Synergy Journal Print Publication 2017
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Dear Readers,
It is with honour and pleasure that I present you with the second volume
of the Synergy Journal in print edition. Over the 2016-17 academic cycle,
over 25 of University of Toronto students have committed themselves to
the editorial production of this volume and the creation of exceptional
scholarly works on Synergy’s website. I would like to sincerely
congratulate and thank every Synergy member and executive for being
committed and supportive of this strenuous, but rewarding process. This
was a wonderful year with the Synergy team, and I could not ask for
anything better. I would also like to give my biggest gratitude and upmost
thanks to Gloria Liu, the incoming Editor-in-Chief, who did so much for
Synergy. Thank you.
The Synergy Journal was founded in the summer of 2015 with the
generous support of the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global
Affairs, University of Toronto. Our vision from the start has been to
stimulate and generate vibrant academic discussions on the current
political, historical, societal, and economic developments in the Asian
region. Being one of the founding members, it is amazing to see how
much the journal has grown. I am incredibly proud of the progress we
made. Since the journal’s inception, we have consistently contributed to
our growing online database of now eighty-two scholarly articles, event
reports, and op-eds. As we did the year before, we organized the
academic panel talk “Resettlement of North Korean Refugees in South
Korea and Beyond: What Do We Know?” in March 2017, attracting
audiences from many different fabric of Toronto. At the same time, we
reported on numerous other events organized by the Asian Institute and
the Munk School.
This particular print volume that you are about to read strives to continue
and exhibit the journal’s founding vision. In this volume, you will find
carefully researched content on topics such as the territorial dispute over
the South China Sea, the Korean Wave or “Hallyu”, and economic
integration and human rights in South Asia.
The authors published in this volume consists of both undergraduate and
graduate level students from various top institutions around the world.
The volume exhibits the best articles accepted by Synergy during the
2016-17 academic cycle.
As one of the founding members of the Synergy Journal, I sincerely hope
that our readers like you would enjoy this year’s volume and appreciate
our efforts in gathering contemporary Asian research.
Sincerely,
Daniel C. Park
Editor-in-Chief 2016-17
Synergy: The Journal of Contemporary Asian Studies
