Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea eBook: Carter J. Eckert: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store
Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea 1st Edition, Kindle Edition
by Carter J. Eckert (Author)
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Amazon.com: 5.0 out of 5 stars 2 reviews
long runner
5.0 out of 5 starsA Valuable Contribution to the Literature on the History of South Korea
22 January 2017 - Published on Amazon.com
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The first of a planned two-volume work, this book examines the role of the military in Korean society during the late Choseon era and the Japanese occupation. The first part of the book traces how, during the late 1800s, Korea’s rulers slowly awakened to the fact that the country was buffeted by the imperialist powers surrounding it, and realized the need for a well-equipped, modern national military force.
The book goes on to provide an extraordinarily thorough analysis of the military culture that developed during the period of Japanese occupation (1905-45), the crucible that molded Park Chung Hee. The author describes in painstaking detail the operation of the military academies in Manchuria and Japan where Park was trained. The thesis is that the military-first orientation, with its relentless emphasis on discipline and goals, would become the defining characteristic of Park’s rule of Korea, enabling both the rise of the modern industrial state and iron-handed suppression of political opposition.
The author’s thorough understanding of the political dynamics of the time and exhaustive research give the book’s analysis and conclusions undeniable authority. This book will surely be indispensable to scholars of the period. But readers expecting a biography of Park Chung Hee will be disappointed. The author approaches the subject from the perspective of Korea’s place in the world, shedding little light on Park’s family life and personality and largely omitting Park’s personal thoughts and feelings during his formative years. (Perhaps such information simply wasn’t available despite the author’s exhaustive research.) Presumably the forthcoming second volume will provide greater insight into the character and personality of the leader who largely shaped the modern state of South Korea. I can’t wait to read it.
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