Lee Chong-sik

Chong-Sik Lee (; July 30, 1931 – August 17, 2021) was a Korean American political scientist specializing in East Asian studies.

Together with his co-author Robert A. Scalapino, he won the 1974 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book on government, politics or international affairs.

Early life Lee was born on July 30, 1931, in Anju, Korea, Empire of Japan. He was the oldest son of a primary school teacher. When he was three years old, he moved to Manchuria (then Manchukuo). He spent a number of years in his childhood in Manchuria, in Liaoyang and Tieling. After the liberation of Korea in 1945, his family was stranded in Liaoyang. His father went missing in March 1946, when he was 14 years old, making him the eldest male in the house. His family eventually managed to return to their hometown in 1948, which was then in North Korea. Lee never learned what had happened to his father.

Career

Academic career Lee joined the political science department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1963 and taught the university's first course in Korean studies. This course led to the foundation of a Korean studies department, which he actively participated in. By the time of his death, he was Emeritus Professor of Political Science. He was also Eminent Scholar at Kyung Hee University, Research Professor at Korea University, and the Yongjae Chair Professor at Yonsei University.

Lee's academic career includes works about Korea's history of communism, the division of the Korean Peninsula, and the origins of the Republic of Korea. He also researched major figures in modern Korean history such as Syngman Rhee, the first president of Korea; Lyuh Woon-hyung, a Korean politician and reunification activist in the 1940s; and Park Chung Hee, the third president of Korea, who seized power through a military coup. In particular, his works on Korea-Japan relations, communist movements in Manchuria, and the international relations of East Asia have been translated into many languages and are considered classics in East Asian studies. and Kim Kyu-sik ui saengae (The Life of Kim Kyu-sik), Seoul: Shingu Munhwasa, 1974. Other books include Park Chung Hee: From Poverty to Power (KHU Press) and A 21st Century View of Post-Colonial Korea (Kyung Hee University Press). He has contributed to China Quarterly, Asian Survey, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of International Affairs and other periodicals. Lee published an autobiography in 2020 that covered his life until 1974, but "left out the rest of the stories for next time".

Awards 2011: Kyung-Ahm Prize, Kyung-Ahm Education & Cultural Foundation 1974: Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book published in the United States in government, politics or international affairs