Wonkyoo’s research investigates the dynamics of trade network within the Japanese Empire, with an emphasis on the outsourcing of food production to colonies for metropole's rapid industrialization and capital accumulation. He is also interested in the transition of East Asia's economic regime in the 19-20th century, from near autarky to a highly interdependent model, and seeks to understand how this structural change influenced economic growth, population shift, urbanization, migration, ecology, and everyday life in the region. In his previous research, Wonkyoo examined the business tax registers of Seoul Chamber of Commerce (Keijō shōkōkaigisho) in colonial Korea using cliometric methods, and shed light on the quantitative growth and qualitative dependence of Korean businesses compared to their Japanese counterparts.
Advisor: Frederick Dickinson
M.A., Sociology, Seoul National University, 2024
B.A., Western History and Sociology (Summa Cum Laude), Seoul National University, 2022
Japanese Empire, Colonial Korea, Colonial Taiwan, Socioeconomic History, Environmental History, Political Economy, History of Capitalism, Industrialization, Population Shift, Migration, Digital Humanities