Seoul Ambition is the remarkable story of how the nation of South Korea—despite its infamous obsession with academics—focuses feverishly on sports in ways much different than what we’re used to in the West. South Korean athletes dominate leaderboards in international golf events and have won the most Olympic medals of all-time in archery and short track speed skating. The country has produced transcendent talents in figure skating and the budding arena of esports, creating a seemingly never-ending pipeline of children who want to emulate their success. Yet, the talent development process in Korea presents an interesting conundrum. Though all young athletes pour in hours of practice, Korean athletes traditionally only become world class in a select few niche sports. One victory from a 20-year-old golfer caused one of the greatest talent rushes in modern sports, but a captivating World Cup run in men’s soccer did not. In fact, Son Heung-min, the most dynamic Korean soccer player of all time, actually had to rebel against the system to become a creative genius. What is happening behind the scenes? After spending years as a coach and physical education teacher in Seoul, author Joel Cressman set out to answer that question. Seoul Ambition explores the amazing stories of: • A young baseball prodigy who taught himself how to throw left-handed to become one of the most accurate Major League pitchers of all time • How South Korea intentionally used East Germany as a model to win more medals and the ideological battle over North Korea • An educational system that pushes athletes to focus full-time on their sports while ignoring academics to get into top universities • Why the Korean Basketball League banned tall players to help save the sport • The story and the surprising neuroscience behind how Korea became the global hotbed of professional video gaming • The misconceptions of “Tiger Parenting” and how a hands-on parenting style is viewed differently by East Asian children than Western kids • Why the country’s best speed skater was forced to defect to Russia • How the national men’s and women’s hockey teams willed themselves from obscurity to compete with the world’s best at the 2018 Olympics Full of extraordinary stories of athletes and their dedicated parents, the book explores the science and history behind one of the most interesting sports cultures in the world. Seoul Ambition will change the way you think about talent and creativity, the power of community and national identity, and the fascinating process of creating world-class athletes.

Pack your suitcase... because we're going on a trip! This time, our adventures take us to Seoul, the thrilling capital of South Korea. Throughout the pages of this guide, you will uncover the secrets of a city where modernity intertwines with centuries of tradition. As you turn its pages, you'll have the chance to learn about the country's history, culture, and customs. From practical tips for planning your trip and solving potential challenges you might face as a tourist, to a detailed tour of the city's most iconic neighborhoods and districts, "Seoul: Discovering the Capital of South Korea" is the perfect guide for any traveler. You’ll learn what to see in every corner of the city, explore the irresistible Korean cuisine with recommendations of must-try dishes and restaurants, and experience local culture from the comfort of your home through literature, film, TV, music, and video games. Whether you're planning a trip to Korea or simply want to learn more about this fascinating country, this guide will provide everything you need to enjoy Seoul through the eyes of a curious and enthusiastic explorer. Dare to discover one of Asia's greatest treasures!

The book compares different approaches to urban development in Singapore and Seoul over the past decades, by focusing on community participation in the transformation of neighbourhoods and its impact on the built environment and communal life. Singapore and Seoul are known for their rapid economic growth and urbanisation under a strong control of developmental state in the past. However, these cities are at a critical crossroads of societal transformation, where participatory and community-based urban development is gaining importance. This new approach can be seen as a result of a changing relationship between the state and civil society, where an emerging partnership between both aims to overcome the limitations of earlier urban development. The book draws attention to the possibilities and challenges that these cities face while moving towards a more inclusive and socially sustainable post-developmental urbanisation. By applying a comparative perspective to understand the evolving urban paradigms in Singapore and Seoul, this unique and timely book offers insights for scholars, professionals and students interested in contemporary Asian urbanisation and its future trajectories.

This book examines the first regional strategy of South Korea toward Southeast Asia and India. At issue is how a middle power (a G20 country with the tenth largest economy in the world) seeks to play a larger and more comprehensive role in regions beyond the Korean peninsula. Hitherto, South Korean foreign policy has focused on nuclearizing North Korea, alliance maintenance with the United States, tricky relations with its most important economic partner China, and difficult ties with Japan marred by historical and territorial disputes. The Moon Administration has sought to diversify South Korean foreign policy by elevating ASEAN and India to the same strategic level as the United States, China, Russia, and Japan. To be sure, the latter countries continue to be most significant to the Korean peninsula. However, this book offers different country and regional perspectives on Seoul’s first regional grand strategy to play a role commensurate with its status as a middle power.

