The enigma of Korea

How is it possible that South Korea, devastated in the 1950s and with a harsh colonial past, has become one of the most technologically developed countries in the world, leading the way in cutting-edge industries such as microprocessors? And how is it that North Korea has survived every historical earthquake of the last eighty years as the most Closed country on the planet and a member of its small nuclear club?

The work of Victor D. Cha, an American with a South Korean father, and Ramon Pacheco, a Spanish researcher based in London, seeks to bring Korea - the North and the South - closer to a public that perhaps until recently did not have it particularly on the radar. As the authors write, the Korean War (1950-1953) familiarized the United States with the peninsula that Washington then disputed with Moscow and Beijing, but in many other places in the West, as in Spain, the finding the nation that lies between China and Japan is much more recent. For all audiences, however, Pachecho and Cha's book is illuminating: it is a contemporary history of Korea (from the late 19th century to the present) that not only presents facts and data, but also interprets their impact on national development and the global geopolitical game. A special contribution is made by the analysis of the relationship between the two Korean republics - taking stock of each presidency, above and below the 38th parallel, as well as of the steps taken by successive US administrations - and, very singularly, the last chapter, which is a prospective study of how the unification of the peninsula could be achieved.

Initially published by Yale University Press in 2023, the present Spanish edition includes a 'post scriptum' with the latest developments, such as the attempted self-coup of President Yoon Suk-yeol in December 2024. North Korea's contribution to the Russian war effort in Ukraine, already verified with the presence of its own soldiers, in addition to sending ammunition, speaks as a consequence of a more self-confident Kim Jong-un, which in turn seems to further distance any hypothesis of future convergence between the two republics. Nonetheless, the authors believe that this will eventually happen.

Cha is a professor at Georgetown, Washington, and manager of the programs of study on Korea at the think-tank CSIS; he was director of Asian affairs in the National Security committee of President George W. Bush. Precisely some of his experiences in the conversations of that Administration with the Korean leaders open several chapters of the book. These more personal references are complemented by those of Pacheco, professor at King's College London and director of the Korea Chair at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, who as a student and young professor has had several contacts in South Korea with members of various generations.

The book is easy to read. In addition, it responds to the purpose of addressing the interests of a diverse audience: not only politics and Economics -which, of course, are the common thread-, but also social aspects, such as the role of women in Korean society, or cultural aspects, such as the success of the 'Squid Game'.