A Wellesley College professor probes the relationship between the U.S. and South Korea in her new book. Professor Katharine Moon challenges the notion that South Korean youth were swept up in a wave of anti-Americanism and nationalism in the book "Protesting America: Democracy and the U.S. Korea Alliance." 

“It’s easy to blame nationalism or generation gaps for issues that arise between countries when there’s a change in the relationship. It was especially easy to do so at a time when much of the rest world was expressing anti-US sentiment over the invasion of and war in Iraq,” Moon said in a Wellesley College press release. “Others jumped on the bandwagon, and assumptions became truth by default.”

She argues that the drifting between the two countries is a result of other factors, such as changes in domestic policies. The book also offers a number of solutions to help bridge the rift. 

Moon received a Fulbright Award to conduct research for this book. 

See the full release on the Wellesley College website. 

Before coming to Wellesley, Moon was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. She is one of the College's Faculty Experts on the U.S.-Korea alliance and social movements in Korea and Asia.