Lee Misook
李美淑

Misook Lee is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Socio-information and Communication Studies at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, Tokyo University, Japan. Her research examines the possibility of a transnational public sphere beyond international borders in the case of democratization movements in South Korea in 1970s and 80s. Transnational solidarity for South Korean democratization movements from overseas, including from Germany, Japan and the U.S., has been reported on since 2000. However, there is little academic research examining the method and reasons why overseas citizens formed transnational solidarity. Her research tries to articulate the process and the meaning of transnational solidarity within the issue of Korean democratization movements, especially focusing on activities in Tokyo. Tokyo was the center for sending Korean grassroots underground information to overseas and the location of many foreign missionary and correspondent offices. In her dissertation, Lee Misook’s goal is to understand the work and meaning of transnational advocacy networks (including overseas Korean communities, Christian networks, and intellectual activist groups) in empowering democratization movements in South Korea.