What are the challenges a chef faces when she decides to open a restaurant? How do you break the stereotype that “women make good cooks, but men make better chefs”? And how do you not only survive but thrive in the hyper-competitive restaurant kitchens and food scene in New York and London? And what do you cook when you have to stay home, due to the unprecedented world-wide pandemic?
Meet two inspirational chefs – who happen to be female Korean Americans – who are doing all that and more: Chef Esther Choi and Judy Joo, chef, television personality, and the author of Korean Soul Food.
Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), this program will be conducted virtually. This live session will be provided free of charge at the specified date and time. A limited number of viewing links will be provided to the people who sign up through the form below. Those unable to view the live session will have the opportunity to watch the recorded video or listen to the podcast soon after.
A Conversation Between Chefs with Esther Choi & Judy Joo
Friday, May 8, 2020 | 12 PM
The Korea Society 350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor New York, NY 10017
Esther Choi The owner and founder of New York City’s mŏkbar (with locations in Chelsea Market and in Brooklyn) and partner of Ms. Yoo, Esther Choi is an influential female chef driven by her Korean roots. With a personal passion for introducing New Yorker’s to the flavors of Korean culture, Chef Esther’s cooking combines traditional and modern influences with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Inspired by the old-aged techniques of her Korean grandmother’s cooking, Chef Esther believes that food is the ultimate expression of a country’s culture. From its history and social customs, to its language, geography and arts, Chef Esther seeks to offer guests and understanding and appreciation of Korean foods.
Chef Esther received formal training at New York’s institute of culinary education and has worked across the kitchens of ilili, La Esquina, and the Food Network. Esther has received numerous awards for her culinary pursuits and was named “New York City’s Culinary Rock star” in Zagat’s 30 under 30.
Judy Joo Judy’s cooking is focused on the flavors of her childhood in a Korean-American family in New Jersey. Following an engineering degree at Columbia University and a career on Wall Street, Judy decided it was time for a change and enrolled at the French Culinary Institute. Her expertise in Korean cooking led to her own shows: Judy Joo’s Return to Korea and two seasons of Korean Food Made Simple. Judy also starred in Iron Chef UK and secured herself the title “Iron Chef UK”. In 2014, she opened the doors to her award winning modern Korean restaurant with 3 locations globally. In 2019, Judy left after five years in order to start a new chapter, which includes the recent launch of her new cookbook, Korean Soul Food, and Seoul Bird, a new venture in Westfield that will specialize in the Korean fried chicken that Judy is known for.
The Korea Society celebrates the launch of its tenth class joining senior professionals from corporate, media and United Nations circles with nationally renowned thought leaders on Korea and Northeast Asia. The spring 2020 “best-of” series features Fletcher School Professor and Kim Koo Foundation board member Sung-Yoon Lee, Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia Bruce Klingner, and Center for Strategic and International Studies Fellow and MSNBC commentator Sue Mi Terry. Enrollment is limited and by invitation.
The Korea Society is closely monitoring and following the safety precautions from the New York City and New York State Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Please understand that the time and format of this discussion is subject to change. We will notify all attendees who have RSVPed of any such changes and make refunds available. For any questions, you can reach out to policy@koreasociety.org. Thank you for understanding.
Kim Koo Professional Series
Thursdays, April 23, April 30 and May 7, 2020 | 4 PM
The Korea Society 350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor New York, NY 10017
Three young artists – in New York, Berlin, and Seoul – record their situation and response to the pandemic, shelter-in-residence, and the changing landscape of the city each one lives in. Featuring Woo Ram Jung, Grace Noh, and kate-hers RHEE, the artists compare and contrast their experiences and ask themselves a question: what is the role of the creative community during a world-wide pandemic?
Woo Ram Jung is a photography-based artist whose background lies in architecture. Jung received his Master of Architecture from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2010 and MFA in Photography and Related Media from Parsons School of Design in 2014. His street photography explores his interaction with anonymous strangers. His work has been exhibited at MiA: Beijing Station: First Chapter in Beijing, #IRL In Real Life, Aronson Gallery at Sheila C. Johnson Design Center in New York, Street Shots/NYC, South Seaport Museum in New York, ALIGN, Atrium Gallery at Temple University in Philadelphia, and You Are Not Paranoid, Observe Yourself Being Watched, Jimei x Arles International Photography Festival in Xiamen.
