To this end, China is constructing a “1+N” policy system and upgrading existing policies such as “dual control” over energy consumptions, production capacity management, emissions trading, and green finance. At the same time, China is facing challenges such as onerous workload, bottlenecks of energy transition, regional imbalances, technological innovation and accounting and statistics of the GHG emissions. It is expected that these challenges will highlight the importance of transforming development paradigms and accelerating research and development, and will further stimulate the upgrading of China’s policy system.
subject: Policy Insights
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Xiaoping Zhang
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Xiaoping Zhang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-08-25
publication date: 2023-08-25
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no4.21

Diplomatic Challenges for the EU and China in the Era of CORSIA
type: item
description: Civil aviation has expanded in recent years, and the sector’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have grown rapidly, which accounts for 2-3 percent of global CO2 emissions. The EU has taken the lead in addressing aviation emissions to cover aviation sectors in the EU ETS. Meanwhile, at the international level, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). This article examines the diplomatic challenges that the EU and China will face because of their different responses to CORSIA. The EU has introduced CORSIA to its aviation ETS, while China has not participated in CORSIA and opposes its unified climate target, baseline, and mechanism. The main future challenge for the EU will arise if and when the EU decides to extend its ETS to non-EEA flights from 2027 onwards to countries that refuse to use CORSIA, as this would (1) be inconsistent with the “anti-duplication clause” of ICAO Assembly Resolution A40-19 and (2) constitute an extraterritorial application of EU rules to other jurisdictions, which risks being perceived as a violation of the sovereignty of a third country. In addition, the EU Aviation ETS Directive may also raise the issues of minimum harmonisation and regulatory differentiation within the EU itself. China, on the other hand, has tried to establish its own ETS with the major diplomatic challenge for China being its deviation from the MRV requirements of CORSIA.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Ying Xie
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Ying Xie https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-08-25
publication date: 2023-08-25
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no4.22

Legal Challenges of Tracing Carbon Emissions in Steel Trade
type: item
description: Recent initiatives on carbon restrictions on trade, such as the EU carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), the US proposal on a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminium, and the G7 Climate Club, raise questions of both legal and practical nature. Specifically, how the carbon footprint of imports will be determined and what the role of sector-related decarbonization initiatives and emissions certification schemes will be in this process. Different production methods and energy sources of steel production across countries, coupled with the absence of common emission accounting methodologies and universally accepted certification schemes in the steel industry, present a significant challenge for measurement and verification of carbon emissions in global value chains. Drawing on the case study of South Korea’s steel exports to the EU and having analyzed the regulatory frameworks for emissions reductions in the steel sector of the EU and Korea and the role of carbon pricing instruments in stimulating the transition to low-carbon steel production, the article comes to the conclusion that EU’s use of its own MRV system for the verification of actual emissions of foreign producers will raise administrative costs of the EU CBAM and risks of trade tensions. The EU should therefore take the lead in creating a comprehensive international framework for tracing emissions in products, including steel. This can be achieved through leveraging the G7 Climate Club platform, garnering support from international organizations, fostering public-private steel decarbonization partnerships, and promoting cross-border collaboration among major steel manufacturers to facilitate data and best practice sharing.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Kateryna Holzer
creator: Ievgeniia Kopytsia
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Kateryna Holzer, Ievgeniia Kopytsia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-08-25
publication date: 2023-08-25
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no4.23

Book Review: Lee, Namhee. 2022. Memory Construction and the Politics of Time in Neoliberal South Korea. Durham: Duke University Press.
type: item
description: Research on memory has gained much of importance over the years, particularly since the end of the Cold War and the establishment of a number of networks and institutions that eventually led to the foundation of the Memory Studies Association in 2016. The growing number of publications on a broad range of Korea-related topics bears witness to the popularity and relevance that this research gained within the Korean Studies over the past roughly twenty years. While few authors deal with aspects of collective memory construction in Korea’s past, most publications focus on developments of the long 20th century present, notably the period after the division of the peninsula in 1945. Lee Namhee’s latest book Memory Construction and the Politics of Time in Neoliberal South Korea connects to a range of different topics on this South Korea-related memory research. At the same time, it continues and deepens further her longstanding work on Korea’s democracy and minjung.
subject: Reviews
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Florian Poelking
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Florian Poelking https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-08-25
publication date: 2023-08-25
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no4.24

