The Korea Society

December 10, 2020 - In K-pop Confidential, the YA novel from journalist Stephan Lee, a Korean-American girl plunges into the complex world of an idol factory and K-pop trainees in South Korea while staying true to herself in the process. Join us for a lively conversation with Stephan Lee about his debut novel and everything K-pop, including its ever-increasing popularity in the U.S., the challenges the K-pop trainees face, and the issues Korean Americans grapple with as they find their own heritage. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1452-k-pop-confidential-with-stephan-lee

December 10, 2020 - In this podcast interview, Andray Abrahamian offers insights from his new book, Being in North Korea, an exploration of North Korean society from the inside, citing personal experiences gained by the author over 30 trips to the DPRK. In conversation with policy director Jonathan Corrado, Abrahamian discusses interactions from his time working at a nonprofit that teaches North Koreans about entrepreneurship and economic policy. Abrahamian is a senior adjunct fellow at Pacific Forum. Sign up below to ensure that you receive a link to the podcast interview when it's released on December 10. Published by Stanford University APARC and distributed by Brookings University, the book is available for sale here. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1440-being-in-north-korea-a-special-podcast-interview-with-andray-abrahamian

December 3, 2020 - South Korea in the 1950s was home to a burgeoning film culture, one of the many “Golden Age cinemas” that flourished in Asia during the postwar years. One of the most important filmmakers of the time was Han Hyung-Mo, director of the era’s most glamorous and popular women’s pictures including the blockbuster Madame Freedom (1956). Christina Klein provides an illuminating analysis of Han's career and films with careful attention to key issues of modernity—such as feminism, cosmopolitanism, and consumerism. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1451-cold-war-cosmopolitan-han-hyung-mo-korean-cinema-of-the-1950s

December 3, 2020 - Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow and Director of the Program on U.S.-Korea Policy Scott Snyder joins Senior Director Stephen Noerper to discuss next steps on denuclearization and dialogue with North Korea post-US Presidential election. Snyder, author of South Korea at the Crossroads, weighs the likelihood of a North Korean test or other attention-grabber pre or post-inauguration, the dispositions of Washington, Seoul and Pyongyang, and the possibility of renewed talks. For more information, please visit the link below: https://koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1446-next-steps-with-north-korea

November 19. 2020 - The global recognition of K-pop, K-drama, and K-movies has brought with it much interest in Korean translation. Recently, Sharon Choi, a freelance translator for Bong Joon Ho, the Oscar-winning Director of ‘Parasite’, received much international attention for her excellent translation work. If you are bilingual in Korean and English, seeking a career in the translation industry, or even interested in Korean language, this YPN program is the perfect chance to learn more about this exciting profession. Join us for a discussion with Wansoo Suh, a NYC-based, renowned freelance interpreter, on her professional experiences throughout her 25 year career. Learn about the behind-the-scenes aspects of the translation world with our moderator Janet Cushey, a young professional who is in her early career in the media and translation industry. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/special-events/item/1450-the-korean-wave-and-translation-a-conversation-with-wans

November 19, 2020 - Join us for a discussion on international economic sanctions on North Korea with William Newcomb, Fellow at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies and former Member of the Panel of Experts on DPRK Sanctions at the United Nations, Darya Dolzikova of the Royal United Services Institute, and Cameron Trainer of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. In a conversation moderated by policy director Jonathan Corrado, the three experts discuss the role of sanctions in the negotiation process, proliferation finance, maritime evasion, implementation challenges, humanitarian exemptions, and multilateral coordination. This program is supported by a grant from the UniKorea Foundation. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1435-north-korean-sanctions-and-adaptation

November 18, 2020 - When David Yoon’s debut novel Frankly In Love hit shelves last year, it was an instant New York Times bestseller and a William C. Morris Award finalist. With his sophomore novel Super Fake Love Song, David Yoon offers another contemporary YA must-read where a case of mistaken identity kicks off a string of (fake) events that just may lead to (real) love. Join us for an in-depth conversation with David Yoon as he discusses his career and highly-anticipated second novel. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1449-a-conversation-with-david-yoon

