The Wandering Chef

The Korea Society is proud to co-present the U.S. premier of South Korean Documentary Film, The Wandering Chef, during the Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History.

Jiho Im is a world-class chef who wanders the mountainous Korean peninsula on foot for unorthodox ingredients—acorns, weeds, and moss. Along his way, he cooks meals and develops deep relationships with the elders he meets. When one of his closest friends dies, he faces the challenge of his lifetime: cooking a 108-course feast in her honor for her family.

For more information about this film, visit http://bit.ly/2PeHRBh

 

Tickets

Use the code “Mead10” for a $10 ticket.


 

The Wandering Chef

Director: Hye-Ryoung Park
Producer: Min Jung Huh
2018 | 84 min | South Korea
US Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance


SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2019 | 5 PM | Program F30

American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West & 79th Street
New York, NY 10024


 

 


 

New Thinking from Korea and China

New generation scholars from Korea and China join Society Senior Director Stephen Noerper for a discussion on developments in regional politics and security, North Korea’s denuclearization, and visions for the Korean Peninsula. This National Committee on American Foreign Policy event offers unique insights from young professionals for members and media. Speakers include: Dr. Jihwan Hwang from the University of Seoul, Dr. Jina Kim from the Korea Institute for Defense Analysis (KIDA), Dr. Xiaoyu Pu from the University of Nevada, Reno, and Nan Li from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of American Studies.

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New Thinking from Korea and China

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019 | 12 PM

The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 


HWANG JIHWAN is a professor of international relations at the University of Seoul, Korea. He was a year-long visiting scholar at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. and also taught at George Washington University. He has served in several advisory positions in the Korean government, including President’s Committee for Unification Preparation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Unification. His publications include “The Paradox of South Korea’s Unification Diplomacy,” and “The Two Koreas after U.S. Unipolarity.” He is a graduate of Seoul National University and received his Ph.D. in Political Science from University of Colorado, Boulder.

KIM JINA is a Research Fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses and an Adjunct Professor at Yonsei Graduate School of International Studies. She is specializing in US-North Korea relations and nuclear nonproliferation. She holds a PhD in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She is on the Advisory Committee for the Blue House National Security Office and US-ROK Combined Forces Command and on the Evaluation Committee for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She served the Advisory Committee for the Blue House’s Public Information Committee (2017-2019), Ministry of National Unification (2015-2018), and National Policy Review Board for the Prime Minister’s Office (2014-2017). She authored The North Korean Nuclear Weapons Crisis (Palgrave McMillan, 2014) and co-authored Korean Peninsula and Indo-Pacific Power Politics (Routledge, forthcoming), North Korea and Asia’s Evolving Nuclear Landscape (NBR, 2017) and many others. Her recent publication in academic journals includes “The Dilemma of Nuclear Disarmament: The Case of the DPRK” (The International Spectator, forthcoming), “Issues Regarding North Korean Denuclearization Roadmap with a Focus on Implications from the Iran Nuclear Deal” (Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 2018), “Assessing Export Controls of Strategic Items to North Korea” (Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 2017), and “North Korea’s Strategic Alliance towards Becoming a Nuclear Weapons State” (Journal of International Relations, 2017).

LI NAN is a senior fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of American Studies. His research mainly focuses on U.S- Korea relations and China’s policy towards Korean Peninsula. Dr. Li has been a visiting Scholar at Seoul National University (2014-2015), Brookings Institution (2012), Johns Hopkins SAIS (2011-2012), Kim Il-Sung University (2010) and Arizona State University (2004-2005). He is a graduate of the Renmin University of China where he earned a PhD in National Strategy, MA in International Relations & Political Science, and BA in International Politics & Political Science. His main publications: From the Hawk Engagement to the Six Party Talks: US Policies towards North Korea(book, upcoming 2019) A Study of Contemporary Western Theories of Grand Strategy (book), “U.S. Food Aid Policy towards North Korean and its Evaluation, ”(The Journal of American Studies, 2014), “US Policy towards DPRK Since the Nuclear Crisis of 2013,”(Blue Book, the CASS Press, 2014) “Evaluating the Bush Administration’s North Korea Strategy,” (Journal of Contemporary Asia- Pacific Studies, 2009), “An Emotional and Strategic Partner: China’s Humanitarian Aid to North Korea in the 21st Century.”(Brookings Institution, 2013).