Book Review: Sungjoon Cho and Jürgen Kurtz: Investing the ASEAN Way: Theories and Practices of Economic Integration in Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press, 2022.
type: item
description: The book explores the manner in which ASEAN's history and culture have fundamentally shaped its foreign investment policies, leading to outcomes that often depart fundamentally from the external structure and script of Global Investment Law.
subject: Reviews
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Ratih Indraswari
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Ratih Indraswari https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-08-25
publication date: 2023-08-25
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no4.25

Guest editorial
type: item
description: The EU and Korea have established close collaboration across numerous domains, spanning from sustainable development and economic growth to cutting-edge technology projects. Both regions share fundamental values centered on freedom and open markets. Moreover, at national level they are joining forces to realize the shared objective of carbon neutralization through a range of strategic initiatives. We are delighted to present this issue focusing on the cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Korea in the realms of carbon neutralization and economic diplomacy.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Sunkung Choi
creator: S.E. (Stefan) Weishaar
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Sunkung Choi, S.E. (Stefan) Weishaar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-08-25
publication date: 2023-08-25
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no4.26

Guest Editorial: Framing Sustainable Security on the Korean Peninsula
type: item
description: In this issue entitled “Framing Sustainable Security on the Korean Peninsula”, we seek to broaden this focus and bring non-traditional security considerations into the conversation regarding traditional ones, which remain salient to the region. The issue brings together an exciting selection of scholars and practitioners who have generated timely and critical insights into the complex security environment of not just the peninsula itself but East Asia more broadly.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Francesca Frassineti
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Francesca Frassineti https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.27

Securitization during Crises: the Korean Peninsula and the East Asian regional order
type: item
description: This article analyses how North and South Korea have responded to the two global crises of the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the implications of such responses on the East Asian regional order. Through adopting the framework of securitization theory, this article argues that these two global crises have expanded how North and South Korea conceptualise security, but also highlighted continuities in how the two states frame their external geopolitical environments. In so doing, these outlooks have influenced resultant behaviour – from both states – which, in turn, have led to consequences within the region. Such consequences, however, have not always been beneficial to regional and global security. This article argues how whilst it remains too early to tell if a new trilateral relationship is forming between Russia, China, and North Korea, Pyongyang’s heightened securitization of coronavirus and the United States “hostile policy” have instigated gradual shifts in the regional order. At the same time, South Korea has placed particular attention on strengthening its existing bilateral alliances and widening its self-conceptualisation as a provider and stabiliser of regional and global security. Ultimately, Seoul seeks to pursue an increasingly independent foreign policy in line with its status as a ‘global pivotal state’.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Edward Howell
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Edward Howell https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.28

South Korea’s “3-D” Problem: De-risking and Diversifying in Response to China’s Economic Coercion
type: item
description: China has used coercive economic measures against South Korea since 2017 to retaliate for the installation of the THAAD anti-ballistic missile system, but little is known about the Korean strategy for responding to these measures. Informed by interviews with foreign policymakers, business leaders, and scholars of international relations in Korea, this essay reinterprets the politics of international trade in an age of great-power rivalry from the perspective of middle powers. It does so by using Albert Hirschman’s insight that great powers tend to abuse the influence that stems from holding a dominant economic position against their smaller international counterparts, but in so doing create incentives for middle (and small) powers to reduce their exposure to such asymmetric trading relations. We use three cases to illustrate how South Korean firms and policymakers have responded with a strategy that seeks to manage the risks of co-existing with China (“de-risking” and “diversification”) rather than completly escaping from the Chinese economic orbit (“decoupling”). In doing so, we illustrate the impact of and limits to coercive statecraft and the strategy that Korea has pursued in response to its “3-D” problem.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: David Hundt
creator: Baogang He
creator: Dominic Simonelli
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 David Hundt, Baogang He, Dominic Simonelli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.29

