Korea. Power, Ideology, Culture

K.V. Asmolov – a Russian orientalist, candidate of historical sciences, leading researcher at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, one of the most well-known Koreanists on the Runet, popularizer of Korean culture, maintains a thematic blog on “LiveJournal” and a Telegram channel “KoreaMeow”. Asmolov's works are valuable as they combine academic analysis with the firsthand observations of a person who has been on both sides of the 38th parallel. The contrast in the perception of North and South Korea is closely related to the stereotypes that have developed in the world’s consciousness over decades of division on the Korean peninsula. The media imbalance in representing the images of the two states traps the average person in a black-and-white thinking, where North Korea is a “tyrannical regime,” and the South is a “paradise of globalization.” Yet behind these clichés lies the vibrant and contradictory history of the two countries. This book serves as a kind of educational guide intended to debunk the myths surrounding the two Koreas in the mass consciousness. You will find an overview of the history of the Korean peninsula, a narrative about the ideological foundations and their transformations, as well as the paradoxical similarities between the North and the South. You will learn how a shared past breaks through the cracks of ideological opposition and where the path of dialogue between Seoul and Pyongyang leads when the whole world awaits an “explosion.” The book will be of interest to both the scientific audience (historians, political scientists, orientalists) and a wide range of readers who wish to venture beyond common clichés and begin their journey in understanding the rich history and complex political palette of Korea.