Corine Chung, '24, Government, KI Undergraduate Summer Research Travel Grant, Summer 2023

As a Government concentrator who had lived in the United States my entire life, I was most familiar with the American political system. However, when considering my senior thesis, I knew that I wanted to have it focused on Korea. This was because as someone who has Korean immigrant parents but grew up in the United States, I had some awareness of Korean politics but wanted to gain a better understanding of specifically how Korean culture and politics are intertwined.

My working senior thesis examines the anti-feminist movement in the Republic of Korea, its origins, and how it affects electoral politics. I wanted to understand how progressivism in Korea faced this antifeminist backlash, and its implications. To do this, I knew that a part of my research had to involve conducting interviews in Korea, which I had hoped would allow me to speak with the people who are affected by the movement, either participating in antifeminism or were women who were being affected by the antifeminism.

I received funding from the Korea Institute to go to Seoul to conduct research. The Korea Institute provided me with the opportunity to speak to some stakeholders who voiced their thoughts about the antifeminist movement and what it could mean to Korean politics and society at large. Though I intended my focus to be younger individuals in their twenties and thirties, I was able to speak to people across all generations. Moreover, I decided to focus on Seoul because of the high population density and because of its proximity to many political epicenters. Being able to speak to these individuals and also immerse myself in everyday Korean culture gave me valuable insight into what is needed to continue to develop my senior thesis.