PU XIAOYU is an associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Political Science Department at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is a Public Intellectuals Program fellow with the National Committee on United States-China Relations and a non-resident senior fellow with the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C. In the 2012-13 academic year, Pu was a postdoctoral fellow in the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program at Princeton University. In 2016, he was a Stanton Fellow at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) in Brazil. Pu is the author of Rebranding China: Contested Status Signaling in the Changing Global Order (The Studies in Asian Security Series, Stanford University Press, 2019). His research has appeared in International Security, International Affairs, The China Quarterly and The Chinese Journal of International Politics.

2019 Sherman Family Emerging Scholar Lecture

University of Colorado Boulder Visiting Assistant Professor Ivanna Sang Een Yi addresses P’ansori Mountain Pilgrimages: Land as Interlocutor in Contemporary Korean Oral Performance and Literature. In a presentation both spoken and sung, Professor Yi conceptualizes the contemporary practice of p’ansori san kongbu, mountain study, as a form of pilgrimage. A reception follows the lecture, the third in this annual lecture series encouraging new thought leadership on Korea in the United States. 

 

Admission complimentary with advance registration, given the generous support of the Sherman Family.

 

2019 Sherman Family Emerging Scholar Lecture
P’ansori Mountain Pilgrimages: Land as Interlocutor in Contemporary Korean Oral Performance and Literature

with Ivanna Sang Een Yi

 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2019 | 3 PM

The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 


 

Korean Sool 101

Join us for a fun evening to learn about – and taste! – the signature alcoholic beverages of Korea: Soju and Makgeolli: what makes them so unique and tasty, and how they are becoming ever so popular outside of Korea. Meet the young Korean Americans continuing and putting their own marks on the tradition.

Free tasting included. Must be 21 years or older to attend.


Korean Sool 101

with Alice Jun of Hana Makgeolli and Daniel Lee of West 32 Soju

Thursday, October 10, 2019 | 6 PM

The Korea Society
350 Madison Ave.
24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 


About the SpeakersAbout the Speakers:

Alice Jun is a champion for authentic Korean food and drink, and has been brewing makgeolli since she was a child. She started Hana Makgeolli as a passion project, but due to overwhelmingly positive feedback she received on her makgeolli, she is building Hana Makgeolli as the foremost purveyor of artisanal Korean rice alcohol in the U.S.

Daniel Lee introduced soju, the popular Korean spirit, to his friend at George Washington University, Maxwell Fine, some time ago in New York. The two decided to make their own without artificial sweeteners and other additives, as a sideline to their day jobs in finance and law. Named for the Manhattan block known as Koreatown, they introduced West 32 Soju in 2017.


China-Korea Relations

 

Senior analyst Yang Xiyu, Senior Fellow at China’s Institute of International Studies, joins Society Senior Director Stephen Noerper for a discussion of China’s role on the Korean Peninsula, its relations with South Korea, recent meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and China’s commitment to denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. An experienced diplomat, Yang was the inaugural director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Office for Korean Peninsula Issues.

This program enjoys the support of Columbia University’s Center for Korean Research (CKR).

 

 


China-Korea Relations

with

Yang Xiyu

 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2019 | 12 PM

The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 


North Korea: Peace? Nuclear War?

Harvard University’s William Overholt discussed the release of his new edited volume, North Korea: Peace? Nuclear War? with Society President Tom Byrne. Overholt tackled the range of approaches to North Korea, the interplay of development and security, leaders Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, and challenges to alliance management.


