Yeonmi Park, the 21-year-old North Korean defector and human rights activist, discussed her new book, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom, with moderator David Hawk from the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.   Yeonmi Park: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom   Members: Free with registration Nonmembers: $10   Join our membership program here! E-News sign-up   If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Tyberg  or (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.... Read More

Three Korean authors, Seongmin Ahn, Christina Kang, and Katie Bomi Son, shared their respective experiences as an artist, an art advisor/consultant, and art-event organizer, as well as the inspirations behind writing books on New York’s art scene.     New York Insiders by Korean Outsiders withSeongmin Ahn, Katie Bomi Son, and Christina Kang    Members: FREE | Nonmembers: $10 If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Tyberg  or (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.   About the Authors Seongmin... Read More

  Michael D. Shin, lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Cambridge, and editor of the new historical atlas, Korean History in Mapsfrom Prehistory to the Twenty-First Century, discusses Korea’s history through maps, from early Choson to the present.    Korean History in Maps provides overviews of the political, cultural, economic, and social systems for each period of Korean history, along with chronologies and lists of monarchs. With numerous images of artifacts, paintings, and architectural structures,... Read More

  Authors Adrienne Leslie and Patricia Park discuss and read from Alice Again and Re Jane, contemporary retellings that pay homage to Alice in Wonderland and Jane Eyre, but with a Korean-American twist. These new love stories about identity and culture are just in time for summer beach reading! The books will be available for sale, and a reception and book signing will follow the discussion.   Tuesday, June 2, 2015 | 6:30 PM   Members and Students: FREE Nonmembers:  $10 If you have any questions,... Read More

Japan and South Korea are Western-style democracies with open-market economies, are committed to the rule of law, and are also U.S. allies. However, despite their shared interests, shared values, and geographic proximity, divergent national identities have driven a wedge between the countries. Brad Glosserman and Scott Snyder discussed the roots of this split and its ongoing threat to the region and the world. In their new release, The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash, Glosserman and Snyder identify competing notions of... Read More

Donald Southerton, CEO of Bridging Culture Worldwide and Author of Korea Facing: Secrets for Success in Korean Global Business and Hyundai Way: Hyundai Speed, discusses his latest book, Korea Perspective. Mr. Southerton’s new work distills years of experience consulting for top Korean corporations in the automotive, golf, land development, green technology, and retail sectors, and provides strategies and solutions for Korean companies operating globally.   Korea Perspective with Don Southerton,  Author and... Read More

Interweaving cultural, intellectual, and literary history, Professor Janet Poole, author of When the Future Disappears: The Modernist Imagination in Late Colonial Korea, looks at Korean writers in the final decade of Japanese colonial rule.  Korean writers, including Yi T’aejun, Ch’oe Myŏngik, Im Hwa, Sŏ Insik, Ch’oe Chaesŏ, Pak T’aewŏn, Kim Namch’on, and O Changhwan, used various strategies to narrate life as colonial subjects of an empire headed toward total war, producing some of the most sophisticated... Read More

Author and journalist Blaine Harden discusses his new book, The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot:The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and the Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom, with Kenneth Rowe (No Kum Sok), the former fighter pilot in the North Korean Air Force who defected to South Korea in his MiG-15 in 1953. The book interweaves Rowe’s story with that of Kim Il-Sung’s rise to power during the Korean War. Using government documents found in Chinese and Russian archives related... Read More

Author Jang Jin-sung, on his first visit to the U.S., discusses his new book, Dear Leader Poet, Spy, Escapee—A Look Inside North Korea, which describes his life in North Korea as a psychological warfare officer and one of Kim Jong-il’s revered “court poets,” as well as his dramatic escape to China and South Korea. Jang will also read selections from his poetry and share insights into North Korea shaped by his experiences as well as contacts with North Korean exiles and overseas officials. The evening’s discussion... Read More

Celebrate Korea’s handicrafts and artistic traditions with adoptive parents Debbi Kent and Joan Suwalsky in a talk about their new book, 100 Thimbles in a Box: The Spirit and Beauty of Korean Handicrafts . The authors will share their experiences in researching and writing this beautiful book of nearly 500 photographs illustrating 44 traditional arts, including ceramics, fiber arts, paper, inlay, metal, wood, and painting, which they wrote to help introduce the relatively little-known crafts of Korea to Western... Read More