KEI Live

Many of the news stories about North Korea that make their way into the Western media fall into one of two categories: 1) breaking news about provocations and the nuclear crisis or 2) look at the crazy thing Kim Jong Un did today. As a journalist who covered the DPRK from both Seoul and Pyongyang, Jean Lee is working to get past the caricatures that often make their way into how we see North Koreans. 

 

Jean, who is now a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center, is here in DC for an event she organized about this very topic. The seminar features journalists, novelists and historians who all face unique challenges in gathering information and writing about the DPRK. She agreed to sit down with us while here in town to give us a preview of the roundtable, which will take place on December 7 at the Wilson Center.

 

To hear more from Jean and learn about her work covering North Korea, you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram with the handle @newsjean.

For many people who visit Korea for the first time, one of the things that stands out the most is the country's clean, reliable, and efficient public transportation. This was the case for Andy Tebay when he moved to Korea from New Zealand. The system inspired him to begin researching and writing about transportation and urban planning in Seoul and around the country.

 

Started as Andy's personal blog, Kojects has since grown into a hub for information for English-speakers to get information about Korea's many transportation options as well as news about new projects and improvements. Along with co-author Nikola Medimorec, Kojects aims to help anyone visiting or living in Korea get where they need to go.

 

Image from Keith Lee's photostream on flickr Creative Commons.

South Korea faces rising social inequality, low and stagnating productivity, and unsustainable demographic changes, all of which threaten long-term economic growth prospects as well as social stability. This week's guest is an expert in some of the structural problems that are holding the Korean labor market back and allowing inequality to grow.

Dr. Vladimir Hlasny of Ewha Womans University discusses his new paper on this topic, which was written for KEI as part of our Academic Paper Series. He discusses some of the pitfalls in the way Korean companies look for employees, the problematic ways job-seekers build skills and market themselves, and much more.

More than 100 million Americans cast their ballots on November 8, and we have a new president-elect. The Trump victory came as a surprise to most, with polls and pundits alike predicting a Clinton sweep. In Seoul and across Asia, people are watching the Trump team closely, looking for signs of what's to come for American foreign policy.

 

In this episode of Korean Kontext, we sit down with KEI President Donald Manzullo. President Manzullo is no stranger to elections, having been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for 20 years. He shares his insights on the election and the sentiments of the American people that drove Trump to victory. And he digs into what this new administration could mean for the US-Korea relationship and American policy toward North Korea.

In this episode, which originally aired in 2011, we hear from author Mike Kim, who speaks with Korean Kontext about his experiences living and working with North Korean refugees on the China-North Korea border. Mike shares with us what prompted him to leave everything behind and move to China, what it was like to work directly with North Korean escapees, and what more must be done to help them.

Since his time in China, Mike has published a book, "Escaping North Korea", which he is currently working on turning into a full-length film.

Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 woes have hit a crescendo in recent weeks, with the company officially halting production and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officially banning the devices from all U.S. flights.

In this week's episode of Korean Kontext, we dig into this issue and its potential long-term impact on both Samsung and the South Korean economy at large. Our guests this week are KEI experts Troy Stangarone and Kyle Ferrier, senior director for congressional affairs and trade and director for academic affairs and research, respectively. They discuss the crisis, Samsung's response, and what it might mean for chaebols going forward.

This spring, Han Kang became the first Korean author to win the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for her novel, "The Vegetarian." And, for the first time in the prize's history, the award was shared by the novel's translator, Deborah Smith.

While this award has brought attention to Korean literature around the world, Korean authors are still relatively unknown outside of the peninsula. What is behind this phenomenon? What are some of the challenges of translating Korean into other languages? And what can be done to boost the popularity of Korean literature around the world?

To answer these and other interesting questions, we are joined this week by Dr. Susan Hwang, assistant professor of contemporary Korean literature and culture studies at Indiana University.

Image from Sam Bae's photostream on flickr Creative Commons.

North Korea recently experienced one of the worst natural disasters in its history, as flood waters swept through towns in the northeast part of the country. Up to 600,000 people could be affected, and aid is sorely needed. But the situation is complicated by the fact that the regime in Pyongyang continues to divert its funds toward its nuclear and weapons programs.

In this episode, Korean Kontext host Jenna Gibson talks with Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, who has been following this issue closely. They discuss the extent of the crisis, the balance between providing humanitarian assistance and taking a tough stance on security concerns, and much more.

Middlebury College, famous for its immersive language programs, added Korean as its 11th language in 2015. Now, after two summers, the School of Korean is helping students from a variety of background improve their Korean abilities.

For this week's episode, Korean Kontext host Jenna Gibson sits down with Dr. Sahie Kang, director of Middlebury's School of Korean. They talk about the school's establishment, the type of students who choose to study Korean, how to increase the popularity of Korean language learning in the United States, and more. 

Image from Jung Yoon's photostream on flickr Creative Commons.

With the goal of supporting the next generation of scholars interested in Korea and Northeast Asia, the U.S.-Korea Next Gen Scholars Program brings together young professionals from various backgrounds to work together and shape the future of Korean studies in the United States. The program, sponsored by CSIS Korea Chair and USC Dornsife Korean Studies Institute, chose 10 scholars this year.

In this episode, we are joined by two Next Gen participants - Dr. Sheena Greitens and Dr. Lauren Richardson. Dr. Greitens is an assistant professor at the University of Missouri, and Dr. Richardson is a teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh. They both join Korean Kontext host Jenna Gibson to discuss some of the pressing issues on the peninsula today -- including North Korea's recent nuclear test -- as well as their thoughts about the future of Korean studies.