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

One day, I received an email from Chung Jong-hyun, a junior colleague 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 asked me to handle the translation and other related matters. I had met him in Seoul in June of the year before last, shortly after the original book was published, and received a copy directly from him. This was at a cold noodle restaurant near our 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 engagements. However, more than that, I was simply happy that a portion of his research on Korean students at Imperial Universities—a project he had been working on since his one-year postdoctoral fellowship in Kyoto—had finally been compiled and published.

Until now, research on Korean students in Japan during the colonial era has existed in both Korea and Japan. When discussing Korean students in Japan, the focus was typically on Keio University during the Enlightenment period and Waseda University during the colonial era. However, as the colonial system became established, and for some time after independence, it was the graduates of Imperial Universities who stood at the center of the political, governmental, financial, and academic worlds 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 alumni.

Looking at the title, many might imagine a stiff, academic content. This book certainly meets the expectations of such readers. 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 flat or one-dimensional. For example, the story of Choi Han-geom—the third son of historian Choi Nam-son, who had constant conflicts with his father over his career path—is even moving. He eventually went 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 offer condolences at the funeral of his father, who had passed away in the South.

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 "knowledge" discourse formation in a corner of East Asia might be clarified. It can be said that this book has submitted a springboard for such discussions to both Korean and Japanese academia.

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

Naoki Watanabe (Translator)

Keio University Press

352 pages, 3,740 yen (tax included)

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