Koreans at Imperial Universities: The Origins of the Republic of Korea's Elite by Chung Jong-hyun

2021/06/09

One day, I received an email from Mr. Chung Jong-hyun, a junior from my time studying in South Korea. He informed me that he had received an offer from a Japanese publisher to translate his book and requested that I handle the translation and other related matters. Just after the original book was published in June the year before last, I met him in Seoul and received a copy of the book directly from him. This took place at a cold noodle restaurant near his alma mater, Dongguk University. According to those present, the book had been very well-received since its publication, and the author was busy with interviews and other activities. However, more than that, I was happy that a part of the results of his research on Korean students at imperial universities—work he had been doing since his one-year postdoc in Kyoto—had finally been compiled and published.

Until now, research on students studying in Japan or Tokyo during the colonial period has existed in both Korea and Japan. In those studies, it was generally accepted that students from the Korean Peninsula went to Keio University during the enlightenment period and Waseda University during the colonial period. However, as the colonial system became established, and even for a while after independence, it was graduates of imperial universities who were at the center of the political, governmental, financial, and academic circles of the Korean Peninsula. In particular, the Third Higher School (Sanko) was open to those from the colonies, and its graduates accounted for a large portion of imperial university graduates.

Looking at the title of this book, many might imagine it to be a serious, academic work. The book certainly meets those expectations. On the other hand, the numerous episodes woven into the book regarding Korean imperial university graduates prevent the reader's understanding of history from becoming one-dimensional. For example, there is the story of Choi Han-kom, the third son of historian Choi Nam-son, who had constant conflicts with his father over his career path. He eventually moved to North Korea with the People's Army during the Korean War, but a few years later, he sent a Japanese friend in his stead to attend the funeral of his father, who had passed away in the South. This account is even deeply moving.

While this book introduces and analyzes graduates of Tokyo Imperial University and Kyoto Imperial University in detail, expanding the scope to other imperial universities might allow for a slightly more complex mapping. Furthermore, by analyzing not only the movements of graduates but also the history of how Japanese academia negotiated with both the North and South of the Korean Peninsula after liberation, the process of discourse formation regarding "knowledge" in a corner of East Asia might be clarified. It can be said that this book has presented a starting point for such discussions to academia in both Korea and Japan.

Koreans at Imperial Universities: The Origins of the Republic of Korea's Elite by Chung Jong-hyun

Naoki Watanabe (Trans.)

Keio University Press

352 pages, 3,740 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.