Grace Noh received her M.A. in Art History from New York University Institute of Fine Arts. Her curatorial practice revolves around translating the past and forming them into new ideas in the present and the future. She challenges and pushes the boundaries of viewing and understanding exhibition format to encourage greater discussion. She has curated and organized exhibitions, produced digital contents and published journals for a number of institutions, galleries and magazines, including Jimei x Arles International Photography Festival in Xiamen, China and Fotografiska New York. In addition, she co-founded MiA Collective Art, an art collective platform based in Beijing and New York.
kate-hers RHEE is an interdisciplinary artist, arts educator, and cultural worker. Orphaned in Seoul, Korea and transnationally adopted into a white working class Detroit suburb, she became painfully aware of racial and socio-economic differences at a young age. She employs performance, installation, drawing, and participatory events to explore the concepts of home, kinship, cultural acquisition/appropriation, and gendered violence. She is currently working between Newark and New York, at Rutgers University and researching at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Berlin, Germany at the Atelierhaus Mengerzeile; and South Korea, where she has been conducting independent research since 2014.
The Korea Society’s Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture Award was established in 2017 through the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Philp Sherman and family. Its primary goal is to encourage U.S. thought leadership on Korea among a new generation. The award is presented across disciplines to emerging thought leaders, from Ph.D. candidates to junior professors, researchers and professionals. Immediately below you can view the presentations of former award winners.
The annual competition opens in early spring each year.
Presentations by Sherman Scholar Lecture Award Recipients
2025 LECTURE
Reframing Suicide as a Shared Social Responsibility in Korea Dr. Peter Jongho Na
Assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Peter Jongho Na, was awarded the nineth annual Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture. In his lecture, Reframing Suicide as a Shared Social Responsibility in Korea, he casts suicide not as an individual failure or “extreme choice (극단적 선택),” but as a systemic and cultural crisis requiring a coordinated national response. Drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist, public health researcher, and mental health advocate, he examines the scale and societal costs of suicide in Korea and analyzes key structural drivers such as academic and workplace pressures, poverty and isolation among older adults, and the pervasive stigma surrounding mental illness and treatment. A central theme is how stigma has sustained silence, denial, and policy inertia. Dr. Peter Jongho Na shares his efforts to challenge euphemistic language and foster open public dialogue, while proposing an interdisciplinary roadmap inspired by global models that integrate public health, education, and social welfare reforms. Further, he highlights the Korean diaspora’s potential role in breaking taboos and advancing cultural and policy change, underscoring that suicide prevention must be embraced as a collective, societal responsibility.
2024 LECTURE
The Politics of The Silence of Love in Colonial Korea || with David Krolikoski
University of Hawai’I assistant professor, Dr. David Krolikoski, was awarded the eighth annual Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture. He examined The Silence of Love (Nim ŭi ch’immuk, 1926), the acclaimed collection of eighty-eight poems by Han Yong-un (1879-1944), a Buddhist monk and public intellectual. Although the book is commonly celebrated as a metaphor for colonial subjugation, Dr. Krolikoski complicated this established reading to argue that its artistic significance lies in Han’s paradigm-shifting use of colonial poetry as a medium of communal expression during a time of national crisis. He explored how Han used fiction and symbols to collapse the boundary between private and public address, transmuting the individual voice of his poetic speaker into a platform for a community. Further, he contextualized The Silence of Love within the history of the translation of foreign poetic forms into Korea during the 1920s, with a focus on how Han incorporated elements from the lyric and prose poem into his verse.
2023 LECTURE
The Return of Industrial Policy: Lessons from Korea || with Munseob Lee
The Korea Society is pleased to announce that the winner of the 7th Annual Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture Competition is Dr. Munseob Lee, Assistant Professor at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Lee will address The Return of Industrial Policy: Lessons from Korea.
Industrial policy is making a comeback. Signs of government intervention in support of industry are visible not only in China, but in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Drawing lessons learned from Korea’s experience, Lee provides important insights for today’s policy-makers. A notable case to be discussed is the Korean government’s implementation of the heavy and chemical industry drive in 1973. While that policy yielded positive outcomes for the targeted industries, it also resulted in a higher concentration within those sectors.
Lee emphasizes the intricate nature of industrial policy and stresses the need for a thorough evaluation of its costs and benefits before implementation, especially now given the current bipartisan support for substantial bills in the U.S. aimed at revitalizing industrial policy. As one reviewer stated, “At this critical time Lee revisits the effectiveness of Korean industrial policy during a high development phase to glean useful insights for Korea, U.S., and beyond.” The Lecture is moderated by Thomas Byrne, President and CEO of The Korea Society.
