Michael Kim
Professor of Korean History at Yonsei University's Graduate School of International Studies.
Michael Kim is a historian of Modern Korean History and the Japanese Colonial Empire. He received an A.B. in History from Dartmouth College and his Ph.D. in Korean history from Harvard University's East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department. His specialty is colonial Korean history (1910-1945), particularly in print culture, migration, wartime mobilization and everyday life.
Recent Works
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History
The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History is part of the larger online Oxford Research Encyclopedia, a dynamic digital encyclopedia continuously updated by the world’s leading scholars and researchers.
The Brassware Industry and the Salvage Campaigns of Wartime Colonial Korea
Business History 64, no. 5 (2022): 923-945
The Japanese colonial state requisitioned brassware from Korean households during World War II. To overcome the reluctance of Koreans to part with their brassware, the Japanese ultimately created a ‘brass bureaucracy’ that coordinatied various actors across multiple organisations, provided ceramic replacements, and established a system of financial payments.
Staging Images of Everyday Life in Late Colonial Korea: Colonial Visuality and the Proliferation of Amateur Photography
Asian Studies Review 45, no.3 (2021): 381-399
At the height of World War II, the the Japanese propagandized and mobilized the colonial population. Curiously, images from the period often provided views of a more mundane everyday life, filled with smiling children going to school and farmers living an idyllic communal life. Late colonial publications offer a fascinating visual archive of Korea due to the spread of amateur photography.
Download Michael Kim's research @Academia.edu.
Videos and Podcasts
NPR Thoroughline: How Korean Culture Went Global
From BTS to Squid Game to high-end beauty standards, South Korea reigns as a global exporter of pop culture and entertainment. How does a country go from a war-decimated state just 70 years ago, to a major driver of global soft power? In this podcast, Michael Kim narrates how Korea went through war, occupation, economic crisis, and ultimately develope a global phenomenon - the Korean wave.
Asia Society Hong Kong: Ode to My Father Film Discussion
Michael Kim underscores the unique memories of Koreans about the Korean War and its aftermath, and how the new generation’s view of traditional Korean values and the importance of family has evolved in recent years (29 Aug 2021).
Japan on the Record
In this episode, Michael Kim responds to controversial claims in the Japanese media that Japan's higher "mindo" (level of culture) explains its successful response to the coronavirus pandemic, providing historical context about how rhetoric of "mindo" fit into Japanese colonial rule in Korea.
Imagining the Dual City in Colonial Korea
Presentation for the 41st Societas Koreana Lecture held by the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) on the duality of Colonial Seoul (24 April 2013).
The Korea Now Podcast #111 ‘The Trouble with Christian Publishing
This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview conducted with Michael Kim on the history of the Christian Publishing Company (Changmunsa) and the unique insights that can be gained from the diaries and letters of Yun Ch’iho (1864–1945).
The Korea Now Podcast #99 ‘Industrial Warriors and Recognizing Religions'
This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview conducted with Michael Kim about the arrival and place of Western missionaries in Korea before Japanese colonisation; Michael Kim also speaks about the struggles that the Japanese war-machine had in keeping-up industrial production and the elaborate ways that the colonial state sought to control and restructure everyday life.