The year 2015 marks two significant milestones in Korea's history: the 70th anniversary of the peninsular division at the end of WW II (1945) into the communist Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the non-communist, pro-Western Republic of Korea (South Korea), and the 65th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War (1950). The echoes of these two seminal events still fuel tensions and influence politics in both states. The need for an informative overview of the Republic of Korea's history and the pace of change in both Koreas make a new release of this historical dictionary desirable. While retaining the same format as the 1993 and 2004 dictionaries, this third edition has been considerably expanded. The chronology and the introduction are longer to take account of events of the last decade. The main body has been lengthened from 313 to 525 pages. A number of larger issue-oriented entries (e.g.

, on education or the economy) have been rewritten, and new entries cover political, economic, cultural, scientific, and military developments during 1948-2014. Significant entries (e.g., on aspects of the Korean War) run longer, to four or five pages. As before, there is no subject index, but boldfaced cross-references and see also references point out related entries. All researchers will find the bibliographic essay and subject bibliographies very helpful. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries.

All levels.