The post-colonial development of modern Korea, on both sides of the DMZ, is an epic story.  On Thursday 18th September 2014, I shared my interpretation of this story in a guest lecture for second-year undergraduate students taking the Asian Studies subject The Making of Modern Asia (AST2MMA) at La Trobe University.

The lecture documents the development of Korea from the late Choson period to the present day, highlighting the divergent modernisation pathways pursued by South and North Korea following the division of the peninsula in 1945.  In particular, the lecture compares and contrasts the corporatist development model pioneered by Park Chung Hee in South Korea with the North Korean command economy instituted under Kim Il Sung.

Thank you to AST2MMA subject coordinators Dr Yangbin Chen and Dr Elise Foxworth for the invitation to present, and to AST2MMA students for their warm welcome and enthusiastic participation in the session.