The Korea Society

October 28, 2015 - South Korea's geopolitical position dictates maintaining a strong alliance with the U.S. while exploring a harmonious partnership with China to protect and pursue its national interests. Preventing excessive conflicts between China and Japan also serves the interests of South Korea in terms of preserving peace and stability in Northeast Asia. President Park Geun-hye has visited Beijing recently to attend a historic ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of Word War II, while proposing to resume the triangular summit diplomacy among Korea, China, and Japan. President Park’s visit to Washington. D.C. aims at issues of mutual concern, including the denuclearization of North Korea. On the Korean Peninsula, she is pursuing a trust-building process with North Korea to achieve the goal of peaceful national unification despite North Korea's unpredictable brinkmanship. How does the U.S. policy of rebalance to Asia work to promote peace and stability in Korea and the region? What was achieved in the summit meeting between President Park and President Obama? Will China play a more active role to dissuade North Korea from its dangerous course of action? What are the impacts of Japan's foreign and security policy under the Abe government on the regional strategic environment?

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/koreas_growing_role_in_asia_regional_cooperation_and_national_unification.html

October 26, 2015 - World leaders launched the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” at the United Nations Summit in September 2015. The Agenda was a plan of action for people, planet, and prosperity, comprising 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets which seek to build on and complete the Millennium Development Goals. The integrated goals and targets seek to balance the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The global implementation and review of the 2030 agenda will be led by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, and the high-level political forum (HLPF) held annually under its auspices.

Ambassador Oh Joon of the Republic of Korea, newly elected President of ECOSOC, will talk on the significance of the Agenda and focus on four priority areas: ensuring ECOSOC is relevant to what is happening in the world, taking advantage of its new linkage with the HLPF to bolster the coordinating role of ECOSOC, strengthening and harmonizing the work of the ECOSOC system as a whole, and leading the efforts to build an inclusive and engaging global partnership.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/transforming_our_world_the_2030_agenda_for_sustainable_development.html

October 22, 2015 - Stanford University's Kathleen Stephens discusses the recent visit by ROK President Park Geun-hye to the United States and United Nations, issues in bilateral affairs, and cooperation on international challenges. Stephens, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Korea from 2008-2011, speaks to her time in Seoul and reflects on how to best read developments on the Korean Peninsula.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/ambassador_kathleen_stephens_new_strides_in_u.s.-korea_relations.html

October 15, 2015 - Dr. Laurel Kendall, Chair of the Division of Anthropology and Curator of Asian Ethnographic Collections at the American Museum of Natural History, Adjunct Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University, and president–elect of the Association for Asian Studies, explores the divine nature of Korean shaman paintings in her new book, God Pictures in Korean Contexts: The Ownership and Meaning of Shaman Paintings, co-authored by Jongsung Yang, Director of the Museum of Shamanism in Seoul, and Yul Soo Yoon, Founder and Director of the Gahoe Museum.

What makes a shaman painting sacred? Can these art pieces ever be anything but magical? Dr. Laurel Kendall navigates the journey of shaman paintings as they pass hands from painters to shamans to art collectors. Join us to examine the boundary between the art world and tangible aspects of religious practice.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/korean-studies/lectures/art_magic_shaman_paintings_of_korea_with_dr._laurel_kendall.html

October 1, 2015 - Yeonmi Park, the 21-year-old North Korean defector and human rights activist, discusses her new book, In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom, with moderator David Hawk from the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/yeonmi_park_a_north_korean_girls_journey_to_freedom.html

September 30, 2015 - The Council on Foreign Relations’ Scott Snyder joins Korea Society president Tom Byrne to assess Korean President Park Geun-hye's recent meeting with President Xi Jinping in Beijing and to comment on her speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.  Snyder will also preview President Park's upcoming summit with President Barack Obama in Washington, DC. Scott Snyder, a leading analyst and contributor to the blog Asia Unbound and Forbes, is the co-author of the The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash (2014).

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/policy/an_assessment_of_president_park_geun-hyes_diplomacy_in_beijing_and_new_york_with_a_preview_towards_washington.html

September 23, 2015 - Look into the New York art world through the perspectives of three Korean authors: Seongmin Ahn, Christina Kang, and Katie Bomi Son. They share their respective experiences as an artist, an art advisor/consultant, and art-event organizer, as well as the inspirations behind writing books on New York’s art scene.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/literature/new_york_insiders_by_korean_outsiders.html

September 17, 2015 - The Korea Society and KoreanAmericanStory.org present an evening of readings by acclaimed Korean adoptee writers. Matthew Salesses, Milton Washington, Heather Schultz, and Kim Sunee share their unique voices and powerful stories as they read works both new and old. A panel discussion moderated by Korean adoptee and KAS Board Chair Julie Young will follow the readings.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/literature/korean-american_adoptee_voices.html

September 11, 2015 - China’s recent stock market plunge, devaluation, and ongoing economic slowdown have had spillover effects on market performance and economic growth in Korea.  Charles Kimball of the Korea Center for International Finance discusses the effect of these recent developments on Korea with Thomas Byrne, President of The Korea Society and a former Senior Vice President of Moody’s Investors Service’s Sovereign Risk Group.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/corporate/chinas_market_meltdown_and_growth_slowdown_what_it_means_for_korea.html

August 19, 2015 - Michael D. Shin, lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Cambridge, and editor of the new historical atlas, Korean History in Mapsfrom Prehistory to the Twenty-First Century, discusses Korea’s history through maps, from early Choson to the present.  

Korean History in Maps provides overviews of the political, cultural, economic, and social systems for each period of Korean history, along with chronologies and lists of monarchs. With numerous images of artifacts, paintings, and architectural structures, the atlas helps to make Korean history accessible in a beautifully presented, full-color coverage of all periods of Korean history from prehistoric times to the present day.

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/literature/korean_history_in_maps.html