Andrew Wolman is an associate professor at the Graduate School of International and Area Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, South Korea, where he teaches courses in human rights and international law. Prior to teaching at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, he was an associate in the New York office of the law firm White & Case. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law and an LL.M. in environmental law from George Washington University Law School.
South Korea: Reflecting on 25 Years of Transitional Justice
Prior to its first democratically elected government taking office in 1988, the Republic of Korea endured a peculiarly harsh twentieth century. The first decade saw Korea’s last dynasty struggle futilely to modernize amidst the specter of growing Japanese interference. From 1910 until 1945, the nation suffered through the traumatic and humiliating period of Japanese colonization, emerging upon Japan’s defeat in World War II only to face the division of the country into North and South Korea and the incredibly destructive Korean War of 1950-1953. The post-Korean War period was characterized by political divisions, human rights abuses, and economic growth, presided over by a series of authoritarian rulers.
