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Essay Contest Result

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Suggestions for Contents for Understanding Korean History through International Competitions

Introduction

There are many limitations for international youths in studying about Korea, including opportunities and learning material. These limitations make it difficult for them to understand Korea fully. I am a member of the 3rd generation of Korean Americans who were born and educated in the US and have a strong American identity. To me, Korea was a type of homework given to me by parents who emphasized roots. It was also a small part of a history class I needed to graduate. To many of the Korean Americans I know, Korea is the land of our grandparents, and we look at Korea in much the same way as other Americans – a country of entertainment based on the Korean wave. I first started studying about Korea with my American friends from 2019 through early 2020 as I prepared for National History Day (NHD) international competition using AKS materials. By sharing my experience, I would like to help other students around the world learn about Korea's long and proud history and spirit.

The Competition-National History Day

I participated in the 2019 NHD competition, which is hosted in America and participated in by students from around the world. This competition is very popular at US Ivy League universities, and outstanding students interested in world history are the typical entrants. Students form teams and must first pass school, regional, and statewide competitions. The final competition is called the National League and is held in Washington with students from all over the world. Participating in the finals is indicative not just of outstanding academic ability, but also of great leadership skills. As the only Korean American on my team and as the team leader, I suggested we choose Korea as our topic, and the other teammates agreed because they felt it was a unique topic.

Struggle for Research Materials on Korean History

Reference material related to US and Western history can be easily found at many US institutions, but we faced challenges in finding information about Korea in English. In a 1,000-page history textbook, the section on Korea took up only ten pages. The material we finally found through places like the National Library of Korea were mostly in Korean and Chinese characters. Even though I had helped translate and interpret political documents for my aunt who is a mayor in New Jersey, I found it difficult to understand these material. The difficulty in accessing materials was a huge hurdle for our team as we tried to analyze the data to reinterpret Korean history and culture. We quickly learned why many Korea-related topics have been abandoned in the past. As we considered changing our topic, we came across valuable material from AKS.

The Academy of Korean Studies

We were fortified by the English language material, historical videos, and pictures found through AKS's Research Information Network of Korean Studies (RINKS). Being able to carry out research directly in English was a great strength for our team members in researching Korea. Our team gradually became more and more fascinated by Korea. Our interest in Korean studies expanded from our original research topic of "World War II and Korea," and our team also researched and discussed ancient Korean history. We became more interested in the hwarang of the Three Kingdoms era than in K-pop idols, and our purpose for entering the NHD changed from a desire to win to our joy in learning more about Korea. We organized deeper and broader information on Korea than can be found in textbooks, and we even created our own timeline of Korean history. Through research and discussion, I became more proud of my roots in Korea, and our team was able to understand Korea much better by researching on our own the things that were limited by the passive history education we had received. I felt as though I were becoming a Korean. My American friends gained a more unbiased view of world history. We all grew more mature as we studied the material found through AKS resources.

Sharing Unbiased Historical Awareness

Our team recognized Korea's historical excellence as we passed the school, regional, and state competitions. Without forcing the topic, we naturally understood the greatness of Korean heritage. We made a presentation of our experience in quenching our thirst for data on Korean studies through the AKS materials and presented it to our school. We shared it with our friends and other teachers as well, and their response was explosive. During the competition, other students from around the world and the judges (history teachers and professors) showed great interest in our work, chosen material, and analysis. They asked many questions about our cited works. We immediately explained the way we searched for material through AKS and its affiliate research institutions. I would like to share my academic experiences and data acquisition paths with excellent students who want to participate in history, economics, or social science academic competitions so that many of them can learn and research about Korea like we did. To that end, I would like to propose the following.

Positive Influence of The Academy of Korean Studies

In many competitive competitions, materials are actively provided by numerous historical research institutes, private memorials, libraries, and research groups. It is normal for the competitions to select excellent presentations that use relevant materials for special awards in addition to the main award. I believe that a new kind of Korean wave will arise if the same opportunities our team had are made available to other students that need information about Korean economics and society in social science competitions and school projects as well as historical competitions.
National History Day materials and examples of other award winners
The materials that were of most help to our team in laying the foundations of understanding Korean history are listed below. These materials helped non-Korean students who are unfamiliar with Korea gain understanding of the broad flow of Korean history. These materials are organized according to historical period. I hope that these materials can be available to non-Korean students studying Korean studies as basic textbooks.
The most useful material as selected by non-Korean team members

Final Proposal

One disappointment compared to the excellent materials we found is that they are not easy to access. To students without any knowledge of Korean language, it was very difficult to translate the website into English so they could search for and use content. With this in mind, I believe it would be helpful to organize the information as follows to allow such students to easily research the materials on Korean studies and understand Korea more fully.

1. List links to websites of materials (materials, essays, periodicals, etc.) from AKS and affiliated institutions according to topic (history, geography, society, people, etc). (AKS will then become a hub for finding resources on Korean studies)
2. Code the website so that people accessing from international IP addresses are automatically directed to the English version of the website.
3. Produce and distribute a timeline for non-Koreans that includes people, events, nations, battles, etc. (This should include information from ancient times and must include maps)
4. Create a webpage that includes the above materials and timeline and put a link to it on the homepage called "Korean History by Chronological Timeline & Resources." (One click can lead to the complete list of links for the materials, providing easy access to researchers)

Students from all over the world learn about and are introduced to Korea through various competitions and projects. These materials of AKS will set a new standard for excellence in Korean studies.

[Excellence Prize]
Jason Park

(Country of Activity : America)

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