Outline

Overview

This unit provides broad and interdisciplinary introduction to contemporary Korean society and culture. The unit examines significant events - wars and violence, democratization, and economic reform - in contemporary Korea that have brought the major changes in the society, and explores how these events have affected Korean society and culture. Major topics to be covered include gender, multiculturalism, youth and pop culture, the Korean Wave, language change, and North Korea. In addressing the topics, the students will utilize authentic Korean language materials.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Korean Studies
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	12 credit points at 2000 or 3000 level in Korean Studies or (6 credit points at 2000 or 3000 level in Korean Studies and 6 credit points in 2000 or 3000 level in Asian Studies)
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	KRNS2500 or KRNS2675
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Su-Kyoung Hwang, su-kyoung.hwang@sydney.edu.au

Assessment

The census date for this unit availability is 31 August 2026

Details
Criteria

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length	Use of AI
Written work	Essay n/a	30%	Formal exam period Due date: 16 Nov 2026 at 23:59	2000 words	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
In-person practical, skills, or performance task or test	Tutorial oral assessment online via canvas, includes submitted report	20%	Multiple weeks	750 words	AI limited - refer to Canvas
Outcomes assessed:
In-class quiz	Quiz Quiz on the readings assigned and discussed in class	20%	Multiple weeks	10x75 words	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
Contribution	Participation & Discussion Participation in lecture and tutorials	10%	Ongoing	n/a	AI allowed
Outcomes assessed:
In-person written or creative task	Midterm exam In-class written assesment	20%	Week 05	equivalent to 1000wds	AI limited - refer to Canvas
Outcomes assessed:
= group assignment ?

Assessment summary

See Canvas for details

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a High distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a Distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	听
Distinction	75 - 84	听
Credit	65 - 74	听
Pass	50 - 64	听
Fail	0 - 49	When you don鈥檛 meet the learning outcomes of the unit to a satisfactory standard.

For more information see guide to grades.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

You can use generative AI tools for open assessments. Restrictions on AI use apply to secure, supervised assessments used to confirm if students have met specific learning outcomes.

Refer to the assessment table above to see if AI is allowed, for assessments in this unit and check Canvas for full instructions on assessment tasks and AI use.

If you use AI, you must always acknowledge it. Misusing AI may lead to a breach of the听Academic Integrity Policy.

Visit the听Current Students website听for more information on AI in assessments, including听details on how to acknowledge its use.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

Written work submitted electronically after 11.59 pm on the due date will be considered to have been submitted late. For every calendar day up to and including ten calendar days after the due date, a penalty of 5% of the maximum awardable marks will be applied to late work. The penalty will be calculated by first marking the work, and then subtracting 5% of the maximum awardable mark for each calendar day after the due date. For work submitted more than ten calendar days after the due date a mark of zero will be awarded. The marker may elect to, but is not required to, provide feedback on such work.

Academic integrity

The University expects students to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

Our website听provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. This includes advice on how to avoid common breaches of academic integrity. Ensure that you have completed the听Academic Honesty Education Module (AHEM)听which is mandatory for all commencing coursework students

Penalties for serious breaches can significantly impact your studies and your career after graduation. It is important that you speak with your unit coordinator if you need help with completing assessments.

Visit the听Current Students website听for more information on AI in assessments, including听details on how to acknowledge its use.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a听simple extension.鈥� The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can鈥檛 complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for听special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students,听听includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy听reflects the University鈥檚 commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Japanese Occupation and Birth of Korean Nationalism	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Japanese Occupation and Birth of Korean Nationalism	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 03	The Korean War: 鈥淲ho鈥檚 War Is This?鈥�	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	The Korean War: 鈥淲ho鈥檚 War Is This?鈥�	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 04	Compressed Modernity and Nation-Building	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	Compressed Modernity and Nation-Building	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 05	The IMF Crisis and Social Restructuring	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 05	The IMF Crisis and Social Restructuring	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 06	Neoliberal Korea: Inequality, Labour, and Class	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	Neoliberal Korea: Inequality, Labour, and Class	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 07	Gender, Misogyny, and Feminism	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	Gender, Misogyny, and Feminism	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 08	Queer Korea: Sexuality, Identity, and Belongings	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	Queer Korea: Sexuality, Identity, and Belongings	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 09	Diaspora, Multiculturalism, and Korean Identity	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 09	Diaspora, Multiculturalism, and Korean Identity	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 10	Democratization, Civil Society, and Social Movements	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	Democratization, Civil Society, and Social Movements	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 11	Hallyu, K-Pop, and Korean Popular Culture	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	Hallyu, K-Pop, and Korean Popular Culture	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 12	The Politics of Food: Globalisation and Hybridity	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 12	The Politics of Food: Globalisation and Hybridity	Tutorial (1 hr)
Week 13	Summary	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 13	Summary	Tutorial (1 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Lecture recording: Most lectures (in recording-equipped venues) will be recorded and may be made available to students on the LMS. However, you should not rely on lecture recording to substitute your classroom learning experience.
Preparation: Students should commit to spend approximately three hours鈥� preparation time (reading, studying, homework, essays, etc.) for every hour of scheduled instruction.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

Lecture Schedule with Required Readings

Week 1 Introduction to Modern Korea (no week 1 tutorial)

KBS Documentary "Korean Dream: The Nama-jinheung Mixtape"

听

Week 2 Birth of Korean Nationalism: Japanese Occupation and Scars on the Land

Lee, Na Young. (2019). Women鈥檚 Redress Movement for Japanese Military Sexual Slavery: Decolonizing History, Reconstituting Subjects, In Kim, Mikyoung (ed), Korean Memories and Psycho-Historical Fragmentation (pp 51-71), Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Seo, Jungmin. "Nationalism." In The Oxford Handbook of South Korean Politics, edited by Jeong-Hun Han, 136鈥�150. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

听

Week 3 The Korean War: 鈥淲ho鈥檚 War Is This?鈥�

Han, Kang. "While the U.S. Talks of War, South Korea Shudders: There Is No War Scenario That Ends in Victory." New York Times, October 7, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/07/opinion/sunday/south-korea-trump-war.html听

Kwon, Heonik. "Korean War Traumas." The Asia-Pacific Journal 8, no. 15 (2010). https://apjjf.org/heonik-kwon/3413/article听

听

Week 4 Compressed Modernity and Nation-Building

Chang, Kyung-Sup. "Compressed Modernity and Its Discontents: South Korean Society in Transition." Economy and Society 28, no. 1 (1999): 30鈥�55.

Chang, Kyung-Sup, and Min-Young Song. "The Stranded Individualizer under Compressed Modernity: South Korean Women in Individualization without Individualism." British Journal of Sociology 61, no. 3 (2010): 539鈥�564.

听

Week 5 The IMF Crisis and Social Restructuring

Cho, Uhn. (2005). The encroachment of globalization into intimate life: The flexible Korean family in 鈥楨conomic Crisis鈥�, Korea Journal, 45(3), 8-35.

Tcha, MoonJoong and Suh, Chung-Sok. (2003). The Korean economy: Triumphs, difficulties, and triumphs again?, In MoonJoong Tcha and Chung-Sok Suh (Eds.), The Korean Economy at the Crossroads (pp. 1-18), London & New York: Routledge.

听

Week 6听 Neoliberal Korea: Inequality, Labour, and Class

Kim, Youngmi. (2018). Hell Joseon: Polarization and Social Contention in a Neo-Liberal Age, In Kim, Youngmi (ed.) Korea鈥檚 Quest for Economic Democratization: Globalization, Polarization and Contention (pp. 1-9), Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Choo, Hae Yeon, John Lie, and Laura C. Nelson. "Introduction: Gender, Class, and Contemporary South Korea." In Gender and Class in Contemporary South Korea, 1鈥�15. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019.

听

Week 7 Gender, Misogyny, and Feminism

Kim, Donna Do-own. (2020). Mirroring the Misogynistic Wor(l)d: Civic Imagination and Speech Mirroring Strategy in Korea鈥檚 Online Feminist Movement, In Henry Jenkins et al. (eds.), Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination (pp. 152-161), New York: New York University Press.

Koo, Se-Woong. (October 6, 2014). Ilbe: South Korea鈥檚 Angry Young Men, Korea Expos茅, https://www.koreaexpose.com/south-koreas-angry-young-men听

听

Week 8 Queer Korea: Sexuality, Identity, and Belongings

Na, Tari Young-Jung. (2014). The South Korean Gender System: LGBTI in the Contexts of Family, Legal Identity, and the Military, The Journal of Korean Studies, 19(2), 357-377.

Chung, Jean. (June 5, 2015). North Korean Defector Opens Up About Long-Held Secret: His Homosexuality, The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/world/asia/north-korea-defector-jang-yeong-jin-gay.html

听

Week 9 Diaspora, Multiculturalism, and Korean Identity

Armstrong, Charles. (2013). The Korean Diaspora In The Koreas (pp. 62-87), New York & London: Routledge.

Kim, Nora Hui-Jung. (2012). Multiculturalism and the politics of belonging: the puzzle of multiculturalism in South Korea, Citizenship Studies, 16(1), 103-117.

听

Week 10 Democratization, Civil Society, and Social Movements

Doucette, Jamie. (2017). The Occult of Personality: Korea's Candlelight Protests and the Impeachment of Park Geun-hye, The Journal of Asian Studies, 76(4), 851-860.

Kim, Sun-Chul. (2016). Introduction, Democratization and Social Movements in South Korea, (pp. 51-61) New York & London: Routledge.

听

Week 11 Hallyu, K-Pop, and Korean Popular Culture

Lie, John. "What Is the K in K-Pop? South Korean Popular Music, the Culture Industry, and National Identity." Korea Observer 43, no. 3 (2012): 339鈥�363.

Jin, D. Y. (2024). The history of the Korean Wave (Chapter 2) in Understanding the Korean wave鈥�: transnational Korean pop culture and digital technologies. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003393016

听

Week 12 The Politics of Food: Globalisation

Our Fragrance (North Korean film by Jon Jong Pal, 2003) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtuXVFPcAHE

Moon, Okpyo. (2010). Dining Elegance and Authenticity: Archaeology of Royal Court Cuisine in Korea, Korea Journal 50(1), 36-59.

听

Week 13 Summary

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Understand crucial events and issues in contemporary North and South Korea
LO2. Learn new concepts and theoretical frameworks to analyze society, identities and power
LO3. Analyze the relationship between a cultural product and its social context
LO4. Conduct research, weigh evidence and work critically with primary and secondary sources
LO5. Structure an academic essay and write clearly and concisely to make persuasive arguments
LO6. Develop oral presentation skills and learn to communicate ideas effectively

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all 爆料王 graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one鈥檚 personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

No changes have been made since this unit was last offered

Disclaimer

Important: the 爆料王 regularly reviews units of study and reserves the right to change the units of study available annually. To stay up to date on available study options, including unit of study details and availability, refer to the relevant handbook.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an .

爆料王

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

爆料王

KRNS3675: Contemporary Korean Society and Culture

Semester 2, 2026 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI)

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links