North Korea: Peace? Nuclear War?

with

William Overholt

 

Thursday, October 3, 2019 | 12 PM

The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 


Seunggu Kim Better Days

CURRENT EXHIBITION | October 3-December 18, 2019 |

Reception and Panel Discussion on Contemporary Photography in Korea: Thursday, November 14, 2019 | 6 PM

The Korea Society is pleased to present Better Days, a solo exhibition featuring the photography of Korean artist Seunggu Kim.

Better Days is a series of photographs depicting what the artist describes as “Korean spectacles.” South Korea’s rapid development in the last 50 years has caused a lot of social ironies and incongruities, one of them being long working hours with very short period of break. Due to lack of time to travel, many Koreans end up spending holidays mostly around their hometown. The leisure places around Seoul and its suburbs try to entertain their customers by creating events and environments with increasing novelty, and the result is often an interesting blend of nature and artifice.

Using his camera to show the balance between unnatural elements and our own acclimation to the social ironies, Seunggu Kim describes and poses a question about our lifestyle and how we live.

Seunggu Kim graduated from Department of Photography, Sangmyung University in 2007 and received an M.F.A from the School of Visual Arts, Korea National University of Arts in 2012. He had five solo exhibitions in Seoul and had participated in numerous group exhibitions all over the world, including: Aperture Gallery, New York; Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing; Somerset House, London; 72 Gallery, Tokyo; and Filter Space, Chicago. He was the Grand Prix Winner, 2019 Tokyo International Photography Competition, and was named Ones to Watch by British Journal of Photography.

Gallery Hours: M-F 10 AM-4 PM Appointment Necessary

 

Seunggu Kim
Better Days

October 3-December 18, 2019

Reception and Panel Discussion on Contemporary Photography in Korea: Thursday, November 14, 2019 | 6 PM

 


@ The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

Gallery hours: 10 AM – 4:30 PM by appointment

**Pre-registration is now required for all Korea Society events, and an ID is required for security.**

For more information, please contact info@koreasociety.org or call (212) 759-7525.

 

 


Happy Hour at Martos Gallery: Jennie Jieun Lee

Meet us downtown! Join us at Martos Gallery with Assistant Director Sarah Han, and meet the artist Jennie Jieun Lee, whose solo exhibition Sizzling Gouba and Long Beach will be on view.

Complimentary drinks available

Tickets

 
The Korea Society Fellow, Patron and
Corporate members: FREE with registration

Tickets
 
Full Name
Title or Position
Company
Email
Membership ID
(where applicable)
 
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Happy Hour at Martos Gallery: Jennie Jieun Lee

Thursday, September 26, 2019 | 6 PM

Martos Gallery
41 Elizabeth St
New York, NY 10013
212 560 0670

 

 


About the Artist:

Jennie Jieun Lee engages in a dialogue with clay as a medium through an array of techniques including wheel-throwing, hand-building, and slip casting. Similar to how clay retains the mark of the artist’s hands, Lee embeds her work with memory and nostalgia. Though the work sometimes alludes to (or openly expresses) as forms of figuration, Lee’s use of color and gesture transcend the medium beyond sculpture, function or vessel, and begin to blur the line between painting and sculpture.

Jennie Jieun Lee (b. 1973, Seoul, South Korea) currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She received a BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1999, and an MFA from California State University, Long Beach in 2019.

Select exhibitions include: Mrs. Thompson’s Mirror, Martos Gallery New York; Marlborough Chelsea: Viewing Room, New York; Seizure Crevasse, The Pit, Los Angeles; Am I Ugly, Cooper Cole, Toronto; Smile Purgatory, Galerie Lefebvre et fils, Paris; Immigrant’s Ear, Levy Delval, Brussels; Object Painting – Painting Object, Jonathan Viner, London; Life Eraser, Brand New Gallery, Milan; and Halsey McKay, New York.

Select awards and fellowships include: CSULB Graduate Research Fellowship, 2018; John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 2017; Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant 2016; Artadia New York Award, 2015.


