Victor Cha and Ramon Pacheco Pardo, "Korea: A New History of South and North" (Yale UP, 2023)

Asian Review of Books · Jul 13, 2023 · 47m

As a member of the U.S. National Security Council, Victor Cha flew over the DMZ separating North and South Korea in 2007, following negotiations with Pyongyang. He writes in Korea: A New History of South and North (Yale University Press, 2023)—his latest book with co-author, and previous podcast guest, Ramon Pacheco Pardo—about how he was struck by the environment on both sides of the border. The north had barren fields, no cars, and windowless homes; the south, gleaming skyscrapers in the global city of Seoul.

How did these two countries come apart, and then travel down such different…