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[October 24, 2018] North Korean Art: Transcending Ideologies

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Lecture Series with BG Muhn

North Korean Art: Transcending Ideologies

 

Co-sponsored by PISA & GWIKS
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Lindner Family Commons
Elliott School of International Affairs

1957 E St. NW, Room 602, Washington, DC 20052

 

Professor B.G. Muhn’s talk will be focusing on the exhibition he curated in South Korea, which is held at the 2018 Gwangju Biennale until November 11, 2018, “North Korean Art: Paradoxical Realism.” This North Korean art exhibition at the Biennale is most probably the first opportunity for the people of South Korea and around the world to see North Korean art in its full spectrum within the context of Socialist Realism art. Within the realm of Socialist Realism art, North Korea is the only country that, after the fall of the Soviet Union, is still creating Socialist Realism in the world, and it is worth noting that the art has developed a unique expression and characteristics.

 

Speaker: Professor BG Muhn, Department of Art and Art History, Georgetown University

headshot of BG Muhn three-quarter profileBG Muhn, a painter and art professor at Georgetown University, has achieved substantial and noteworthy professional recognition through solo exhibitions in venues such as Stux Gallery in Chelsea in New York City, Ilmin Museum of Art in Seoul and the American University Museum in Washington, DC. He also has received acclaim in reviews and interviews, appearing in prominent media such as The New York Times, Art in America and CNN. BG Muhn is an authority on North Korean art. He has made nine research trips to DPRK to visit museums and interview artists and has been giving lectures on North Korean art at numerous academic and cultural venues including Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Harvard universities and Water Mill Art Center for Robert Wilson. He curated “Contemporary North Korean Art: Evolution of Socialist Realism” at the American University Museum in Washington, DC in 2016. His article on the issue was featured in a global British magazine, Index on Censorship (2017), and his interview was included in a British magazine Contra (2018). His eight-year endeavor on the research of Chosonhwa culminated in his recently published book, Pyongyang Art: The Enigmatic World of Chosonhwa (2018, Seoul Selection, 300 pages). Muhn was also chosen as curator for the North Korean art exhibition, North Korean Art: Paradoxical Realism at the 2018 Gwangju Biennale in Korea.

 

Moderator: Professor Janis Goodman, Department of Fine Arts, The George Washington University

portrait of Janis Goodman with white backgroundJanis Goodman is a Washington DC-based artist. She is currently a Professor of Fine Arts at the Corcoran School of Arts/George Washington University in Washington, DC. She was one of the founders of the arts group Workingman Collective. She is the arts reviewer for Around Town, WETA TV a PBS affiliate. She was awarded a Franz and Virginia Bader Award and DC Commission on the Arts Grant for 2018. Janis Goodman’s drawings and paintings move between the narrative and the deconstructed. The paintings are based on intuition and first-hand experience. Years of hiking national parks and kayaking rivers along the east coast have formed the backdrop of her work. Her fascination with natural phenomenon fuels her interest in movement, line, image, and color. Ms. Goodman’s work follows the invisible energy paths connecting the dots between the observed, imagined and remembered. Ms. Goodman’s interest in the arts and education has been fueled by extensive travel through Asia and western Europe. Janis has been an artist in resident for the past three years at the Shoals Marine Lab on Appledore Island, ME. Her work with Shoals underscores her interest in ecology and the paths of nature.

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[October 10, 2018] Other Dimensions of the Impact of War on the Korean Peninsula

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Co-hosted by Korean Americans in Action (KAA) & GW Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS)

Other Dimensions of the Impact of War
on the Korean Peninsula

October 10, Wednesday

12:00pm – 1:30pm

Lindner Commons (Room 602)
Elliott School of International Affairs
The George Washington University

1957 E St. NW, Room 602, Washington, DC 20052

There has undoubtedly been a breakthrough in the relationship between the United States and North Korea, and the beginnings of real, if unsteady, progress toward denuclearization. However, during these early stages of a new diplomacy toward the peninsula, the risk of war resulting from miscalculation or sudden degradation of trust is always present.

During the year of “fire and fury” the impact of potential nuclear-armed conflict was covered widely by the media, with a focus on loss of life. Other dimensions of the impact of war were far less discussed.

One example is the U.S. economy: South Korea is the U.S.’s sixth largest trading partner; the U.S. is South Korea’s  third. On Tuesday, October 2, the Economist Intelligence Unit released a report about the grave consequences to the American economy in the event of a conventional — not nuclear — military conflict on the peninsula. This and  other dimensions of war, including humanitarian crises and regional impacts, will be discussed.

