The Korea Society

July 13, 2015 - In the 1990’s, Ha Dong Chul (1946-2006), a leading Korean abstract artist, sought to represent the essential nature of creation through an examination of “light.” The resulting series of paintings bear his trademark synthesis of Western Modernism and native Korean technique. Ha used the “plucked ink line,” the age-old tool of the Korean carpenter and stonemason, to mark his canvasses with diagonal stripes. His bold, primary colors come directly from the obangsaek, the spectrum of red, blue, yellow, white, and black used to represent the cardinal directions in Korean tradition.

A painter, print-maker, and educator, Ha Dong Chul received the 1974 Prize at the Korean National Art Exhibition and a 1977 Fulbright Scholarship to the Tyler School of Art at Temple University. He served as Chairman of the Korean Contemporary Print Association from 1990 to 1991 and Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University from 2000 after teaching there for over two decades. His work is in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Korea, the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art in Japan, the Cincinnati Museum of Art, and the British Museum.

Ha’s daughter, Ha Won, uses projections and reflections of light to compare subjective and objective reality. Her installation, “A Drop of Sky,” invites viewers to an “experience of space” and, through video, adds the element of time. Ms. Ha is a professor at Ulsan University, and her works are in the permanent collections of the Gwangju Museum of Art, the Honolulu Academy of Art, and the British Museum.

This exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Dongwha Cultural Foundation.

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

June 18, 2015 - The new China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), aimed at financing infrastructure development projects in Asia, is increasingly gaining membership, including that of the Republic of Korea. David Dollar, Senior Fellow at the Thornton China Center of Brookings, discusses China’s leadership, South Korea’s participation despite U.S. concerns, and the AIIB’s positioning vis-à-vis the IMF and the World Bank. Dr. Dollar appears in conversation with Korea Society SVP Dr. Stephen Noerper.

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

June 16, 2015 - Advertising in South Korea is often referred to as a “flower of capitalism.” Rather than calling attention to the inherent links between commercial advertising and capitalism, this clichéd metaphor presents advertising as a wholesome, creative medium of public good and positive contribution to society. South Korean’s consume advertising as a product of popular culture and celebrate it for the humanist societal ideals it often promotes, instead of viewing it as an intrusive commercial message. Dr. Fedorenko explores the origins of such attitudes toward advertising through some notable contemporary examples, and considers challenges of using advertising for public good in the twenty-first century South Korea.

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

June 11, 2015 - Esther Choi, owner and chef of Mŏkbar, will share her remarkable and entrepreneurial journey from pharmacy student to restaurant owner. Winning the Village Voice Readers’ Choice Best New Restaurant in 2014, Mŏkbar has become one of New York’s go-to Korean noodle shops since opening in Chelsea Market a year ago.

Chef Esther is a young and talented chef on a mission to popularize Korean food. She fuses authentic Korean ingredients and old family recipes with an American twist to create her own unique style of Korean soul food! The result is Korean flavored ramen noodles inspired by traditional dishes such as kimchijigae, bibimbap, naengmyeon, and miyeokgook. Renowned for her homemade kimchis, she even coined the term “kimchify” as she can ferment almost any vegetable in the Korean style. Chef Esther’s kimchi is essential to many of the menu items offered at Mŏkbar, providing the “soul" in her cuisine.

She will be joined by moderator Leiti Hsu, the producer and host of WORD OF MOUTH with Leiti Hsu on Heritage Radio Network, who eats and networks for a living. Chef Esther will also demonstrate how to make her version of tteobokki (spicy rice cake), followed by a tasting. A not-to-be-missed event for young professional foodies!

For more information, please visit the link below:
http://www.koreasociety.org/special-events/young-professionals/an_evening_with_chef_esther_choi_of_mokbar.html

June 3, 2015 - Sean King, Senior Vice President at Park Strategies, offers a comparative analysis on a unification scenario examining Germany in 1989 vs. Korea today.

June 8, 2015 - Dr. Hyangjin Lee, this year’s Kim Koo Visiting Professor of Korean Studies at Harvard University, examines the evolution of anti-Communist films in South Korea. Dr. Lee explores the historical legacy of anti-Communist drama through the oppressive film policy in the pre-democratization era and the subsequent democratic transformation of South Korea. To evaluate the historical legacy of the Cold War in the identity politics of South Korean national cinema, she highlights three films that deal with the war and national division, namely The Marines Never Returned (Lee Man-hui, 1963), Rainy Days (Yu Hyun-mok, 1979) and Spring in My Hometown (Lee Kwang-mok, 1998).

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

June 2, 2015 - Authors Adrienne Leslie and Patricia Park discuss and read from Alice Again and Re Jane, contemporary retellings that pay homage to Alice in Wonderland and Jane Eyre, but with a Korean-American twist. These new love stories about identity and culture are just in time for summer beach reading!

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

May 20, 2015 - Japan and South Korea are Western-style democracies with open-market economies, are committed to the rule of law, and are also US allies. However, despite their shared interests, shared values, and geographic proximity, divergent national identities have driven a wedge between the countries. Brad Glosserman and Scott Snyder discuss the roots of this split and its ongoing threat to the region and the world. In their new release, The Japan-South Korea Identity Clash, Glosserman and Snyder identify competing notions of national identity as the main obstacle to a productive partnership between Japan and South Korea. Through public opinion data, interviews, and years of observation, they show how fundamentally incompatible, and rapidly changing, conceptions of national identity in Japan and South Korea—and not struggles over power or structural issues—have complicated territorial claims and international policy. Despite changes in the governments of both countries and concerted efforts by leading political figures to encourage US-ROK-Japan security cooperation, the Japan-Korea relationship continues to be hobbled by history and its deep imprint on ideas of national identity. They recommend bold, policy-oriented prescriptions for overcoming problems in Japan-Korea relations and facilitating trilateral cooperation among these three Northeast Asian allies, recognizing the power of the public on issues of foreign policy, international relations, and the prospects for peace in Asia.

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

May 21, 2015 - Victor Cha , noted author and Center for Strategic and International Studies Korea Chair, offered a keynote address on Stakeholders in Northeast Asia,  at a dinner hosted by The Korea Society, which was part of a private conference on Unification and Alliance Support held at The Korea Society on May 21-22, 2015 and supported by the Korea Foundation.

May 14, 2015 - In 2011, Jean Lee became the first American reporter granted permission to work as a journalist in North Korea, and a year later opened AP's Pyongyang bureau, making the news agency the first and only US news outlet with an office in the North Korean capital. Lee, who now serves as a Public Policy Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., shares photos and videos of homes, factories, schools and farms typically off-limits to foreigners, and offers her personal insights on daily life in North Korea. The award-winning journalist discusses the challenges of reporting on a country considered among the world's worst for press freedom, the role her Korean-American ethnicity played in her interactions with the North Koreans, and her observations on reunification after working as a journalist on both sides of the DMZ.

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