Hyung-Gu Lynn is the AECL/KEPCO Chair in Korean Research.

Dr. Lynn’s research focuses on Korea and Japan, ranging in chronological coverage from the late-19th century to the present. Research areas include: (1) popular culture; (2) migration; (3) international relations; (4) political history; (5) business history; and (6) visual culture. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and his MA and BA from the University of British Columbia.

Publications (Selected)

https://ubc.academia.edu/HyungGuLynn 

Books

Bipolar Orders: The Two Koreas Since 1989 (London: Zed Books, 2007).

Ordine bipolare: Le due Coree dal 1989 (Roma: EDT, 2009). Italian version of Bipolar Orders.

Edited, Critical Readings on the Colonial Period of Korea, 1910-1945, 4 volumes (Leiden: Brill, 2012).

Articles, Book Chapters, Essays
“Korean Webtoon and Identity Politics in the Digital Age,” in Youna Kim, ed., Introducing Korean Popular Culture (London: Routledge, 2023),  157-165.

“Entanglements of Mobility and Immobility: A review of eight documentaries,” Pacific Affairs 95, no. 2 (2002): 309-322.

“History of Korea 1905-1945,” in JeongHun Han, Ramon Pardo, and Youngho Cho, eds., Oxford Handbook of Korean Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), 17-33.

“Japan-South Korea International Relations,” in Sojin Lim, and Niki Alsford, eds., Routledge Handbook of Contemporary South Korea (London: Routledge, 2021), 292-311.

“Mobilities and Migrations in Modern East Asia: review essay,” Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 20, no. 2 (2020): 255-269.

“Development, Discernment, and Death: Dore on the South Korean Economy,” Pacific Affairs 92, no. 4 (2019): 715-728.

“Korean Webtoons: Explaining Growth,” Kankoku kenkyū senta- nenpō (Institute of Korean Studies Annual), 16 (2016): 1-13.

“Reflection requires reading: A new Japanese middle-school history textbook,” Asia Pacific Memo, #379, May 3, 2016.

“Moomins Multiplied: How Finnish art became popular in Japan,” Asia Pacific Memo, #371, March 25, 2016

”Hope or Worry for the Future? Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol in Seoul,” Asia Pacific Memo, #368, March 11, 2016.

“South Korean webtoons: challenges of translating the domestic to the global,” Asia Pacific Memo, #366, February 26, 2016.

“Music for the Mind? Virtuosity and Performativity in Celebrity Diplomacy,” Asia Pacific Memo, #314, October 29, 2015.

“Of Sea Squirts and FTAs: Ten years of Chile-South Korea FTA,” Asia Pacific Memo, #283, April 1, 2014.

“Globalization and the Cold War,” in Richard Immerman, and Petra Goede, eds., Oxford Handbook on the Cold War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 584-601.

“Assessing Political Stability in Post-Kim Jong Il North Korea,” On Korea, vol. 6 (Washington DC: Korea Economic Institute, 2013): 3-21.

“Review Essay: Kimjongilia and Crossing the Line” American Anthropologist, 113, no. 1 (2011): 156-158.

Co-authored with Apichai Shipper, and Eunice Kang, “Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration in East Asia,” in Robert A. Denemark, ed., International Studies Compendium Project (Oxford: Blackwell, 2010).

“History of Gendered Migration in the Two Koreas,” Harvard Asia Quarterly 11, no. 1 (2008): 16-31.

“Chūō Chōsen Kyōkai to shokuminchiki Chōsen no seisaku kettei katei” [Chūō Chōsen Kyōkai and Policy-Making in Colonial Korea], in Matsuda Toshihiko, ed. Nihon no Chōsen, Taiwan shihai to shokuminchi kanryō [Colonial Bureaucrats in the Japanese Empire] (Kyoto: Kokusai Nihon bunka kenkyū senta-, 2008), 325-339 (Japanese).

“Moving Pictures: Postcards of Colonial Korea,” International Institute of Asian Studies Newsletter, no. 44 (2007): 8-9.

“Vicarious Traumas: Television and Public Opinion in Japan’s North Korea Policy,” Pacific Affairs 79, no. 3 (2006): 482-508.

“Malthusian Dreams, Colonial Imaginary: The Oriental Development Company and Emigration to Korea,” in Caroline Elkins and Susan Pedersen, eds., Settler Colonialism in the Twentieth Century: Projects, Practices and Legacies (London: Routledge, 2005), 25-40.

“Powering the Ignorant Eye: Aesthetic Value and Korean Film,” Harvard Asia Pacific Review 8, no 2 (2004): 22-25.

“Fashioning Modernity: Changing Meanings of Clothing in Colonial Korea,” Journal of International and Area Studies 11, no. 3 (2004): 75-93.