2022 LECTURE
National Identity Affirmation and Trust in Korea, Japan and China || with Eunbin Chung
University of Utah Assistant Professor of Political Science, Dr. Eunbin Chung, addressed National Identity and Trust in Korea, Japan and China from a unique perspective. Legacies of conflict and distrust have made it difficult for East Asian countries to form regional institutions and overcome security dilemmas. Chung’s research questions two conventional wisdoms related to these regional dynamics: 1) that distrust among states can be overcome through cultural convergence and appealing to a shared identity and 2) that strong, inward-focused national identities exacerbate inter-state distrust and conflict. Chung’s research advances the concept that trust not only can be built among nations when each affirms its own distinctive identity, but that this approach may be more effective than embracing common identities across different countries. Dr. Katrin Katz, the inaugural Sherman Family Lecture Award recipient, described Chung’s argument as “breaking new ground in tackling some prevailing beliefs regarding the relationship between national identity and levels of inter-state trust and conflict. Dr. Chung’s work entails a hopeful message for East Asia and beyond: that emphasizing the favorable and distinctive traits of one’s own country need not lead to antagonistic relations with neighbors.”
2021 LECTURE
Korea’s Changing National Story and Democratic Future|| with Aram Hur
University of Missouri Assistant Professor and Institute for Korean Studies Co-Director Aram Hur, the fifth annual Sherman Family Scholar Lecture Award recipient, spoke to Korea’s Changing National Story and Democratic Future. Hur addressed Korean nationalism, a “rapidly fragmenting and changing” national story, and the danger of democratic rollback. Senior director Stephen Noerper described Hur’s selection and address as “incredibly important given the costs of such fragmentation in Korea, but comparatively in the United States of late and by extension to a world seeing rollback in Myanmar, Thailand, Russia and elsewhere.”
2020 LECTURE
Architecture as Kisul in Postwar Korea: Building the Industrial Nation-State: 2020 Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture|| with Melany Sun-Min Park
Ms. Sun-Min Park, a doctoral candidate at Harvard University and the fourth annual Sherman Family Scholar Lecture Award recipient, discussed Architecture as Kisul (Science-Technology) in Postwar Korea: Building the Industrial Nation-State. Ms. Park addressed architecture’s relationship to state-led, large-scale industrial development in post-war Korea. Carter Eckert, Yoon Se Young Professor of Korean History at Harvard University, described Park’s effort as a “brilliantly conceived project combining…histories and cultural issues with an exploration of science/industrialism and aesthetics…in South Korea.” Harvard Professor Yukio Lippit hailed Park for her original “use of archives never tapped for use in any language.”
2019 LECTURE
P’ansori Mountain Pilgrimages: Land as Interlocutor in Contemporary Korean Oral Performance and Literature|| with Ivanna Sang Een Yi
Dr. Ivanna Sang Een Yi, University of Colorado Boulder Visiting Assistant Professor and the third annual Sherman Family Scholar Lecture Award recipient, addressed P’ansori Mountain Pilgrimages: Land as Interlocutor in Contemporary Korean Oral Performance and Literature. In a presentation both spoken and sung, Professor Yi conceptualized the contemporary practice of p’ansori san kongbu, mountain study, as a form of pilgrimage.
2018 LECTURE AWARD
Imagining the Impossible: The DMZ as a Productive Territory|| with Dongsei Kim
Architect and educator Dongsei Kim, Assistant Professor at the New York Institute of Technology and recipient of the second annual Sherman Family Scholar Lecture Award, explored how the discipline of architecture and landscape architecture investigates the Demilitarized Zone. Through the prism of spatial design and with three concrete examples, Professor Kim argued for a reformulation of exclusionary border conditions into inclusive spaces that become synergistic and productive for both Koreas.
2017 LECTURE AWARD
Maritime Conflict in Northeast Asia and Nationalism in Korea|| with Katrin Katz
The Korea Society celebrated sixty years since its founding with a public and press presentation on September 27 by Katrin Katz of Northwestern University. Dr. Katz served on the National Security Council in the George W. Bush administration. The Korea Society selected Dr. Katz, whose dissertation addresses maritime conflict in Northeast Asia and the dynamics of nationalism in Korea, as the recipient of the initial Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture Series asward, which encourages new American thought leadership on Korea. The award enjoys the kind support of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Sherman and family. Mr. Sherman served as Citi representative in Korea in the early 1970s.
