History of Korean-American Relations
Michael Kim
e-mail: michael.kim@post.harvard.edu
phone: 017-398-7116
Tuesdays 6:00 pm-9:00 pm
This course will provide a broad historical overview of Korean-American relations from the
initial encounters in the 19th century to the postliberation period. There will be a particular
focus on important developments during the height of the Cold War and the factors that have
played a key role in shaping the Korean American relationship during the 1960-1980s. The
course requirements are one paper presentation and a 10-15 page research paper on any topic
that is related to the course materials.
Course Requirements: Students will be required to attend all classes and participate in class
discussions. Students will give a short presentation on their paper
topics and submit a 10-15 page research paper that applies some of
the themes discussed in the class.
Grading for the course: Class Participation and Attendance: 40%
Paper Presentation: 20%
Final Paper (Double spaced, 10-15 pages): 40%
Week 1: Introduction (3/8)
Week 2: American and Japanese Expansion in the late 19th century (3/15)
William F. Nimmo, Stars and Stripes across the Pacific: The United States, Japan, and
Asia/Pacific Region, 1895-1945, p. 1-49.
Week 3: Korea and America’s First Encounter (3/22)
Yur-Bok Lee, “Korean - American Diplomatic Relations, 1882-1905,” in Yur-Bok Lee and
Wayne Patterson, eds., One Hundred Years of Korean-American Relations, 18821982, p. 12-45.
Fred Harvey Harrington, “An American View of Korean - American Relations, 1882-1905,”
in Yur-Bok Lee and Wayne Patterson, eds., One Hundred Years of Korean-American
Relations, 1882-1982, p. 46-67.
Week 4: The Cold War and Containment Policy (3/29)
John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, 1-25
John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment, p. 25-53.
Week 5: Holiday (4/5)
Week 6: U.S. Military Government 1945-1948 (4/12)
Bruce Cumings, Korea's Place in the Sun, p. 185-236.
Week 7: The Korean War (4/19)
Bruce Cumings, Korea's Place in the Sun, p.237-298.
John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, p. 54-84
Week 8. History and Memory of the Korean War (4/26)
David R. McCann, "Our Forgotten War: The Korean War in Korean and American Popular
Culture," in West, Levine, and Hiltz, eds., America's Wars in Asia: A Cultural
Approach to History and Memory.
Week 9. The New Look and Eisenhower (5/3)
John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment, 127-197.
**One page Paper Proposal and Bibliography Due**
Week 10: Korea American Relations in the 1960s. (5/10)
Donald Stone Macdonald, U.S.-Korean Relations from Liberation to Self-Reliance ; The
Twenty Year Record (San Francisco: Westview Press, 1992), p. 111-140.
Park, Tae-Gyun, "Change in U.S. Policy toward South Korea in the early 1960s," Korean
Studies, 1999
Week 11: U.S. Policy Toward South Korea in the 1970s. (5/17)
John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment, 274-308.
Wookhee Shin and Youngho Kim, “Entrapment Vs. Abandonment: South Korea-U.S.
Alliance in Transition, 1968-1972,” 1-28
Tae-Hwan Kwak and Wayne Patterson, “The Security Relationship between Korea and the
United States, 1960-1984,” in Yur-Bok Lee and Wayne Patterson, eds., One
Hundred Years of Korean-American Relations, 1882-1982, p.108-126.
Week 12: Paper Presentations (5/24)
Week 13: The Kwangju Massacre and Korean American Relations (5/31)
Gi-Wook Shin, “Introduction,” in Gi-Wook Shin and Kyung Moon Hwang, eds., Contentious
Kwangju : the may 18 uprising in Korea's past and present
Don Baker, “Victims and heroes : competing visions of May 18,” in Gi-Wook Shin and
Kyung Moon Hwang, eds., Contentious Kwangju : the may 18 uprising in Korea's
past and present
Week 14: The North Korean Crisis (6/7)
Cha, Victor D. 1961, “Hawk Engagement and Preventive Defense on the Korean Peninsula”
International Security, Volume 27, Number 1, Summer 2002, pp. 40-78.
Snyder, Scott 1964, “Pyongyang's Pressure,” The Washington Quarterly - Volume 23,
Number 3, Summer 2000, pp. 163-170.
**Paper Due: June 15**