This book delineates the drive for Korean modernization by cultural nationalists during the colonial era in the early twentieth century. The cultural nationalism movement, led by moderate nationalists, eschewed overt resistance to Japanese imperialism and advocated self-strengthening programs to lay the foundation for future Korean independence. To describe this movement, this book focuses on Kim Songsu and his various projects for Korean modernization. The author provides a narrative that includes encapsulated stories and sheds light on the Japanese colonial policies concerning Korea. A Korean Nationalist Entrepreneur examines Kim's projects in chronological order, reflecting historian Carter J. Erkert's statement that Kim's life history has been so closely intertwined with some of the deepest currents of modern Korean history itself. The book describes how Kim took over and developed a post-elementary school, founded Korea's first modern textile firm, established one of Korea's major newspapers, and established Posong Junior College (which later became Koryo University). In 1946, after Korea's liberation from Japan, Kim became a pivotal figure in the conservative Korean Democratic Party, which became the main opposition party in Korea in the 1950s. He eventually became vice president in 1951 under Syngman Rhee.

Since the early 1990s, there has been a critical shortage of marriageable women in farming and fishing villages in Korea. This shortage, which has become a major social problem, resulted from a mass exodus of Korean women to cities and industrial zones. Korea's efforts to give rural bachelors a chance to marry have succeeded in providing 120,146 brides from 123 countries. However, the Korean government has proven to be ill-prepared to deal with the problems that foreign brides have encountered: family squabbles, prejudice, discrimination, divorce, suicide, and many adversities. The UN Commission on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination warned Korea to stop mistreatment of foreign brides and their children, those of so-called mixed blood, on account of human rights violations. This book comprehensively covers Korean multiculturalism, with a focus on the foreign brides. In a two-pronged ethnographic approach, it offers a historical account of Korean immigration and naturalization, while also relating that past to the contemporary situation. As more and more people cross national boundaries, this detailed description of Korean multiculturalism serves as a valuable case study for an increasingly globalized world. Kim tells the stories of these voiceless women in a compassionate manner.

In spite of Japanese investment in America and the debate on the competitive edge of Japanese enterprise, we know little about the actual people who are managing and working in Japanese plants. "Japanese Industry in the American South" describes the industrial cultures found in three Japanese industrial plants in the American South. Choong Soon Kim discusses why Japanese industries are coming to the South, to what extent Japanese industrial management in the South replicates the industrial relations model used in the home plants in Japan, and examines the reactions of Americans toward the Japanese expatriates. The Japanese have had a profound effect on Southerners. Meeting the challenges of the Japanese has led Americans to rediscover their own strengths and weaknesses.
"Japanese Industry in the American South" offers a different perspective. Western scholars have emphasized the positive aspects of traditional values and practices for Japanese industry, and haveeven romanticized their effects. Utilizing his bicultural experience, Choong Soon Kim discusses how the American public tends to over-estimate Japanese knowledge about American culture and the Japanese ability to be competitive with their American counterparts. He also talks about the idea many Americans still have that Japanese industrialists are so knowledgeable about the South that they can exploit what are seen as southern characteristics: white, rural, polite and non-union--of people who are supposedly eager to work hard for low wages. Conversely, the numerous concessions, compromises, and accommodations required by the Japanese are exposed and analyzed here. "Japanese Industry in the" "American South" reveals a morebalanced view of Japan's success as well as struggles to remain competitive in an American setting.