November 12, 2020 - Television as we know it has transformed in the last two decades, away from network television mainly produced in the form of sitcoms, police procedurals, and medical or courtroom dramas, towards serial narratives, with clear storylines developed across episodes. At the same time, the notion of “quality television” has changed the way we evaluate TV content, from intentionally mindless entertainment to innovative cultural works. These shifts have been fortuitous for the rise in popularity of Korean television shows in the US, since Korean narrative television has long been formatted as stand-alone, complete series, with clearly defined beginnings and endings. Dr. Michelle Cho will introduce you to the characteristics of Korean television serials (K-dramas) that account for their intense binge-ability, and contextualize the place of Korean television content in our increasingly global media landscape. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-cultu

November 10, 2020 - The Korea Society and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) are delighted to present Leveraging Big Data, AI, and Patents for Business Growth on November 10th, 2020 from 6pm to 8pm EST. Our first session will feature Tim Hwang, CEO of FiscalNote. FiscalNote is a global technology and media company that Tim co-founded in 2013 at the age of 21. FiscalNote feeds big data to a powerful machine learning algorithm to provide its clients with the right policy information and AI-driven insights to better navigate market risk and uncertainty and maximize new opportunities. In 2016, the World Economic Forum announced FiscalNote as Technology Pioneers, and Forbes named Tim in its annual 30 Under 30 list. TaeSoo Sean Kim, Partner at Ice Miller LLP, will leverage his own expertise in IP and technology licensing while moderating the talk with Tim. You will expect to hear Tim’s personal journey as a tech entrepreneur, FiscalNote's business and growth strategy, IP portfolio management strategy,

November 5, 2020 - Washington insiders Keith Luse, Executive Director of the National Committee on North Korea, and Frank Jannuzi, President and CEO of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, reflect on the results of the US Presidential election for Korea and Northeast Asia in conversation with Senior Director Stephen Noerper. Luse and Jannuzi, both longtime, former Senate Foreign Relations Committee senior staff members, opine on the impact by way of policy and personalities, as well as potential new initiatives. This event is co-hosted by the Columbia Business School’s APEC Study Center. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1434-after-the-us-presidential-election-gauging-the-results-for-korea-and-northeast-asia

October 29, 2020 - After the success of Crazy Rich Asians and Parasite, the demand for representation of Asians and Asian-Americans on screen is rising. But what about behind the camera? Listen to our conversation with three Korean-American directors - Andrew Ahn, So Yong Kim, and Lee Isaac Chung- as they discuss their films and careers, their experience of working within and outside of the Hollywood system, and the challenges they face when they try to bring their own story to the screen. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1439-korean-american-directors-a-roundtable

October 27, 2020 - The Korea Society is pleased to join KOTRA in presenting valuable lessons on career development through the K-Move program series. K-Move is a project that KOTRA has been organizing for younger Korean audiences abroad, while inviting leading professionals from different fields to share their stories on employment and settlement in the U.S. In this meaningful program, the Society and KOTRA, as co-hosts, will offer words of hope and encouragement to the young Korean professionals of today with their life and career experiences. The recent pandemic and its enormous impact on the global economy have led to unfortunate and difficult situations for Korean job seekers in the U.S. The experienced group of mentors invited will provide useful advice and directions on how we could overcome those challenges in this unprecedented time. [K-Move] Developing Your Career with Mentorship will consist of two separate sessions. In the first part, a renowned guest speaker, Soonkyu Shin, will talk about his succ