Cyber Security – pilot project for security cooperation between the EU and South Korea
type: item
description: The Republic of Korea, one of the five strategic partners of the EU in the Indo-Pacific, entertains not only a closely-knit framework of agreements with the EU but is also the only country which has concluded three comprehensive agreements (Framework Agreement/Free Trade Agreement/Crisis Management Framework Participation Agreement) with the EU.
subject: Policy Insights
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Michael Reiterer
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Michael Reiterer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.30

Editorial: Compressed Modernity - Book Symposium
type: item
description: I am delighted to introduce this book symposium which provides an opportunity to revisit and recontextualize Chang Kyung-Sup’s most influential theoretical contribution, but also to (re)frame the future conversation by discussing its global implications for current socio-economic scholarship. It features essays by a group of distinguished scholars, to all of whom I would like to extend my sincere thanks for their commitment to this endeavour.
subject: Book Symposium
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Christoph M. Michael
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Christoph Michael https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.31

Compressed Modernity and Its Life World Predicaments: Replies and Elaborations
type: item
description: The five review essays offered on my book, The Logic of Compressed Modernity, in the current book symposium commonly yet complementarily suggest that the thesis of compressed modernity has wide potential – for that matter, diverse necessities – to be applied and assessed beyond the mainly discussed realities of South Korean history, society, and politics as follows.
subject: Book Symposium
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Kyung-Sup Chang
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Kyung-Sup Chang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.32

Parallel Problematics? Chang Kyung-Sup’s Logic of Compressed Modernity and Critical Human Geography
type: item
description: The Logic of Compressed Modernity provides a panoramic overview of Chang Kyung-Sup’s work as a pioneering, critical sociologist, and a subtle reframing of his contribution to the broader social sciences to draw out its global significance. In my contribution to this book symposium, I want to focus on how Chang’s ideas concerning compressed modernity have developed in parallel to cognate ideas and complementary approaches within human geography. And yet, surprisingly, engagement between these two critical traditions has not been as extensive as their affinities might suggest.
subject: Book Symposium
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Jamie Doucette
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Jamie Doucette https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.33

A Tale of two Cities: Revisiting compressed modernity(ies) and their logic(s)
type: item
description: Chang Kyung-Sup’s The Logic of Compressed Modernity opens with the book cover seemingly coming alive, right from the first science fiction attempts from the beginning of the twentieth century to describe the city and people of the future. At once anonymous but familiar, phantasmagorical but realistic, dark but illuminated by thousands of electric lights, and lonely but densely populated, such a dystopian portrayal of a (post)modern metropolis and a (half)man peeking out of the soon-to-be-museum slums can exist anywhere–a non-place.
subject: Book Symposium
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Irina Lyan
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Irina Lyan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.34

Compressed Modernity or Elusive Modernity?
type: item
description: The publication of professor Chang’s book The Logic of Compressed Modernity is reassuring for those researchers who are interested in studies of modern societies and modernization. These researchers may often feel discouraged for the concepts of modernization and modernity fell out of fashion in mainstream sociology and especially political science. However, both concepts are still in demand in many regions with so called “catching-up development” including post-communist Central and Eastern Europe and China.
subject: Book Symposium
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Yuriy Savelyev
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Yuriy Savelyev https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.35

Chang Kyung-sup and The Logic of Compressed Modernity: A Review Article
type: item
description: Chang Kyung-sup’s concept of “compressed modernity” is a useful and often insightful way of understanding contemporary South Korea. While a vast literature has been devoted to explaining the country’s extraordinary economic, social, and political transformation in the past few decades most of it fails to explain the anomalies that characterize South Korea. The author attempts to come up with a conceptualization of South Korea and its perpetual state of transformation that persuasively addresses the very anomalies of the country’s development and the issues that have been expressed by writers, artists, and filmmakers.
subject: Book Symposium
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Michael J. Seth
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Michael J. Seth https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.36

