Please join the Center for Korea Studies for a special colloquium with Peter Banseok Kwon, Associate Professor of Korean Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY.
Cornerstone of the Nation (Harvard University Asia Center, 2024) is the first historical account of the complex alliance of military and civilian forces that catapulted South Korea’s conjoined militarization and industrialization under Park Chung Hee (1961–1979). Kwon reveals how Park’s secret program to build an independent defense industry spurred a total mobilization of business, science, labor, and citizenry, all of which converged in military-civilian forces that propelled an unprecedented model of modernization in Korea.
Professor Peter Banseok Kwon is Associate Professor of Korean Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. His research examines militarization and development, global militarism, and Korean nationalism, with a particular focus on military-civilian relations during South Korea’s military modernization. He received his Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages, with a specialization in modern Korean history, from Harvard University. He has served as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar and Visiting Professor at Korea National Defense University, a Soon Young Kim Postdoctoral Fellow at the Korea Institute at Harvard University, and a Visiting Scholar at Yonsei University, Seoul National University, and the Academy of Korean Studies.