Prof. Oak is incredibly kind and super open to talking further about lecture material following class sessions. I'm a senior and his class gave me a realization as to how fascinating learning about history can be, meaning it will be a great class if you have that interest. It's a lot of reading, but well worth it.

Just like other Korean courses, this course is only for those who are interested in Korean history. Because it is an upper-division course, the interest has to be more genuine as the course has more depth and technical aspects. Even though I have studied Korean history from elementary school in Korea all the way to UCLA, the materials were new and technical. That said, if some effort is put in, it is very doable to get an A.

Grade breakdown:
- Attendance 19%
- Class presentation (group presentation) 10%
- Reaction Papers (3 papers, 1500+ words) 30%
- Midterm Exam (in-class, 2 questions) 20%
- Final Exam (take-home, 3 questions) 21%

Mandatory attendance but no section. Final was supposed to be an essay but ended up being 3 prompts (700-1200 words each) though it was take home so I suppose that's fair. Oak is difficult to understand a lot of the time, and his slides are not super clear, but most information is accessible in the assigned readings. He gave midterm prompts in advance and had students submit reading reflections to him via email. Overall pretty chill class, and Oak is a nice guy.