Is it compressed modernity or colonial modernity? South Korea today
type: item
description: There are three queries that organise the book, The Logic of Compressed Modernity: first it traces the particular attributes of South Korean modernity; second, it suggests theories/perspectives that can be used to comprehend this modernity; third, it suggests that South Korea’s transition process is comparable to other regions of the world and particularly generalisable to countries in East Asia. The canvas of the book is extremely wide and it covers almost all attributes of modernity that organise the discussions on this theme - be it the economic, the political and the cultural. It also brings together discussions made by every scholar of note on modernity in the last two to three decades.
subject: Book Symposium
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Sujata Patel
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Sujata Patel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.37

Against Over-Reliance on Military Power
type: item
description: This article examines the shift in diplomatic strategies following the onset of the second Cold War, where military power has re-emerged as the primary means of ensuring security. It challenges the prevailing view that conflicts are primarily caused by malevolent actors and argues against the reliance on military might for conflict resolution. Instead, the article advocates for focusing on preventing bargaining failures and overconfidence in negotiation positions. Utilizing game theory, the article highlights the deficiencies in oversimplified conflict paradigms and suggests that allies of hegemonic powers should engage in independent dialogue with perceived threats. Through simplified game models and empirical evidence, the article challenges the logic of hegemonic enforcement and power-based norm negotiation, proposing alternative frameworks for achieving peace and security.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Timo Kivimäki
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Timo Kivimäki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.45

Korea, Japan, and the Vienna School
type: item
description: This issue of Korea Europe Review examines the complex interplay between Japanese colonialism, the Vienna School of Ethnology, and the development of East Asian ethnology. The guest editors present a series of original articles exploring how Japanese scholars, influenced by the Vienna School’s methodologies, navigated the political landscape to shape discourse on Japanese-Korean ethnic relations. Through the works of figures like Wilhelm Schmidt, Oka Masao, and Alexander Slawik, the issue highlights how academic frameworks were adapted, sometimes to justify colonial ideologies and at other times to foster new understandings of cultural origins and ethnic identity.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Juljan Biontino
creator: Bernhard Scheid
creator: David Weiss
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Juljan Biontino, Bernhard Scheid, David Weiss https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.44

Wilhelm Schmidt and his East Asian Legacy
type: item
description: The Vienna School of Ethnology has left a dubious legacy in the field of cultural anthropological studies. After the initial successes of its “culture circles” theory in the 1920s and 1930s, the view prevailed that it was permeated by Catholic theological and missionary doctrines that did not stand up to scientific scrutiny. In post-war anthropology, and especially in Viennese cultural anthropology, the school and the writings of its founder and spiritual rector, Father Wilhelm Schmidt (1868–1954), soon became a no-go area. As a result, the school’s influence on neighbouring disciplines, such as Japanese prehistory and ethnogenesis, including prehistoric cultural relations between Japan and Korea, has been downplayed and neglected. This essay addresses these issues. After an outline of Schmidt’s life and work, it examines his influence on East Asian students of ethnology and prehistory who, attracted by Schmidt's academic charisma, studied in Vienna and spread his theories in Japan and Korea.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Bernhard Scheid
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Bernhard Scheid https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.41

Korea’s Role in Japan’s Ethnogenesis
type: item
description: Oka Masao (1898–1982), a pioneer of Japanese ethnology, studied in Vienna, where he encountered the diffusionist theory of culture circles. This inspired him to write a dissertation combining concepts of the culture circle theory with his knowledge of Japanese folklore studies and prehistory to create a model of Japanese ethnogenesis. The originality of this approach becomes apparent when contrasting Oka’s interpretation of the Tan’gun myth with politically inspired studies of his contemporaries. The framework of culture circles allowed Oka to emphasize the parity and interconnectedness of early Korean and Japanese cultures. During the war, Oka conducted “ethnic studies” to support colonial policies. However, after the war he returned to the ethnohistorical topics of his Viennese dissertation, which helped to overcome the emperor-centred wartime ideology and to correct chauvinist views of Korea in Japan. This article contextualizes this contradictory figure and his work with a special focus on his perception of Korea.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: David Weiss
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 David Weiss https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.43

