This book is an English translation of the authoritative autobiography by the late South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. The 2000 Nobel Peace Prize winner, often called the Asian Nelson Mandela, is best known for his tolerant and innovative “Sunshine Policy” towards North Korea. Written in the five years between the end of his presidency and his death in 2009, this book offers a poignant first-hand account of Korea’s turbulent modern history. It spans the pivotal time span between the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945) and reconciliation in the Korean Peninsula (2000-2009). In between are insightful insider descriptions of everything from wars and dictatorships to the hopeful period of economic recovery, blooming democracy, peace, and reconciliation. Conscience in Action serves as an intimate record of the Korean people’s persistent and heroic struggle for democracy and peace. It is also an inspiring story of an extraordinary individual whose formidable perseverance and selfless dedication to the values he believed in led him to triumph despite more than four decades of extreme persecution.

This study focuses on a single Korean "chaebol", the business conglomerate which dominates the Korean economy. Hyundai, the largest chaebol, is examined in the context of Korean history, ancient and modern, and the Confucian value system that permeates all Korean life.

The debate in South Korea over the government's engagement policy toward North Korea (the "sunshine" policy) did not start with Pyongyang's recent admission that it has been secretly pursuing a nuclear weapons program in violation of multiple international commitments. However, the evolution of the debate will be an important determinant of how the South Korean and broader international response to this latest North Korean challenge ultimately ends. This book provides a framework for viewing South Korean responses to this challenge, examining the South Korean debate over policies toward the North, analyzing the sources of controversy, and assessing their implications.

Journalist Kirk arrived in Vietnam in 1965 and covered the war for The Washington Star, the Chicago Tribune and other American periodicals. Here are 15 stories, most reprinted, from both that period and from visits during the decades after the war. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Donald Kirk explores the reasons for Korea’s economic crisis, its aftermath, and its impact on the system that brought it about. He traces a variety of events that constituted the crisis, including a series of scandals at the height of the Korean miracle; the efforts of the one-time dissident Kim Dae Jung as president to curb the overweening power of the chaebol, or conglomerates; and the outside intervention by the IMF and the country’s desperate efforts to obtain foreign investment. At the same time, the book explores another overwhelming problem, that of coming to terms with North Korea, which is suffering from famine but still a threat. Based almost exclusively on the author’s original reporting from the onset of the crisis through the intervention of the IMF, this book is the first to look at Korea’s experience of the regional turmoil in Asia.