Igniting the Internet: Youth and Activism in Postauthoritarian South Korea

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Igniting the Internet: Youth and Activism in Postauthoritarian South Korea is a book by Jiyeon Kang, published by University of Hawai‘i Press in 2016. It explores how young people in South Korea used the internet to push for social change in the 21st century. Using about 60 interviews and online materials, the book focuses on two major protests: the candlelight vigils after the Yangju Highway Incident, where two Korean teenage girls were killed by U.S. military personnel, and the 2008 protests against U.S. beef imports over concerns about mad cow disease. Critics say the book is essential for understanding internet activism in Korea, a country with early internet adoption that has not been deeply examined by scholars, and it is noted for its non-Western perspective on online activism.