Korea-Japan Relations and the US Role

 

Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Sheila Smith joined Korea Society Chairman Ambassador Thomas Hubbard for a discussion on the recent challenges to Korea-Japan relations posed by the dispute over Japanese export controls. Amid the growing discord, Smith and Hubbard weigh in on possible offramps and paths forward, as well as the nature of the US role in facilitating discussion among its two Northeast Asia allies. Co-sponsored with the Japan Society.

 

2016 03 03  korea-japan-relations  JPS-logo


Korea-Japan Relations and the US Role

with

Sheila Smith and Thomas Hubbard

 

Thursday, September 12, 2019, 2019 | 12 PM

The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

 


Speakers

Ambassador Thomas Hubbard: is Chairman of The Korea Society and senior director at McLarty Associates, where he specializes in Asian affairs. A career foreign-service officer for nearly forty years, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea from 2001 to 2004, and before that as Ambassador to the Philippines from 1996 to 2000. He served seven years in Japan and was deputy chief of mission and acting ambassador in Malaysia. He held key Washington postings, including assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs. Ambassador Hubbard was a principal negotiator of the 1994 Agreed Framework aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and headed the first senior-level U.S. government delegation to North Korea. He was also President Clinton’s envoy to promote human rights and democracy in Burma. Ambassador Hubbard sits on numerous advisory boards. He received his BA in political science from the University of Alabama and has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Maryland and the University of Alabama.

Dr. Sheila Smith is an expert on Japanese politics and foreign policy, is senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She is the author of Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China (Columbia University Press, 2015) and Japan’s New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance (Council on Foreign Relations, June 2014). Her current research focuses on how geostrategic change in Asia is shaping Japan’s strategic choices. In the fall of 2014, Smith began a new project on Northeast Asian Nationalisms and Alliance Management . Smith is vice chair of the U.S. advisors to the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Exchange (CULCON), a bi-national advisory panel of government officials and private sector members. She teaches as an adjunct professor at the Asian Studies Department of Georgetown University and serves on the board of its Journal of Asian Affairs. She earned her MA and PhD degrees from the department of political science at Columbia University.


Artist Talk: Jung Hee Choi with Jay Sanders

 

FREE with RSVP

““…while watching Ms. Choi’s hallucinatory screen, you may find yourself in an altered state of consciousness, on the verge of some ineffable, transcendental revelation.” – The New York Times.

Jung Hee Choi’s solo exhibition Black: Trans: Maya: Light at the Korea Society focuses on her series of light point drawings and graphite drawings. Utilizing both traditional and experimental techniques, Choi presents mesmerizing images that capture and transfigure light.

In this Artist Talk, Choi will be joined by Jay Sanders, Executive Director and Chief Curator of Artists Space.

 

ARTIST TALK: JUNG HEE CHOI
with Jay Sanders

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 | 6 PM


@ The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

Gallery hours: 10 AM – 4:30 PM by appointment

For more information, please contact info@koreasociety.org or call (212) 759-7525.

 


 

About the Speakers

Jung Hee Choi has exhibited and performed widely in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including Dia Art Foundation, Guggenheim Museum, Berliner Festspeile, and FRESH Festival in Bangkok. Choi received her B. A. and M.A. in art and sound from New York University, and she is a senior disciple of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela in the classical Kirana vocal tradition. She founded with them The Just Alap Raga Ensemble in 2002. The New York Times listed Choi’s Tonecycle for Blues performed by her Sundara All Star Band as one of The Best Classical Music Performances of 2017.

Jay Sanders was named as Executive Director and Chief Curator of Artists Space in 2017. Prior to his tenure at Artists Space, Sanders was at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where he successfully reshaped its performance program and curated important exhibitions and event series, including 2012 Whitney Biennial. He has also served as a director of Greene Naftali Gallery and curated programs, series, and events for New York institutions such as White Columns, Sculpture Center, Performa, Anthology Film Archives, and Electronic Arts Intermix.