These photographs of Korean War veterans items honor those who served and sacrificed in Korea during the Korean War (1950-1953). Captured in crisp photographs by Lukas Dravecky for the 70th anniversary of the start of the War, these images reflect Dr. Stephen Noerper’s focus on items field worn or used, with rich patina and a sense of soul, all non-lethal in nature. Signature U.S. M1 helmets–pocked by sun, cold and terrain–name-and-serial-number-inscribed boots worn across tank treads and tundra, woolen blankets and uniforms join homefront gifts, photos and slides from the field, and UN force accoutrement in this colorful and passion-filled assemblage. Among highlights of his collection are Korean and U.S. flags owned by Korean War commander General James A. Van Fleet; these flags stood astride his desk until his passing in 1992.
A chef known for defining Korean food in America brings a powerful culinary legacy into your kitchen. Hooni Kim, chef/owner of Danji and Hanjan, discussed his eagerly-anticipated cookbook, My Korea: Traditional Flavors, Modern Recipes, his insight and deep knowledge on Korean cuisine, and the challenges he faces as a restaurateur in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic.
An Epicurious Spring 2020 “Book We Want to Cook from Now” An Eater Best Cookbook of Spring 2020 Amazon Best Book of the Month, April 2020
Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), this program will be conducted virtually. This live session will be provided free of charge at the specified date and time. A limited number of viewing links will be provided to the people who sign up through the form below. Those unable to view the live session will have the opportunity to watch the recorded video or listen to the podcast soon after.
Chef Hooni Kim’s first restaurant, Danji in the Hell’s Kitchen district of Manhattan received accolades from numerous publications including The New York Times, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, and The Village Voice. In 2012, Danji received a Michelin star, the first ever for a Korean restaurant. His second restaurant Hanjan in the Flatiron district was awarded 2 stars and listed as one of the 10 best new restaurants of 2013 by the New York Times, which heralded Chef Hooni Kim as “the city’s leading interpreter of Korean cuisine.”
Chef Hooni Kim was born in Seoul, Korea but has resided in New York City for over 30 years. He attended University of California, Berkeley, and International Culinary Center, and trained at Daniel and Masa before opening his own restaurant. Chef Hooni Kim was recognized as an ambassador of food and culture by the Korean government in 2011. He divides his time between New York City and Korea, where he is the founder of Yori Chunsa, a nonprofit that trains orphans to become cooks. His long-awaited debut cookbook, My Korea: Traditional Flavors, Modern Recipes, was published by W. W. Norton in April, 2020.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR:
Andrew Friedman has made a life and career of covering professional chefs. Formerly a film and television development executive, Andrew began his writing career when Alfred Portale asked him to collaborate on the Gotham Bar and Grill Cookbook, which won the Julia Child Award for Best Chef or Restaurant Cookbook. Most recently, Andrew is the author of Chefs, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: How Food Lovers, Free Spirits, Misfits, and Wanderers Created a New American Profession (Ecco, 2018), and of Knives at Dawn: America’s Quest for Culinary Glory at the Bocuse d’Or, the World’s Most Prestigious Cooking Competition (Free Press, 2009). He also co-edited the popular anthology Don’t Try This at Home, and has collaborated on more than 25 cookbooks, memoirs, and other projects with some of America’s finest and most well-known chefs, from legends like Alfred Portale to today’s tastemakers, such as Bill Telepan and Michael White. He also puts his industry knowledge and interviewing experience to use on the popular podcast Andrew Talks to Chefs. Andrew lives in New York.
Columbia Center for Korean Legal Studies director and professor Jeong-ho Roh and senior director and professor Stephen Noerper presented on legal issues and regional relations for Columbia Law School and SIPA graduate students. Policy director Jonathan Corrado and co-producer Peter Stuehmke concluded with an online screening of Last Ship in the Harbor.
The Korea Society is closely monitoring and following the safety precautions from the New York City and New York State Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) regarding the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Please understand that the time and format of this discussion is subject to change. We will notify all attendees who have RSVPed of any such changes and make refunds available. For any questions, you can reach out to policy@koreasociety.org. Thank you for understanding.
