Shorenstein APARC Director Shares Observations on Social Maladies Affecting Korean Society

In Superficial Korea, a book recently published in South Korea, Shorenstein APARC director Gi-Wook Shin shares his observations on and provides recommendations for social maladies currently affecting Korean society. Shin sees a problematic level of superficiality in a number of aspects of today's Korea: its interpersonal relations, policies and social systems, and rules and regulations. After explaining his diagnosis in the first part of the book, Shin goes on to offer a prescription in the form of lessons that can be learned from Silicon Valley’s culture. The final section of the book touches on issues in which he specializes as an academic—and which have been of the utmost interest to Koreans in recent days—that is, South Korea’s relations with North Korea and other players on the global stage.

Superficial Korea is in Korean; interviews with Dr. Shin and reviews of the book can be found below:

Stanford Daily (interview, in English)

Korea Herald (Op-Ed, in English)

Korea Daily (interview, in Korean)

Sisa Journal (interview, in Korean)

Munwha Ilbo (interview, in Korean)

Yonhap News (book review, in Korean)

Munwha Ilbo (book review, in Korean)

Kyunghyang Shinmun (book review, in Korean)