*Light lunch will be provided.

Panelists:

Robert Powell

Senior Consultant, Economist Intelligence Unit

Robert PowelI is a Senior Consultant on the Public Policy, Economics and Politics (PPEP) team, and joined the Economist Intelligence Unit in May 2001. He advises private firms and government agencies, delivering studies to assist in, among other areas, scenario planning, advocacy efforts, and supply chain resilience. Prior to joining the PPEP team, he was the Business Operational Risk global manager and Regional Manager of the Middle East and Africa team. Rob holds a Masters degree from Trinity College Dublin, and has certificates in Banking Risk & Regulation and Global Oil & Gas Management. He is also a regular participant on the conference circuit, and maintains very active contacts with the media, including frequent  interviews for the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox, ABC, CNN and NPR.

 

Daniel Jasper

Public Education and Advocacy Coordinator, Asia, American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Daniel Jasper is AFSC’s Public Education and Advocacy Coordinator for Asia. His role is to bring lessons learned from AFSC’s programs throughout Asia back to policymakers in Washington. His current work focuses heavily on the humanitarian, peacebuilding, and people-to-people aspects of U.S.-North Korea relations. Daniel has ten years of experience working in public policy, advocacy, and international affairs. Prior to joining AFSC, he worked at World Learning, where he administered the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP). He has also worked for the Minnesota House of Representatives, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the United Nations, as well as serving as a Paul D. Coverdell Fellow for Democracy North Carolina and Peace Action – North Carolina. Daniel completed two assignments with the Peace Corps (Turkmenistan, 2008-10; St Lucia, 2013-14), where he collaborated with foreign ministries to improve local education standards.

 

Mark TokolaVice President, Korea Economic Institute of America

Mark Tokola retired as a U.S. Senior Foreign Service Officer with the rank of Minister-­Counselor in September 2014 after a 38-­year career with the U.S. Department of State. His last posting was as Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs at the American Embassy in London. Previously he had served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassies in Seoul, Republic of Korea; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and, Reykjavik, Iceland. Among his other postings were two tours at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Minister-Counselor for Economic Affairs at Embassy London, and Economic Counselor at U.S.  Embassy The Hague. He also served as Director of the Iraq Transition Assistance Office (ITAO) in Baghdad from 2007-­2008.  Mr. Tokola received the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for his work on implementing the Dayton Peace Accords while serving as Political Counselor in Sarajevo, Bosnia-­Herzegovina from 1997-­1999.

 

Moderator

Jisoo M. Kim

Director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies

Jisoo M. Kim is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at the George Washington University and Director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies. She received her Ph.D. in Korean History from Columbia University. She is a specialist in gender and legal history of early modern Korea. Her broader research interests include gender and sexuality, crime and justice, literary representations of the law, history of emotions, vernacular, and genderwriting. She is the author of The Emotions of Justice: Gender, Status, and Legal Performance in Chosŏn Korea (University of Washington Press, 2015), which was awarded the 2017 James Palais Prize of the Association for Asian Studies. She is also the co-editor of The Great East Asian War and the Birth of the Korean Nation by JaHyun Kim Haboush (Columbia University Press, 2016). She is currently working on a book project, tentatively titled, Suspicious Death: Forensic Medicine, Dead Bodies, and Criminal Justice in Early Modern Korea.

 

 

Lecture Series: “Book Talk: North Korean Human Rights and Transnational Advocacy”

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Director Jisoo M. Kim opened the event with welcoming comments and introduced the panelists.

Professor Andrew Yeo, Associate Professor of Catholic University of America, presented the new book “North Korean Human Rights: Activists and Networks” that he co-edited and shared his analysis on activism and advocacy networks for North Korean human rights.

There are increased global concerns regarding human rights abuses in North Korea. Some actors from the advocacy network, such as NGOs, Governments, grassroots groups, Think Tanks, and individuals are engaged in dealing with the problem. All of them share a common goal despite their different political positions or the way of approach. The book explains that the network of North Korean human rights consists of three-dimensional structure: domestic, transnational networks, and North Korean perspectives. The linkage between domestic and transnational networks explains the specific domestic issue (i.e., North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens) or mutual relations among them (i.e., Global pressure on South Korean legislative). There are three main questions raised and answered on the advocacy issue, which are emergence, impact, and theory. The author stressed that they differ over time and across space.

