The Korea File

.....how engagement with radical anti-imperialist politics create the intellectual space to better understand the personal struggle of defining Korean identity as Korean-Americans in the United States…..

.....how a trio of teenagers convinced an 89 year-old former Alaska Senator to make a presidential run….

....and how an insurgent, largely social media-driven campaign is bringing a radically anti-colonial and anti-war message to the 2020 American election discourse....

On this episode, senior campaign staff Jonathan Suhr and Alex Chang join host Andre Goulet on a dual-cast of Korean history and current affairs show ‘The Korea File’ and Canadian left politics podcast ‘Unpacking the News’ to discuss the extraordinary anti-imperialist campaign of Gravel 2020.

Subscribe to Unpacking the News on iTunes and Spotify. Associate Production from Savanna Craig. This conversation was recorded on May 16th, 2019.

The Royal Asiatic Society- Korea Branch has been enhancing an understanding of Korean arts, customs, history and social trends through lectures, cultural excursions and special publications since it's founding more than a century ago.

In that time, the RASKB and it's unusual cohort of members (including missionaries, diplomats and other expatriates) have witnessed every aspect of Korea's contemporary history, from occupation, colonization and fratricidal war to a modern era of democracy, development and international cultural influence.

On this episode of The Korea File RASKB vice-president Steven Shields joins host Andre Goulet to explore the fascinating history of one of the country's oldest institutions.

Subscribe to The Korea File on iTunes and support the show at patreon.com/thekoreafile

Find out more about upcoming RASKB lectures and events at raskb.com

This conversation was recorded on April 21st, 2019.

Despite the high hopes many were feeling in the lead up to second Trump-Kim meeting, the Summit was probably dead before it even began late last month at the colonial-era Metropole Hotel in downtown Hanoi.

But who pulled the trigger? What was the poison pill? And where do the United States and North Korea need to go from here to guarantee a lasting peace?

On this episode host Andre Goulet is joined by speechwriter and former U.S. State Department diplomat Mintaro Oba, who last appeared on the show early last summer in the run-up to the Trump/Kim Singapore summit, to explore all this and more on episode 82 of The Korea File.

This conversation was recorded on March 26th, 2019.

Find Mintaro's recent piece 'Why, If Diplomacy is to Succeed With North Korea, John Bolton Must Go’ at https://www.nknews.org/2019/03/why-if-diplomacy-with-north-korea-is-to-succeed-john-bolton-must-go/

Become a monthly patron of the podcast at patreon.com/thekoreafile

In May 2015, on the 70th anniversary of Korea’s national division, thirty international women peacemakers from around the world walked with thousands of North and South Korean women to call for an end to the Korean War, reunification of families and the inclusion of women’s leadership in the peace process.

Christine Ahn, the founder of Women Cross the DMZ, Women De-Militarize the Zone, The Korea Policy Institute, The Global Campaign to Save Jeju Island, The Korea Peace Network and a co-organizer of the May, 2015 event joins host Andre Goulet to explore how she and others continue to work for peace on the peninsula in 2019.

For more information read Christine's op-ed with Gloria Steinem at
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-ahn/gloria-steinem-north-korea-march_b_7018902.html?ec_carp=8996287911531269670

Find out more about organizing for peace in Korea at womencrossdmz.org and at wagingpeace.org

This conversation was recorded on January 25th, 2019.

The American military is gradually leaving Yongsan, a major garrison located in the heart of Seoul. But how are the dynamics of military spatial reorganization playing out beyond the metropolis?

In this conversation Bridget Martin of the University of California at Berkley joins host Andre Goulet to explore how South Korean landscapes are shaped by the country's unresolved conflict with North Korea.

This conversation was recorded on December 11th, 2018.

Look for Bridget’s ‘Field Notes from South Korea: Local Development in the Land of Securitized Peace’ at scholarworks.csun.edu

With a unique cultural and geographical history going back centuries, the ‘Joseonjok’ are considered too different to be fully Chinese in China while simultaneously 'not good enough to fit in’ in South Korea.

In this conversation, writer Eddie Park joins host Andre Goulet to discuss his recent investigative reporting from the Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Yanbian, China.

This interview was recorded on October 25th, 2018.

Read Park's piece at KOREA EXPOSÉ: https://www.koreaexpose.com/too-different-to-be-chinese-not-good-enough-to-be-korean/

Image courtesy of Jonathan Skjott. Find his audio tour of Seoul's Daerim-dong neighbourhood at http://jskjott.com/Joseonjok.html

Is there room for freedom of conscience in the South Korean military?

Amnesty International says that there are more than 230 conscientious objectors currently incarcerated in the country. But a Constitutional Court ruling this summer, a ruling that states that the government must provide alternative civilian roles for those who refuse to take up arms due to religious or political reasons, sends a clear message that conscientious objection to military service is a human right.

On this episode of ké cast, Korea Expose staff writer Jieun Choi joins host Andre Goulet to discuss this major shift in legal rights for Conscientious Objectors.

This episode was recorded on October 3rd, 2018.

If you like this show support it at patreon.com/thekoreafile

Photo credit: The Hankyoreh

South Korean society has long been intolerant of outsiders, but the outrage sparked this summer by a thousand Yemeni asylum seekers on Jeju Island illustrates the depth of the country’s xenophobia.

On this episode of ké cast, Korea Exposé Publisher Se-Woong Koo joins host André Goulet to discuss why, despite its vaunted democracy and economy, compassion and humanitarian instincts are in short supply in South Korea.

Read Se-Woong's piece 'Tyranny of South Korea's Majority Against Refugees' at https://www.koreaexpose.com/south-korea-xenophobia-shows-itself-yemen-refugees-situation/

For more ké cast, go to koreaexpose.com.

This conversation was recorded on August 28th, 2018.

Photo credit: National Public Radio

This is 'ké cast' Season 2, Episode 1. Produced in collaboration with Korea Exposé, an independent media organization that speaks to a global audience about the Koreas in a way that goes beyond cliché and superficial analysis, look for this podcast at the beginning of each month through 2018.

On this episode, Korea Exposé managing editor Haeryun Kang joins 'The Korea File' podcast host Andre Goulet to explore this summer's massive women-led protests against spycam porn and South Korea's pervasive culture of voyeurism and surveillance.

Read Haeryun's piece 'My Life Isn't Your Porn: Why South Korean Women Protest': https://www.koreaexpose.com/south-koreas-biggest-womens-protest-in-history-is-against-spycam-porn/

For more ké cast, go to koreaexpose.com.

This conversation was recorded on June 26th, 2018.

Former U.S. diplomat, speechwriter, and commentator on U.S. foreign policy in Asia Mintaro Oba joins host Andre Goulet to discuss this month’s on again off again US-North Korea meeting how the Moon administration’s heroic heavy lifting has kept the summit on track. Plus: a risk-free template for how to be a North Korea pundit.

This conversation was recorded on June 1st, 2018.

Music on this episode is from the album 'The Best of Yi Moon-sae'.