Although the Korean peninsula remains by far the most unstable part of east Asia, the number of books on Korea in English remains tiny compared to those on other troubling geopolitical areas. With only a small number of universities offering Korean-language courses, little tourism, minimal cultural contact and few newspaper reports about the peninsula (except when North Korea, or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) as it is officially known, test-fires a nuke), both the Koreas can appear opaque and extremely distant even to the well informed.

Subscribe or Sign In to read the full article