Since the end of the Cold War, South Korea has taken on a greater role in global affairs. Ramon Pacheco Pardo provides a groundbreaking analysis of South Korea’s foreign policy from its transition to democracy in the late 1980s through the present day, arguing that the country’s approach to the world constitutes a grand strategy. This book examines the key factors and goals that shape South Korea’s long-term strategy, with analysis that brings together its diplomatic, military, economic, and soft-power components. Pacheco Pardo shows that South Korea’s fundamental aim has been to move beyond its past as a “shrimp among whales” and instead attain autonomy and freedom of action. He explores how South Korean leaders across parties and governments have pursued security, prosperity, and status. Pacheco Pardo tracks South Korea’s core relationships with North Korea, the United States, and China, and he details the country’s objectives and policies across East Asia, the Asia-Pacific region, and the rest of the world. Drawing on in-depth interviews with past and present policy makers, this book presents an analytical account of how South Korean strategy is made and practiced. It expertly lays out South Korea’s grand strategy and, more broadly, makes a compelling case that middle powers like South Korea can implement grand strategies.

Drawing on the experience of several cities from different parts of the world, this text provides a global perspective on the urbanization phenomenon and tall building development, and examines their underlying logic, design drivers, contextual relationships and pitfalls.

“A glittering glimpse into a pure realization of late capitalism, and . . . our collective future . . . .uncovers why K-pop is the global cultural phenomenon.” —Carol Vernallis, author of Unruly Media: YouTube, Music Video, and the New Digital Cinema 1990s South Korea saw the transition from a military dictatorship to a civilian government, from a manufacturing economy to a postindustrial hub, and from a cloistered society to a more dynamic transnational juncture. In K-pop Live, Suk-Young Kim investigates the ascent of Korean popular music in relation to the rise of personal technology and social media. Based on in-depth interviews with K-pop industry personnel, media experts, critics, and fans, as well as archival research, K-pop Live explores how the industry has managed the tough sell of live music in a marketplace in which virtually everything is available online. Teasing out digital media's courtship of "liveness" in the production and consumption of K-pop, Kim investigates the nuances of the affective mode in which human subjects interact with one another in the digital age. Observing performances online, in concert, and even through the use of holographic performers, Kim offers readers a step-by-step guide through the K-pop industry's variegated efforts to diversify media platforms as a way of reaching a wider global network of music consumers. In an era when digital technology inserts itself into nearly all social relationships, Kim reveals how "what is live" becomes a question of how we exist as increasingly mediated subjects. “Lively insights into the complexities of the artistry and the commerce, the manufactured and the impromptu, the virtual and the somatic, and the local and the global that propel the production [and] consumption of Korean popular music today.” —Hyung-Gu Lynn, University of British Columbia

Presenting a succinct, historically informed introduction to North and South Korea, the second edition of The Koreas considers the radically different ways these countries have dealt with the growing challenges of globalization. Since the first edition’s publication, the economic, political, and social differences have only intensified, making evident the relevancy and importance of Armstrong’s work, in understanding the Koreas now and in the future. Ultimately, The Koreas is a crisp, engaging primer of Korea and the Korean people in the contemporary world. This book is ideal for many courses in a variety of disciplines, including politics, history, international business, and Asian studies.

This book showcases how innovative state policy in Korea transformed Seoul from one of the world’s most impoverished, polluted, and congested cities into a global leader in green urban planning, smart city innovations, and social economy initiatives that have dramatically improved the local quality of life. Today, Seoul’s urban planning innovations are increasingly touted as replicable best practices for export to cities across the globe. This book describes how innovative state policy has made Seoul a world leader in sustainable, smart, and solidary urban initiatives. Beginning in the 1960s, Seoul led the fastest urbanization and modernization project in world history, becoming a colossal 26-million-person metropolitan region and one of the largest footprints of humanity on earth, transforming the nation from one of the world’s poorest to having the 10th largest GDP in 2020. Today, Seoul has become one of the most productive and innovative urban agglomerations on earth. Seoul’s residents enjoy the world’s highest penetration of high-speed internet, a model mass transit system, and advanced smart-city technologies. The vast city has become increasingly green and sustainable, while also recycling about 90% of all waste. Seoul has become a leader in social economy innovations like cooperative villages, mutual benefit societies, and social investment funds that advance equitable development goals amid a booming capitalist economy. To broaden our imagination of what good urbanism can achieve, this book reviews Seoul’s recent innovations in smart, sustainable, and solidary urbanism, including: green urban planning, sustainable development through recycling and reuse, well-managed mass transit, smart city design, and solidarity economy initiatives.