James Church’s Inspector O novels have been hailed as “crackling good” (The Washington Post) and “tremendously clever” (Tampa Tribune), with Church himself embraced by critics as “the equal of le Carre” (Publishers Weekly). Now Church—a former Western intelligence officer who pulls back the curtain on the hidden world of North Korea in a way no one else can—comes roaring back with a new series featuring Inspector O’s nephew, Bing, the director of state security in a region in northeast China bordering North... Read More

Join literary lion Young-ha Kim as he discusses the release of Black Flower. This powerful drama creates fiction from a little-known historical moment when a thousand Koreans flee war and the loss of their nation before colonial annexation. The travelers endure harsh seas for the promise of land in Mexico, but soon discover they’ve been sold into indentured servitude. Aboard ship, an orphan, Ijeong, falls in love with the daughter of a noble; separated when the various haciendados claim their laborers, he vows... Read More

    Since the end of the Korean War, an estimated 200,000 children from South Korea have been adopted into families in North America, Europe, and Australia. While these transnational adoptions were initiated as an emergency measure to find homes for mixed-race children born in the aftermath of the war, the practice grew exponentially from the 1960s through the 1980s. At the height of South Korea’s “economic miracle,” adoption became an institutionalized way of dealing with poor and illegitimate children. Most of the... Read More

What is it like to serve as one’s national representative in North Korea? How is one received, from leaders to ordinary North Koreans? How does one deal with the political fallout of a nuclear test soon after one’s arrival? How free is a foreign emissary to travel and see the “real” North Korea and its residents? The Korea Society welcomes as part of its ongoing Knowing North Korea series the Honorable John Everard, who served as Britain’s Ambassador to the DPRK from 2006 to 2008. Though stationed in Pyongyang, Everard... Read More

    In the wake of the Asia-Pacific War, Korean survivors of the "comfort women" system—those bound into sexual slavery for the Japanese military—lived under great pressure not to speak about what had happened to them. Joshua Pilzer’s Hearts of Pine provides a window into the lives of three such survivors: Pak Duri, Mun Pilgi, and Bae Chunhui. Over the course of ten years, the author worked with these elderly women: smoking with them, eating with them, singing and playing with them, and trying to understand and... Read More

Author and journalist Blaine Harden speaks about his remarkable and harrowing account of refugee Shin Dong-hyuk’s birth into and eventual escape from the North Korean gulag. A monumental and moving book, Harden reveals the hardships of prison life and provides a lasting testimony to the endurance of the human spirit. This literary event features a special display of refugee artwork. Book Cafe: Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West with Blaine Harden Author and... Read More

    University of Washington Korean Studies Director Clark W. Sorensen discusses Reassessing the Park Chung Hee Era, 1961-1979, his and Professor Hyung-a Kim's edited volume on development, political thought, democracy, and the cultural influence of the Park era. An important addition to work on this critical period, especially in light of the upcoming national election in Korea, this highly readable volume draws perspectives from across the political spectrum. Professor Sorensen will explore Park's legacy as seen... Read More

  William Rhodes, retired senior advisor at Citigroup and board member of The Korea Society, will discuss his newly released Banker to the World on July 21 at noon. Ambassador Thomas Hubbard, chairman of The Korea Society, will moderate the discussion as Rhodes reflects on decades of experience in international finance, especially the lessons learned in Korea during the financial crisis of the late 1990s. On July 19, Bill Rhodes will accept The Korea Society’s 2011 Van Fleet Award on behalf of the U.S.-Korea... Read More

    In marking the sixtieth anniversary of the Korean War, The Korea Society salutes the late Richard Kim, as Penguin Classics re-releases his National Book Award-nominated The Martyred. Kim's first novel is a critically acclaimed bestseller about the Korean War, and was later made into a play, opera, and film. Book Cafe: The Martyred Re-Released Thursday, June 23 with Susan Choi AuthorA Person of Interest, American Woman Read More

    Award-winning author, editor and photojournalist Brenda Paik Sunoo presents images from Moon Tides: Jeju Island Grannies and the Sea. Jeju Island’s sea women, or haenyeo, scour the sea floor as their maternal ancestors did, harvesting seaweed, octopus, sea urchins, turban shells, and abalone. Driven by economics, these women divers plunge more than 20 meters underwater, hold their breath for over two minutes, and labor well into their 80s. Their numbers have dwindled from fifteen thousand in the 1970s to just... Read More