“Pung-Mi yǒn’guja ŭi Han’guk yǒksahak insik” [Antinomies of Distance and Desire: Epistemology of Korean History in North America], Yoksa pip’yông 66, no. 1 (2004): 159-179. (Korean).

“Industrial Surveys and Statistical Systems in Colonial Korea,” in Hwang In-sang, and Odaka Konosuke, eds, Long-term Economic Statistics of Korea (Tokyo: Hitotsubashi University, Institute of Economic Research, 2000), 267-286.

“Systemic Lock: The Institutionalization of History in Post-1965 South Korea-Japan Relations,” Journal of American East Asian Relations 9, No. 1-2 (2000): 55-84.

“Ariyoshi Chūchi and Colonial Period Korea,” Transactions of the International Conference of Eastern Studies, no. 43 (1998): 73-89.

Book Reviews 

Sin-yŏsŏng toch’ak hada [The Arrival of New Women], by Kim Min’gi, et al. (Koyang-si: Misul munhwa, 2018), Pacific Affairs 91, no. 4 (2018): 812-814.

Japanomania in the Nordic Countries 1875-1918, edited by Gabriel P. Weisberg, Anna-Maria von Bonsdorff & Hanne Selkokari (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2016), Pacific Affairs 91, no. 2 (2018): 398-400.

Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea: The Roots of Militarism 1866-1945, by Carter J. Eckert (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016), Journal of Korean Studies 23, no. 1 (2018): 205-209.

Rationalizing Korea: The Rise of the Modern State, 1894–1945, by Kyung Moon Hwang (Oakland: University of California Press, 2016), Journal of Social History 51, no. 3 (2018): 641-643.

Made in Korea: Studies in Popular Music, edited by Hyunjoon Shin and Seung-Ah Lee (New York: Routledge, 2017), Pacific Affairs 91, no. 1 (2018): 174-176.

K-Pop: Popular Music, Cultural Amnesia, and Economic Innovation in South Korea, by John Lie (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014), Journal of Asian Studies 74, no. 4 (2015): 1047-1049.

Transitions and Non-Transitions from Communism: Regime Survival in China, Cuba, North Korea, and Vietnam, by Steven Saxonberg (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013); and Why Communism Did Not Collapse: Understanding Authoritarian Regime Resilience in Asia and Europe, edited by Martin K. Dimitrov (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), Pacific Affairs 88, no. 1 (2015): 159-163.

Everyday Life in the North Korean Revolution, by Suzy Kim (Cornell: Cornell University Press, 2013), American Historical Review, 119, no. 4 (2014): 1239-1240.

The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History, by Don Oberdorfer (New York: Basic Books, 2013), Global Asia 9, no. 1 (2014): 108-111.

Recent Presentations (Selected)

“The Ghost in the Machine: The Challenges of Journal Editing,” Peace Unification Institute, Seoul National University, 2020.02.18, Seoul, South Korea

“Demystifying Journal Publishing,” Department of Sociology, Yonsei University, 2019.12.10, Seoul, South Korea.

“Triangulating the Cold War: Decolonization, Development, and Anti-Communism in Relations between Japan, South Korea, and North Korea, 1948-1992,” Conference, “Rethinking the Cold War in Asia: Experiences, perspectives, and concepts,” Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences, 2019.09.30, Prague, Czech Republic.

“Celebrity Diplomacy and South Korean Perceptions of Ghana: Sam Okyere and TV Power,” Conference, “Africa-Asia: A New Axis of Knowledge,” Dar es Salaam University, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2018.09.22

“Multicultural Democracy: Closing Remarks,” Conference, “International Conference on Multicultural Democracy,” Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, 2018.05.11-13.

“Past Presents: North Korea’s History-Based Policies,” Conference, “North Korea Behind the Headlines: Politics, Society, and Culture,” University of Oregon, Eugene, USA, 2018.05.04.

“Publishing in Scholarly Journals on Japan,” Roundtable, Association for Asian Studies, Annual Convention, Washington DC, USA, 2018.03.23.

“Historical Reconciliation and East Asian Transnational Relations: South Korea-Japan,” Conference, “Social Foundations of Multiculturalism and Democracy,” University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, 2017.12.02.

“Five Elements: North Korea in the Context of Current Security Issues in Northeast Asia,” University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada, 2017.10.13.

“Explaining North Korea’s State Durability,” Stockholm University and Swedish Institute for International Affairs, Stockholm, Sweden, 2017.09.21.

“Past, Present, and Future of Area Studies,” Keynote Presentation for Conference, “Why Area Studies Are Important: The Future of Asian Studies,” Commemoration of 350 Years of Lund University, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, 2017.09.19.

“From J-Pop to K-Pop: The Rise of a New Cultural Hub in East Asia,” Keynote Roundtable, Asia Days, Sciences Po, Paris, France, 2017.06.28.