Researcher Bio
Ilhong Ko is an archaeologist researching migration and exchange in the Korean Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. She has published research papers on topics such as the trade networks of the East Asian world during the Bronze Age-Iron Age, the history of exchange in the Hwandonghae (East Sea Rim) region, North Korean archaeology, and interactions in the peripheries of the Han Empire (a comparative study of the Korean Peninsula and northern Vietnam). Through such research, she is examining the regional networks that formed the Asian world, and exploring how those regional networks were connected to each other, thereby reproducing an ‘Asian world’ in the past and present.
Since joining in the HK⁺ Mega-Asia Research Project Group in 2020, she has begun to focus on the movement of people, objects, and ideas throughout the Asian region in order to trace the direct and indirect connections between the Asian regions forming ‘Mega-Asia’ that existed from the past. In the first stage of the research project (2020-2023), she reviewed the concept of ‘Asia’, explored the validity of the concept of ‘Mega-Asia’, participated in developing an algorithm that modeled possible Silk Road routes on the Korean Peninsula, and undertook text analysis and data visualization of texts associated with Asia’s cultural heritage. In the second phase of the research project (2023-2027), she is currently carrying out comparative research between the Korean Peninsula and northern Vietnam through an analysis of Han-style tombs, is participating in the development of a research methodology for ‘comparative regional studies’, and is exploring if it can be possible to expand the concept of Mega-Asia so that it may act as an ideological basis that can help Asians to jointly respond to the various challenges that the region will experience in the future.
Key Publications
2024. “Multiplicity and Path Dependency in the Modeling of Historical Routes: A Case Study of the Wonju Basin in the Central Region of the Korean Peninsula”, Professional Geographer 76(1)
2024. ““An Observation of Asia’s Sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List through Data Analysis of the Criteria for Selection”, Asia’s Heritage Trend: Examining Asia’s Present through its Past (Routledge)
2023. “Joseon gogo yeongu: Analyzing and Visualizing the Field of Archaeological Research in North Korea from 1986 to 2019”, Korea Journal 63(4)
2023. “Exploring the Historical Foundations of Korea’s Connections with South Asia Using the Framework of “Mega-Asia””, Journal of the Humanities 80(3)
2023. “Comparative Study of North Korean Archaeology in the Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un Eras: A ‘Distant Reading’ of Joseon gogo yeongu“, Journal of Peace and Unification Studies 15(1)
2023. “Towards a Diversification of Research on Burials: Application of Network Visualization and the Concept of ‘Assemblage'”, Hanguk Sanggosa Hakbo 120
2022. “Reconsideration of the Role of Ulleung Island in the Prehistoric and Ancient East Sea Rim Interaction Network”, The Journal for the Studies of Korean History 89
2022. “‘Benefit Maximizing Routes’: Development and Evaluation Using the Historical Roads of Korea’s Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910)”, Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology 5(1)
2022. “The Need for Placeness Studies with a Historical Perspective: Attempts to Provide ‘The Other’ with Historicity”, Journal of the Korean Association of Space And Environment Research 32(2)
2022. “Network Visualization and the Utilization of Archaeological Data: The Example of Nangnang (Lelang) Tombs”, Journal of the Humanities, 79(1)
2021. “Examining Prehistoric and Ancient Ulleungdo Island in its Geographic and Historic Context: with focus on its role in Trans-East Sea Exchange”, Korean Cultural Studies 41
2021. “Network Analysis of Foreign Object Circulation in Ancient Korea: Wushu Coins from Yeongnam Burials”, Asia Review, 11(1)
2020. “Content Analysis of North Korean Research Journal Data: a New Way of Writing Histories on Balhae Research Undertaken in North Korea”, Journal of the Humanities 77(4)
2020. “Reflecting On the Historical Records of Past Epidemics During the Covid-19 Era – conversations on illness between history and the present day”, Diversity + Asia 15
2019. “Migration Studies in the Korean Bronze Age: Current Problems and Alternative Approaches”, Journal of the Korean Bronze Age 25
2019. “Crafts Production at Trade Ports, Hubs of Civilization Exchange: Re-examining the crafts production workshops of Neukdo, in Sacheon”, Asia Review 8(2)
2018. “Examining Practices of Archaeological Research in North Korea – applying content analysis to Joseon gogo yeongu“, Journal of the Hoseo Archaeological Society
2018. “Towards a New Understanding of Maritime Exchange in Ancient Korea: with Focus on Theoretical Implications”, Journal of the Humanities, 75(2)
Other Experience
HK Research Professor, Seoul National University Asia Center (SNUAC) (2020-2024)
Research Fellow, Seoul National University Asia Center (SNUAC) (2017-2020)
HK Research Professor, Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University (2008-2017)
Head of the Research & Planning Committee, the Korean Archaeological Society (2024-present)
Education Director, Korean Association for Research on Eurasian Civilization (2020-present)
Editorial Committee member, Journal of the Korean Bronze Age (2020-present)
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of the Jungbu Archaeology Society (2020-2021)