The Korean War at 70 Regional Relations and Legal Issues
Thursday, April 23, 2020 | 11 AM
The Korea Society 350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor New York, NY 10017
Stanford University Professor Gi-Wook Shin joins Korea Society Senior Director Stephen Noerper for a timely breakdown of the April 15 Korean legislative elections. Professor Shin, Director of the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Director of Korean Studies, and William J. Perry Professor of Contemporary Korea, examines the voice of the electorate and impact of the National Assembly election results for the Moon administration and Korean politics.
Due the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), this program will now be conducted virtually. This live session will be provided free of charge at the specified date and time. A limited number of viewing links will be provided to the first people to sign up through the form below. Those unable to view the live session will have the opportunity to watch the recorded video or listen to the podcast soon after.
Korean Election Analysis with Gi-Wook Shin
FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 2020 | 12 PM
The Korea Society 350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor New York, NY 10017
South Korea’s coronavirus response has been lauded for its integration of new technologies and aggressive trace-and-test measures. To help the international community understand this approach, a crowd-sourced team has translated Korea’s coronavirus playbook, a 90 page set of instructions made by the Korea Center for Disease Control advising local public health officials to plan for an array of contingencies. In this special podcast interview with Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado, translation team leaders Alex Bae, Sehyo Yune, and Jungmin Hwang discuss the project and the insights gained from it. The document is available to view at the team’s website here.
Alex Bae is a Ph.D. student at Princeton University in Electrical Engineering/Neuroscience. He works at Sebastian Seung’s lab in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. His research focuses on computational neuroscience and artificial intelligence to study brain circuits.
Sehyo Yune is an internist and allergist trained at Samsung Medical Center in Seoul. Sehyo moved to the U.S. to study public health and business at Johns Hopkins University, and recently finished her research fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital in development and implementation of machine-learning algorithms in healthcare.
Jungmin Hwang is a student at Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies and has served as a volunteer translator for TED since 2017.
Learn how South Korea managed to bring COVID-19 under control in this recorded interview between the Korea Society’s President, Thomas Byrne, and Professor of Infectious Diseases at Korea University Guro Hospital, Dr. Kim Woo Joo. Deemed by the media as South Korea’s “most prominent coronavirus expert”, Dr. Kim explains how he and the country learned from past epidemics to mobilize the public and private sectors to combat the novel coronavirus. Tune in to learn what lessons the U.S. and other countries can glean from South Korea’s successes.
COVID-19 LESSONS FROM SOUTH KOREA: A Conversation Between Korea’s Top Coronavirus Expert Dr. Kim Woo Joo and Korea Society President Thomas Byrne
The Korea Society 350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor New York, NY 10017
Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Professor Kim Woo Joo is a native of Korea, where he received a Doctor of Medicine (Korea University College of Medicine, 1983) and was boarded in internal medicine (Korea University Hospital, 1987). In 1990, he joined the Division of Infectious Diseases of the Korea University Guro Hospital as a Clinical Instructor and achieved the subspecialty board of adult infectious diseases in 1992. From 1996 to 1997, he served as a visiting scholar at the Division of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology at Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke’s Medical Center, Chicago, USA. Between 1999 and 2001, he worked as Chief of the Laboratory of Respiratory Viruses and the National Influenza Center at the Korea National Institute of Health (KNIH), supervising the surveillance, control, and research activities concerning influenza, measles, rubella, and mumps. While at the KNIH, Professor Kim was instrumental in the establishment of the Korean Influenza Surveillance Scheme (KISS), the first such national surveillance system for influenza. Since 2000, Professor Kim has been a member of the National Advisory Committee on Influenza. He provides advice on issues such as the identification of priority groups for influenza vaccination programs, the appropriate vaccination campaign, surveillance, burden of disease studies, and vaccine safety. Since 2007, he also has been advising on the influenza pandemic preparedness plan that the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) is developing, as well as the research and development of the influenza pandemic vaccine. In recognition of his expertise in and contribution to the field of influenza, he was appointed as Chair of the Trans-governmental Enterprise for Pandemic Influenza in Korea (TEPIK) in 2010, designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. He was the president of the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases from 2014 to 2015. During the 2015 MERS-CoV outbreak in Korea, he had served as the leader of Rapid Response Team and special supervisor to the prime minister to help the government contain the outbreak within two months. In the last five years, Professor Kim has published numerous articles in international journals, including the Lancet, Journal of Infectious Diseases, Vaccine, Clinical Vaccine and Immunology, PLoS One, Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology and Infection, Scientific Reports, Journal of Clinical Virology and the Journal of Medical Virology.