October 15, 2020 - Join us for this discussion on prospects for a peace regime and inter-Korean social integration with Frank Aum, United States Institute of Peace, Hannah Song, President & CEO at Liberty in North Korea, Rachel Minyoung Lee, former intelligence analyst for the U.S. government, and Joseph Kim, Human Freedom Initiative, George W. Bush Institute. How might the U.S. and South Korea cooperate with regional partners to pursue a long term peace process? How do generational dynamics and social changes in North and South Korea affect inter-Korean cooperation? This program is supported by a grant from the UniKorea Foundation. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1431-new-views-on-korean-peace-regime-and-unification

October 8, 2020 - Trefoil or “three-leaved plant” is a stylized form found in artifacts and architecture across culture and time. Dr. Minjee Kim begins the story with her first encounter with a gold headdress ornament of the Balhae kingdom (698-926) and traces the migration of its trefoil form throughout the 4th-6th century across Asia. Then, she travels to France, where “fleur-de-lis” adorned French crowns, clothing, textiles, and furniture as a symbol of royalty, leading to its wide contemporary appropriation by many Western institutions. The journey ends with the long and rich tradition in Kyrgyzstan where the motif is still strongly embedded in various realms of material culture of the people. While offering a view on Korean artifacts within a wider context of material resonance in human history, Dr. Kim highlights the way these artifacts adorned the body and how the craftsmanship was employed to articulate the social hierarchy. For the video version of this program (including images and slides), go here

October 1, 2020 - Daniel Russel, Vice President for International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute, and Susan Thornton, Project Director of the Forum on Asia-Pacific Security at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale University, join Senior Director Stephen Noerper for a discussion on the upcoming US Presidential election, with an eye to US policy implications for Korea and Northeast Asia. This all-star session draws on the vast foreign service experience of both Russel and Thornton, who helped lead US policy respectively as Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1430-looking-toward-the-us-presidential-election-and-korea-and-northeast-asia-policy

September 24, 2020 - Listen to our conversation with Hee Seo, the first Asian ballerina to be named principal dancer - ballet's highest title - at the American Ballet Theatre, as she discusses her illustrious career and thoughts on the future of performing art. Her dancing and fluid line exude an unhurried purity that sums up all that is lovely about ballet. - The New York Times For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1425-a-conversation-with-hee-seo

September 17, 2020 - Join Alexander Chee and Ed Park in their conversation on Younghill Kang, the first Korean-American novelist and a pioneer of Asian American literature. As they discuss the life and career of Kang and his novel East Goes West, the two eminent writers reflect on the emergence of Korean American literature in the 20th century and Kang's legacy. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1423-east-goes-west-younghill-kang-his-life-and-works

September 16, 2020 - Join us for a discussion on challenges and opportunities for continued nuclear negotiations with North Korea, featuring Markus Garlauskas, former U.S. National Intelligence Officer for North Korea, Soo Kim, RAND, and Ankit Panda, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. What are the chances that North Korea denuclearizes and what can the U.S. and South Korea do to increase those chances? Should an interim deal with snapback measures be considered good progress, or should a comprehensive deal be pursued? For more information, please visit the link beow: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1422-prospects-for-diplomacy-with-north-korea

September 10, 2020 - USC Professor and Korean Studies Institute Director David Kang joins Senior Director Stephen Noerper to discuss progress and challenges in Korea-US relations. They weigh the fallout from the host nation support talks, shifts in joint military exercises, and priorities in US-ROK relations, with an eye toward invigorating the alliance seventy years since the start of the Korean War. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1372-us-korea-relations-defining-the-alliance-anew

August 12, 2020 - America's leading authority on BTS, K-Pop, and East Asian entertainment, Tamar Herman returns to the Korea Society with her book BTS: Blood, Sweat & Tears. BTS has conquered Western music charts and social media on their way to being the biggest band in the world. With record-breaking firsts and three Billboard No. 1 albums within a year, their music and messaging has gone on to transcend the limitations of language, geography, and genre. Going behind-the-scenes of today's biggest pop band and focusing on the members, the music and the fans, Tamar Herman brings the extraordinary story of BTS to life. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1412-bts-blood-sweat-tears-with-tamar-herman