Korean Studies originated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1963 when Chong-Sik Lee, one of the nation's leading analysts of Korean affairs, joined the political science department. Lee is now Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and Eminent Scholar at Kyung Hee University. Lee’s research of modern Korean history began in 1957 when he began co-authoring Communism in Korea with Professor Robert A. Scalapino of UC Berkeley. Published in 1973 after 16 years of research and writing, Communism in Korea was the winner of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book published in the United States in 1974 in government, politics or international affairs. Lee’s academic career includes works about Korea’s history of communism, the division of the Korean Peninsula, and the origins of the Republic of Korea. He also researched major figures in modern Korean history such as Syngman Rhee, the first president of Korea ; Woon-Hyung Yuh, a Korean politician and reunification activist in the 1940s; and Chung-Hee Park, the third president of Korea who seized power through a military coup. In particular, his works on Korea-Japan relations, communist movements in Manchuria, and the international relations of East Asia have been translated into many languages and are considered classics in East Asian studies. Having devoted the past 55 years to collecting historical records, Lee remarked, “By reading various records, I can gain insight as to why certain events occurred, what led to the occurrence of these events, and why historical figures took particular actions.” Lee often tells his students that “the true advancement of scholarship is only possible through a repetitive process of inquiry” and advises them to “accept new theories but to investigate with curiosity when these theories are unconvincing.” He is the author of The Politics of Korean Nationalism and Kim Kyu-sik ui saengae, Seoul: Shingu Munhwasa, 1974. Other books include Park Chung Hee: From Poverty to Power and A 21st Century View of Post-Colonial Korea . He has contributed to China Quarterly, Asian Survey, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of International Affairs and other periodicals.