A Close Reading of Alexander Slawik’s Kulturschichten in Altkorea (1936)
type: item
description: Alexander Slawik (1900-1998), head of the Japanese Studies department at Vienna University from 1965 on, modelled his PhD thesis, Kulturschichten in Altkorea (Cultural Strata in Ancient Korea, 1936), closely after that of his friend and colleague Oka Masao (1898-1982), who dealt with the same questions concerning Japan. This paper provides a close reading and analysis of Slawik’s unpublished thesis, analysing and contextualizing his sources, outlining issues of interpretation, and delineating how Korea became an academic tool to deconstruct and objectify Japan. Asking how Slawik positions himself in the academic discourse, the paper scrutinizes the political inclinations of Slawik and his stance on imperialism. Korea became a significant “other” in Slawik’s understanding of Japan and was key in his understanding of area studies in general. Finally, the paper traces Slawik’s legacy in Korea. Even though Slawik had educated a handful of Korean students in Vienna, his work never received translation into Korean. Still, traces of his research and teaching can be found.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Juljan Biontino
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Juljan Biontino https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.42

Building Bridges in Turbulent Times
type: item
description: This issue of the Korea Europe Review arrives amid global uncertainty, emphasizing the urgent need for diplomacy and strategic partnerships. Featured articles explore South Korea’s growing role in EU relations and its influence among middle powers. The issue also delves into East Asian security dynamics, including trilateral efforts with the U.S. and Japan, while proposing innovative frameworks for regional stability. Additionally, it highlights the impact of civil society and humanitarian diplomacy in promoting peace.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Eun-Jeung Lee
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Eun-Jeung Lee https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.48

Prospects for International Peace and Security Cooperation in East Asia and Korea’s Role
type: item
description: East Asia is a region deeply affected by conflict. Colonial, ideological, and national wars have left their scars and legacies, including disputed borders and divided loyalties. This article focuses on the challenges facing traditional multilateral security cooperation in East Asia. It also, however, considers the evolution of security and governance conceptualisations, assesses and proposes new structures for international cooperation, and addresses the rise of new actors, especially the Republic of Korea (ROK), all of which offer a degree of hope for the future provision of peace and security in the region. The first analytical section considers global shifts in security and governance conceptualisations, from conflict management and resolution to transformation of conflictual relationships, noting the rise of non-traditional security (NTS) issues, and the extent to which the region has been able to adapt. This is followed by a critique of the existing security architectures, whether middlepower led multilateralism, or great power dominated minilateralism. The third section identifies new potential security architectures (NTS minilaterals and regional international commissions) led by an emerging new categorisation of second-tier powers, of which South Korea is one of the most notable.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Brendan M. Howe
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Brendan M. Howe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.50

German and Korean Approaches to the Indo-Pacific
type: item
description: This article analyses and compares the Indo-Pacific strategy papers of Germany (2020) and South Korea (2022). Both are democratic industrial, trading, and welfare nations as well as middle powers that have recently adjusted their foreign policies. There are also numerous parallels in their turn towards the Indo-Pacific. China is their largest trading partner, which comes with numerous useful but also critical dependencies and interdependencies. At the same time, both Seoul and Berlin are heavily dependent on the US in terms of security policy and are linked to it politically, economically, and socially in many ways. Their Indo-Pacific concepts reflect this balancing act, the current geopoliticisation, and the desire to reduce existing dependencies, diversify, and have a mitigating effect on the regional and global rivalry between the US and China. South Korea and Germany would be ideal partners who could coordinate their goals for the region and cooperate in many ways.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
subject: Array
  topic: keywords
creator: Dan Krause
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dan Krause https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.51