The Korea Society - Culture, Policy & Society

Classic Movie Night

CROSSING - Wednesday, March 17 @ 6:30 PM

Directed by Kim Tae-gyun
Starring Cha In-pyo and Shin Myoung-cheol
2008, 112 minutes

Guest Speaker: Deborah Choi, refugee from North Korea

Masks of Night: Faces from Traditional Korean Dance-Dramas

CURRENT EXHIBITION

March 4—May 28, 2010

The Korea Society Gallery
Free and Open to the Public

2010 Summer Fellowship in Korean Studies

Apply by March 24

A Program in Korean Studies
for American Educators Held in Korea
Summer 2010

Rhythms to Make the Heart Beat Faster

Traditional Korean folk music repertoire on the changgo (hourglass drum)
Performance by Minji Kim
2009 MCST Korean Traditional Artist-in-Residence

with introduction and commentary by Ju-Yong Ha
Composer and Ethnomusicologist, CUNY

Korean Ghost Stories

NEW! - Podcast Interview with Director

TV Drama Series
Screening of
Haunted House & The Reincarnated Princess

Korean Film in Focus: A Conversation with Director Bong Joon-Ho

Discussion Moderated By
Michael Atkinson
Professor of Film
Long Island University

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Culture, Policy & Society

The Culture, Policy and Society programming promotes cross-cultural understanding through public lectures, panel discussions, symposia and workshops that present the rich diversity of Korea and U.S.-Korea relations in historical and contemporary contexts. These programs feature authors, scholars, artists, practitioners from the nonprofit sector, politicians, business leaders and others who are willing to share with the American public their unique expertise on Korea and U.S.-Korea relations.

The focus of this project area is an in-depth exploration of the social, cultural, economic, political, historical and security dimensions of the U.S.-Korea relationship. The objective is to foster a greater awareness, appreciation and understanding of the complexity of these underlying factors, which fuels the power of imagination that is the indispensable wellspring of the capacity for empathy. While divergences of perspectives between Americans and Koreans on many fundamental issues may be inevitable, it is equally inevitable that these divergences must be brought within the realm of imagination to be channeled toward productive engagement based on mutual respect.

Korea and Its Neighbors: Securing Regional Stability

with

Lee Tae-sik
Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States

Alex Arvizu
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, United States Department of State

Charles Armstrong
Professor of History, Columbia University

Victor Cha
Professor of International Relations, Georgetown University

John Park
Director, Korea Working Group, USIP

Haeran Lim
Visiting Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Scott Snyder
Senior Associate, International Relations, The Asia Foundation

J.J. Suh
Associate Professor and Director of the Korea Studies Program, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University

L. Gordon Flake
Executive Director, The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation

Charles Pritchard,
President, Korea Economic Institute

Thursday, December 6, 2007

2007 was a year of tremendous activity on the Korean Peninsula. In early February, the Six-Party Talks resulted in an agreement to de-nuclearize the Korean Peninsula. A major deadline in the agreement is looming, since North Korea has committed to disable its nuclear program and declare all of its nuclear weapons-related facilities and materials later this month. The United States and South Korea signed a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) in June. In October, the leaders of the two Koreas met for the first time at the second Inter-Korean Summit. In addition, South Korea will soon hold a presidential election, which has the potential to change the political landscape at home and abroad. Please join us for a discussion of these and other pressing issues.

Brother One Cell: An American Coming of Age in South Korea

Book Café

with

Cullen Thomas

Author, Brother One Cell: An American Coming of Age in South Korea’s Prisons

Thursday, November 29, 2007

In 1993, Cullen Thomas was a young man who wanted to see the world and South Korea was one of his first stops. Convicted of smuggling hashish and sentenced to 3 ½ years in Korean prison, the world he ended up seeing—one in which the Confucian customs of Korean society take on a harsh character—wasn’t the one he expected.

Reading from his new memoir Brother One Cell: An American Coming of Age in South Korea’s Prisons (published by Viking in March 2007) and taking questions, Thomas will share the gritty reality of an American’s life in a foreign prison: its unforgettable pains and its unexpected and beautiful lessons.

About the Speaker

Korea at a Turning Point

Perspectives from the Former Prime Minister of South Korea

with

Han Myeong-sook
Former Prime Minister, Republic of Korea

Thursday, November 8, 2007

As the first woman to serve as the Republic of Korea’s prime minister, Han Myeong-sook has a singular perspective on Korean politics and society. Both are now in flux, as South Koreans prepare to head to the polls to elect a new president, North-South ties continue to break new ground and significant progress is being made at the Six-Party Talks. At this program, Han will share her views on all these subjects, as well as on U.S.–Korea ties and South Korea’s evolving social norms.

About the Speaker