Adam Linthwaite

Since the spring of 2008 a number of new projects were launched that will redefine the role of the APR and build on an already successful foundation. Through combined effort of the APR and EAS Forum will produce a single comprehensive annual journal publication. In order to draw submissions from around the world a publication prize has been initiated, which will grow the more the site is used. A program to publish the project documentation of the Dr David Chu Scholarship winners has begun, in addition to a new publication system that will bring together a comprehensive list of Asia related publications by research groups at the University of Toronto. A new section designed to enrich the site through student and faculty surveys will be launched prior to the new school year.

As the editor of the APR I have designed these projects and with the help of the APR team, student, faculty and staff have been responsible for their implementation. With regards, I ask for your consideration.

Katherine Mitchell

Based at the University of Toronto, the Asia Pacific Reader is a global online hub designed to connect people, ideas and resources, and foster interdisciplinary academic exploration of contemporary Asia. Beyond my regular duties updating the site content, I am also working on a long-term collaboration with the East Asian Studies graduate journal The East Asian Forum in order to extend the Reader to printed publication while simultaneously making the Forum available to wider audiences by bringing it online.

Sang Ik Song

Last summer, my colleagues and I started a new student initiative called the North Korea Research Group (NKRG) in order to foster education on North Korea. With allegations about North Korea ranging anywhere from having one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the 1990s to an eccentric, unstable leader, we realized there existed a vast discrepancy between the available knowledge and the views held by the general populace. There also existed a significant lack of scholarly work in English to bring perspective to the country’s notorious reputation. It was my goal to mend that discrepancy with a rational and objective approach to clarify this supposed ‘enigma’.