The Handbook is a comprehensive study of the socio-political development of the Korean peninsula. The Handbook is written by a global team of experts within the field of Korean Studies The Handbook is contemporary, interdisciplinary, and academically rigorous. The Handbook will be of great interest to students of Asia Pacific Studies, as well as researchers and policymakers interested in the region.

This edited volume explores the past, present, and future of the Korean Peninsula, with special focus on South Korea, by connecting developments in politics with those in international relations and diplomacy. The book focuses on how South Korea’s politics and international relations have evolved since the founding of the First Republic in 1948, with particular attention to the period surrounding the 2022 presidential election. The authors provide new insights into Korean politics, including South Korean electoral reform and relations with China and Japan, North Korea’s nuclear capacity, and North–South diplomacy. Beginning with a commentary by Colin Crooks, Britain’s current Ambassador to South Korea and former Ambassador to North Korea, on recent British foreign policy changes and UK–Korea relations, this book will appeal to scholars and students of politics, international relations, diplomacy, and Korean Studies.

This book examines international aid in North Korea, in particular the ongoing policy of withholding aid, through the lens of the impact on the general population to present an argument for sustainable development. Focusing on the human rights of North Koreans and presenting a case for the use of aid as a provision for social change, it explores an alternative narrative to the existing long-drawn-out rhetoric of ‘denuclearisation-first’. The book’s scope includes evaluations of the causes of international sanctions and their impact, the Kim regime’s mitigation of sanctions through marketisation and a digital economy as well as barriers to aid monitoring and the reason for the absence of any mass anti-regime movement. It also posits that North Korea is a fragile state but cloaked by the image of a strong regime. The book succinctly demonstrates that the key to unlocking the potential of North Korea’s ‘cloaked society’ does not lie in sanctions, but is to be found in engagement with development aid. As such it will appeal to students of Korean Studies, Development Studies, Asian politics and International Relations.

This book explores the recent landscape of Korean popular culture, including celebrity diplomacy, political activism, and inter-Korean relations in the era of 'ontact', with a special focus on K-pop and K-drama. Utilising the interdisciplinary approach, along with theoretical accounts, it redefines popular culture and its true power - beyond soft power - including discussions of how the pandemic and the use of online platforms have coincidently or effectively influenced recent phenomena surrounding Korean popular culture. It reveals both the possibilities and pitfalls of Hallyu diplomacy and the UN's celebrity diplomacy more broadly, and highlights how, through the mobilisation of a large internet fanbase, the modern K-pop 'standom' can influence political discourse. The book also features an examination of the political significance of the K-drama through which it highlights the potential of popular media to impact inter-Korean relations and inform current international understanding and perception of the Korean conflict. Dealing with the wider scope of Korean popular culture this book will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of South Korea, international relations, public diplomacy, political activism, and cultural and media studies.

The Handbook is a comprehensive study of the socio-political development of the Korean peninsula. The Handbook is written by a global team of experts within the field of Korean Studies The Handbook is contemporary, interdisciplinary, and academically rigorous. The Handbook will be of great interest to students of Asia Pacific Studies, as well as researchers and policymakers interested in the region.