Category: Contemporary Korea

Shinhee Han, PhD is a senior psychotherapist at the Newschool University Counseling Service and in private practice in New York City. She is an adjunct professor at the Center for Study of Ethnicity and Race, Columbia University, offering courses on Asian Americans, Race, and Psychoanalysis. She co-authored Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Americans (2019, Duke University Press) with David L. Eng. She is also a founding member of the Asian Women Giving Circle in New York City, a philanthropic organization that funds Asian women artists creating social activism and change. Previously, she was a psychotherapist at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Barnard College and Columbia University. Born in Seoul, South Korea, she immigrated to Minnesota at the age of 13 with her family.

Heidi Shin is a Korean American journalist, podcast producer, and writer. She’s especially interested in the stories of immigrant communities and the inevitable connections between stories abroad and our lives in the US. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, California Sunday Magazine, Snap Judgment, Atlas Obscura, BBC, WGBH, and PRI’s The World, amongst other outlets. Heidi also teaches about podcasting at the PRX Podcast Garage, Harvard University’s Sound Lab, and leads Boston’s Sonic Soiree. You can find her online @byheidishin (Twitter) and @shinherrie3 (IG).

Neal Mohan is Chief Product Officer at YouTube. He is responsible for YouTube products, user experience, and trust and safety on all platforms and devices globally. This includes YouTube on mobile, desktop and TV devices, experiences like YouTube Music, Kids, and VR, and YouTube’s two subscription services, YouTube Premium and YouTube TV. Products for media partners, content creators and musicians are also part of Neal’s portfolio. In his role ensuring trust and safety across the YouTube ecosystem Neal oversees the creation and enforcement of its content policies and community guidelines.

Prior to joining Google, Neal was Senior Vice President of Strategy and Product Development at DoubleClick where he built the company’s strategic plan, led the product team, and rapidly grew the business. He played a critical role in the sale of DoubleClick to Google, and subsequently led the integration. Previously, Neal held various technology and business leadership positions at DoubleClick and NetGravity where he helped pioneer the digital marketing industry. He has also served in strategy and consulting roles at Microsoft and Accenture.

Neal earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University.

H. E. Park Young Sun is the former Minister of SMEs and Startups and a four-term parliamentarian. Minister Park was the first woman to lead the main opposition party as a floor leader and to chair the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly.

Before entering politics, Minister Park was a journalist, holding the positions of a reporter, a news anchor, and Chief Manager of the Economy News department of Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation.

She holds an M.A. from Graduate School of Mass Communication, Sogong University, and a B. S. from Kyung Hee University.

Bernie Cho is the President of DFSB Kollective, a Seoul-based Artist & Label Services agency that specializes in providing digital media, marketing, and distribution solutions to 600+ Korean Pop music artists. Since 2009, the agency has successfully produced numerous K-Pop concerts and showcases in North America, Asia, and Europe as well as secured #1 digital music chart debuts for various K-Pop albums in the US, Canada, Japan, Korea, Greater China, Southeast Asia, Australasia, and Europe.

Prior to founding DFSB Kollective, Bernie served as the Head of MTV Korea’s Digital Media Production and worked for nearly 2 decades in the Korean music industry as a Creative Planner, TV Program Producer, TV Show Host, and Radio Commentator. He has earned a BA from Dartmouth College in Government/Asian Studies and has graduated from the Vancouver Film School (Foundation Film Program).

Dr. Sue Mi Terry is Director of the Hyundai Motor-Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy, Wilson Center. Formerly a Senior Fellow with the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), she served as a Senior Analyst on Korean issues at the CIA (2001-2008), where she produced hundreds of intelligence assessments. She received numerous awards for her leadership and outstanding mission support, including the CIA Foreign Language award in 2008. From 2008 to 2009, Dr. Terry was the Director for Korea, Japan, and Oceanic Affairs at the National Security Council under both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama.

Since leaving the government, Dr. Terry has been a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s Weatherhead East Asian Institute. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a B.A. in political science from New York University. She was born in Seoul and raised in Hawaii and Northern Virginia.

Seungkug Lee is an influencer in Korea. Under the name GeniusSKLee, he’s been running his YouTube channel since 2015. With his interest in the entertainment business, Lee has conducted various types of interviews with global movie stars including Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Chris Pratt, Jeremy Renner, and Bryce Dallas Howard. Since 2017, Lee has been hosting a movie program on network television and appears on various programs.