What historical events does Hannah Kim’s Ties That Bind cover?

The book traces Korean-American and American-Korean contact from Philip Jaisohn through the Japanese occupation of Korea, the 1942 U.S. declaration of war against Japan, and Korea’s liberation in 1945. It also moves into the postwar period and later episodes such as international adoption and the In-Ho Oh case.

How does Ties That Bind explain Korean American stereotypes and cross-cultural contact?

The book says the murder of In-Ho Oh influenced how the Christian community in Philadelphia and political leaders, including the mayor, viewed Korean Americans as a model minority. It closes by arguing that after the 1965 Immigration Act, cross-cultural contact can be based on reciprocal agency instead of dependency and stereotypes.

What criticisms does the review make about Ties That Bind?

The review says the book would benefit from better copy-editing and proofreading. It points to redundant commentary on evangelical Christians and misspells the names of Bruce Cumings and Suh Dae-Sook in the bibliography.

REVIEW 'Ties That Bind' explores Korean-US ties through a century of personal stories

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Summary

Bruce Fulton reviews Hannah Kim’s Ties That Bind as a rigorously researched study of Korean-US ties through personal and institutional contact. The book moves from Philip Jaisohn and the Japanese occupation to Korea’s liberation, postwar international adoptions, and the 1955 murder of In-Ho Oh. It also argues that cross-cultural contact after the 1965 Immigration Act can foster mutually respectful ties rather than dependency or stereotypes.

Key Facts

The book begins with Philip Jaisohn, identified as the first Korean American, and follows cross-cultural contact through several decades of history.
It covers the period of the 1910 to 1945 Japanese occupation of Korea, the 1942 U.S. declaration of war against Japan, and Korea’s liberation in 1945.
The postwar discussion includes Korea’s international adoptions, with more than 160,000 children sent overseas for adoption.
The final chapter examines the 1955 murder of In-Ho Oh, a Korean international student beaten to death after being refused admittance to a dance at a local Episcopal church.
The review says the book has some copy-editing and proofreading lapses, including redundancy about evangelical Christians and misspellings of Bruce Cumings and Suh Dae-Sook in the bibliography.

By Bruce Fulton

Published Sep 25, 2026 10:00 pm KST

The cover of 'Ties That Bind' by Hannah Kim / Courtesy of University of Nebraska Press — The cover of "Ties That Bind" by Hannah Kim / Courtesy of University of Nebraska Press

A variety of books published in the new millennium illustrate the experience of Americans in Korea and the experience of Koreans in America. Central to these experiences is cross-cultural contact, on both the personal and institutional levels. Hannah Kim’s rigorously researched monograph "Ties That Bind" succeeds in both respects.

The book takes readers through several decades of cross-cultural contact, starting with the story of Philip Jaisohn, the first Korean American, going through the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of Korea through to the 1942 declaration of war by the U.S. against Japan and Korea's liberation in 1945. It also discusses the postwar era, including the start of Korea's international adoptions, in which over 160,000 children were sent overseas for adoption. The final chapter examines the 1955 murder of In-Ho Oh, a Korean international student beaten to death by a group of Black youths who had just been refused admittance to a dance at a local Episcopal church. The reaction to the murder by the Christian community in Philadelphia, as well as political leaders such as the mayor, were influential in the construction of images of Korean Americans as a "model minority."

Hannah Kim / Courtesy of University of Delaware

"Ties That Bind" succeeds in illustrating the efficacy of such cross-cultural contact on both the individual and institutional levels. The book closes with a welcome reminder that such contact, especially after the 1965 Immigration Act, need no longer reflect a relationship understood in terms of dependency, model minorities and other cross-cultural stereotypes but instead will help build mutually respectful and constructive ties marked by reciprocal agency.

"Ties That Bind" will appeal to scholars and students in the expanding field of media and communications courses in Korean studies, as well as to those interested in Korean American history and more generally the Korean diaspora worldwide.

It should be mentioned, though, that in contrast with a previous volume in the University of Nebraska Studies in Pacific Worlds series, "Victory in Shanghai" by Robert Kim, copy-editing and proofreading lapses are evident here, notably in the redundancy of commentary on the role of evangelical Christians and in the misspelling in the bibliography of the names of two pioneers of Korean studies in the English-speaking world — Bruce Cumings and Suh Dae-Sook. Might we expect a paper edition of Kim’s book, properly copy-edited and proofread, in due course?

Bruce Fulton is the co-translator, with Ju-Chan Fulton, of numerous volumes of modern Korean fiction, most recently the novels "One Left" by Kim Soom (2020) and "Togani" by Gong Ji-young (2023), and editor of "The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories" (2023), the first volume of modern Korean literature among Penguin UK’s 3500-plus World Classics.

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