A Graduate Student Perspective: Gene Kim, G2, EALC-HEAL, KI Graduate Summer Research Grant, Summer 2022

The generosity of the Korea Institute enabled me to make significant progress on my dissertation research and begin writing my prospectus. Over the course of visiting numerous archives, my intention to write for my dissertation an oceanic and maritime history of post-1945 Korea-Japan relations came into sharper focus. In my prospectus, I aim to suggest the importance of triangulating the relationship between diplomacy, oceanic environments, and the fisheries industries in both postliberation Korea (and across the period of the Korean War) and postwar Japan, to better understand how both countries developed their perceptions of one another as control over oceanic resources framed their postcolonial relationship. My research this summer helped me to flesh out arguments I will tentatively make for the Korea side of my project, while also giving me clues as to what I expect to find on the Japan side. Given the aquamarine tint of my topic, it would have been strange for me to remain in Seoul and its archival environs, and indeed, again thanks to the Korea Institute, I was able to travel to Pusan and Cheju Island and spend productive time in both places, visiting key sites of fisheries education and promotion, meeting haenyŏ divers and fishermen, and collecting sources. Perhaps most helpful for future research trips as well as for better understanding the shape of South Korean fisheries and maritime policy today, I also established contacts with government officials and researchers at the quasi-governmental Korea Maritime Institute based in Pusan, who were tremendously generous with their time, helped me to gain access to helpful sources and documents, and pointed me to useful archives. None of this would have been possible without the support of the Korea Institute, and I remain, as always, grateful for its generosity.