The Centre for Korean Research invites you to a Book Talk with Peter Banseok Kwon (University at Albany\, SUNY) on Ja nuary 24th\, 2025.
A bout the Talk
South Korean weapons\, now known globally as "K-defense\," including K9 self-propelled howitzers and K2 main battle tank s\, are being sold worldwide. How did a nation that\, as recently as the ea rly 1970s\, was entirely dependent on U.S. military imports and unable to p roduce even basic guns and ammunition\, so rapidly emerge as one of the wor ld's leading arms exporters while simultaneously transforming into an econo mic and technological powerhouse?
In his newly released book\, Corner stone of the Nation: The Defense Industry and the Building of Modern Korea under Park Chung Hee (Harvard University Asia Center\, 2024)\, Peter Kwon e xamines the origins and rapid development of South Korea's defense industry under Park Chung Hee's regime (1961-1979) and its broad impact on the nati on's economic\, technological\, social\, political\, and diplomatic transfo rmation. In this book talk\, Kwon elucidates the intricate processes by whi ch the state mobilized business\, science\, labor\, and citizenry\, forging complex coalitions across public-private\, military-civilian\, security-te chnology\, and state-society sectors to drive simultaneous militarization a nd rapid industrialization. Kwon will also discuss the broader implications of the book's findings for South Korea's ongoing economic and security dis course.
About the Speaker
Peter Banseok Kwon i s Associate Professor of Korean Studies in the Department of East Asian Stu dies at the University at Albany\, SUNY. He earned his Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University\, specializing in modern Kore an history. His research explores the intersection of militarization\, econ omic development\, technological transformation\, and nationalism in Korea and East Asia. Kwon is the author of Cornerstone of the Nation: The Defense Industry and the Building of Modern Korea under Park Chung Hee (Harvard Un iversity Asia Center\, 2024). As a Fulbright U.S. Scholar\, he is currently serving as a visiting professor at the Korea National Defense University a nd a visiting scholar at Yonsei University in South Korea for the 2024-25 a cademic year. His works have been published in Journal of Asian Studies\, J ournal of Korean Studies\, Seoul Journal of Korean Studies\, Korea Journal\ , The National Interest\, East Asia Forum\, and Journal of Social History.< /p> CATEGORIES:Featured Events LOCATION:xʷθəθiqətəm\, Place of Many Trees\, Liu Institute for Global Issues GEO:49.276094;-123.215491 URL;VALUE=URI:https://sppga.ubc.ca/events/event/defense-industry-and-modern -korea/ ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://sppga.cms.arts.ubc.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/10/CKR_Jan-24_Final.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Vancouver BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0700 TZOFFSETTO:-0800 DTSTART:20241103T090000 TZNAME:PST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR