Chong Min Kim

Korean Scholar

Professional Affiliation

PhD Candidate, Seoul National University

Expert Bio

Chong Min Kim is a PhD candidate and a lecturer of Graduate International Studies (GSIS), Seoul National University (SNU) and a Global PhD Fellow of National Research Foundation. She is a BA in Economics at SNU, and MA in International Studies at GSIS SNU. Her article "The U.S.'s Economic Disengagement Policy and Korea's Industrial Transformation: Implications of the Textile Disputes (1969-1971) for the Quasi-Alliance in East Asia", will be published in Seoul Journal of Korean Studies in June 2014. She translated The New Green History of the World by Clive Ponting into Korean. Conference presentations include; “A Brief Introduction to a New Perspective on Korean War" (Cambridge-SNU Workshop), “Korea's Policy Shift toward Heavy and Chemical Industry", (AKSE), “386 Generation and Korea's Democracy”, (Harvard-Yenching Institute Advanced Training Seminar), and "Changing Patterns of Consumption Culture-A Diachronic Sketch Focusing on the Korean Economic Development Period", (Worldwide Consortium for Korean Studies).

Wilson Center Project

"Divergent Path of Economic Development of the Two Koreas since the 1970's: Focusing on the Networks of Trade, Finance and Technology"

Project Summary

This study takes an interdisciplinary approach to understand the factors that contributed to the divergent paths of economic development that the two Koreas had taken during the Cold War period, and whether such changes in perception affected the inter-Korean relations in the 1970s. Division, war and the establishment of Cold War system had split Korean peninsula into two separate economic units, each facing similar tasks of nation building, reconstruction, and industrialization. The economic fates of the two Koreas were diverged since the 1970s, as South Korean economy grew rapidly under the export-oriented strategy, while North Korean economy staggered. The study focuses on i) the role of trade, production and foreign policy network under Cold War system, and ii) the externalities originating from the ecological, social organizational and demographical characteristics to examine the history of economic development of the two Koreas in the 1970s.

Major Publications

"The U.S.'s Economic Disengagement Policy and Korea's Industrial Transformation: Implications of the Textile Disputes (1969-1971) for the Quasi-Alliance in East Asia", Seoul Journal of Korean Studies (June 2014)