Lot's of upper classmen have told me that this class sucks and i agree to an extent that this class is a lot. It's a reading heavy class and the expectation for the midterm and final are that you really critically think about Korean history at large. plus theres a lot of information jammed pack into each lecture and weekly schedule. But I want to give the professor and their TAs (or at least my TA heejin lee <3) some credit. They genuinely want to help the students no matter what. If you go in to say that your struggling understanding a lecture or have questions on the final or midterm, the professors and TAs will help you. Also, the expectations for any assignment or test is really straight forward, for the final and midterm essay the rubric lays out exactly what they want/expect and as long as you hit those points you can pull out an A/A-. Other things like weekly tests or quizzes were based on completion so you don't have to worry too much about them (and the bonus is that the professor is lenient on due dates, as long as you get them done before week 10 your fine; but don't rely on that too much since the class was online this quarter). Also, regarding the heavy readings, tbh you don't really need to read the textbook; as long as you read through the primary and secondary sources and take notes on the lectures you get the same information (max i spent about 2-3 hours a week on the class readings). Keep in mind too that the readings and lectures are really the only 'assignments' you have to do in class.

Tips:
- show up to office hours, that's honestly how you get to know the professor and your TA which helps in the long run with this class. talking with the professor about the lecture and some personal inquires gave me a better idea of what the professor and TA's were expecting when it came to grading. plus they will give you a lot of tips and help for the final and midterm essay. also the professor has a really interesting perspective on the topic so if you get the chance, i recommend just going in to talk to him about the subject.
- prioritize primary and secondary source readings over the textbook... out of respect to the teacher, i recommend just trying to do all the readings. but in all honesty, you get the same information in a more condensed and better package from the class lectures than from the textbook; plus he highlights which parts are most relevant to the class.
- the syllabus is your best friend.... it lays out which specific pages on the readings to do which seems kinda obvious but i cannot tell you how many times i read the entire pdf document of 15-20 pages only to find out that the requirement was to read a 1/3 of the pages uploaded.
- stay on top of your online lectures and readings... this is the part that i feel like makes the class difficult... if you fall behind and skip even one day of lectures, it's going to hurt really hard trying to catch up on everything. so make sure you use those time management skills.

Chill. Posts slides and knowledgeable on where to find book. Streams lectures on Discord, so even if you're late to class you can just open up the stream, sit, and take notes. Some humor.
You can get by without doing all the textbook readings later in the course, because his lectures are informative and digestible, but you HAVE to read the given discussion and module sources for the midterm and final paper. The only thing I disliked was how some weekly discussion prompts were posted late and made me procrastinate reading the passages. Try to keep postings under 200 words and answer all the questions in the prompt, else it sucks for the TAs when they grade the weekly required discussion (and thus it will also suck out a bit of your grade).
Wang tries to make his facts relevant to the modern day and emphasizes the multiple perspectives of everything through interesting questions and interacting with students, some compensation for exposition dumping thousands of years of political intrigue in a 75 minute period. A lot of hand waving on what Korea is but it's for a purpose. Occasionally gives async lecture recordings, which are nice.
The professor himself is very knowledgeable not only in Korean history, customs, and modern culture but also that of other Asian cultures' intersections, continuities and contrasts with Korea, and he is approachable, easy and enjoyable to talk to outside of class. The TAs for this quarter were also nice; Richard helped me with my midterm paper, and Matthew gave me great advice when I was struggling with discussion posts. I recommend taking this class.

Professor Wang is such an educated and charismatic professor. He has a very engaging personality, is very funny, and is just very fun to listen to. Sometimes lectures would be a little snooze-y, but that was just because of the content occasionally, not his lecturing. He gives weekly discussions based on reading, and the midterm and final are essays, but a passage analysis part based on the whole quarter's sources is added on for the final. He also streams lectures on Discord and sends out recordings so attendance is not mandatory, but I find attending lectures is important in the weekly reading and discussion post, and he often gives ideas for what to write. Your TA 100% matters though, mine was a harsh grader but also very lenient with attendance. I cannot vouch for Professor Wang enough, take Korea 50 as a GE!!!

Lectures and readings are excellent. Material covered is interesting and is likely to give you new perspectives on history.

Professor is very knowledgeable and answers all sorts of questions about Asian history. Professor is active on Discord.