Sport in Korea: Culture, Politics and Policy

With the increasing popularity of K-pop and K-drama, South Korean culture has stepped into the spotlight with interest from the public and academia. The recent success of Korean sport stars in global sports leagues such as EPL, MLB and LPGA have served to introduce young sport celebrities to global fans. With growing interest in Korean sports and its social significance from academia and in public, Sport in Korea: Culture, Politics and Policy brings together research on social, cultural, and political aspects of Korean sports today. This volume is designed as a collection of three distinctive themes: 1) sport culture and consumption in 21st century Korea; 2) key issues and controversies in Korean sport; 3) Korean sport policy and its impact on shaping the Korean sport structure and process. Taken as a whole, the chapters provide a clear – and, crucially, new - understanding of Korean sport culture and structure and expand the scope of sociological research of sport which has been North American and European centric for too long.