This seminar proposes an in-depth study of the modern history of Korea from the perspective of its least acknowledged, yet determinant, agent: the people. It examines major social movements which shaped Korean history and democratisation, e.g. the college student and labour movements. It also addresses Korea's geopolitical predicament from the viewpoint of some of its victims, such as the Korean sex slaves under Japanese colonial rule and Korea's political and economic prisoners of the Cold War.