Professor Celeste Arrington, Korea Foundation Assistant Professor at the the George Washington University, introduced chapter four of the book, which she contributed in writing. It examined how the North Korean human rights issues included abductions. She explained the brief timeline of how abduction issue was handled internationally and how North Korea related activist groups in Japan are involved in formatting public understanding regarding not only for the abduction issues but also broader human right issues.

Mr. Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, recommended the book by expressing admiration of how the book covered the comprehensive history of North Korean human rights that several important organizations and networks have played a key role to speed up the movement towards North Korean human rights since the 1990s.

Soh Jaipil Circle “Post Trump-Kim Summit: What is the Next Step?”

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On September 11, 2018, GWIKS invited three experts in inter-Korean relations from South Korea for a talk regarding the next steps after the post Trump-Kim summit. At the start of the event Director Jisoo M. Kim of the GWIKS explained the background of the discussion and introduced Professor Immanuel Kim. Immanuel Kim served as a facilitator for the event and introduced the three panelists.

“North Korea Issue: Three-Level Games”

Dr. Sanghyun Lee, Senior Researcher of Sejong Institute, evaluated the summit in a perspective of what each country expected from the denuclearization agreement and stressed the importance of a complete denuclearization of North Korea. There was not much evidence of Kim giving up the nuclear weapons. Dr. Sanghyun Lee analyzed three reasons that made Kim join the negotiation table: confidence, fear, and mediation. Kim was confident of DPRK’s completion of national nuclear forces but unpredictable US policy by Trump made him concerned. The mediation by Moon and/or Xi also effectively played a role for him to come out and talk. However, the deep distrust of the US and further demand of North Korea were reconfirmed after the summit. The future would be composed of three dimensions; Inter-Korean Dimension, DPRK-US Dimension, and DPRK-International community dimension. The progress in each dimension should proceed concurrently for a successful global nuclear nonproliferation strategy.

“The Fate of Nuclear Weapons in North Korea”

Professor Yong-sup Han, Former Vice President of Korea National Defense University, emphasized the timeline of the North Korean nuclear program during ensuing generations of the Kim and compared the Singapore summit with previous North Korea denuclearization discussions in history. Defining denuclearization and using the right wording would have an impact on an effective negotiation with North Korea. “Verifiable dismantlement” should be used instead of denuclearization. He asserted that the US should lead in organizing verification teams, together with concerned countries and IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency). He also emphasized that the DPRK-US meeting should be held in Washington D.C. instead of Pyongyang to effectively push the US’s agenda.

“A Paradigm Shift: Reverse-Kissinger Strategy”

Professor Youngjun Kim, from Korea National Defense University, proposed his interpretation of the two parties’ motivation for the summit. Kim’s motivation was to obtain domestic political support for his long-term regime and to become more independent from China. On the other hand, Trump was seeking to contain China by using North Korea. In that way, the US could expand its influence over South East Asia and Korea so that it can have a gray zone against China.

RESCHEDULED) [September 21, 2018] Information Panel: Summer Study Abroad Program

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Information Panel
2018 Summer Study Abroad Program

 

 

The Summer Study Abroad Program participants visited various sites in South Korea and using the border as a lens into exploring four main themes: Korean identities, division, reunification, and economic differences between the Koreas. Students were able to trace the transnational processes of modernization, imperialism, colonization, the Cold War, decolonization, and neoliberalism that have shaped and continue to shape Korean identity and culture. Few of the sites they have visited are: Gyeongbok Palace, National Museum of Korea, DMZ, Ajou Institute for Unification, Hana Foundation, Constitutional Court of Korea, Korea National Defense University, Women’s Human Rights Museum, Google Korea, and Public Affairs Office of U.S. Embassy, and more.
Please join us for the panel to learn more about the summer program for next year and to hear three participant’s presentations.

 

Friday, September 21, 2018
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

The Elliott School of International Affairs
The George Washington University
1957 E st. NW, Room 212,
Washington DC, 20052

Alexis Simms, Archeology and Anthropology, CCAS
“Living History in Korea”

Nikou Golchin, MBA, School of Business
“K-beauty”

Sasha Polonko, International Affairs, ESIA
“Feminism in South Korea”

 

Moderated By Jisoo M. Kim
Jisoo M. Kim is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at the George Washington University and Director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies. She received her Ph.D. in Korean History from Columbia University. She is a specialist in gender and legal history of early modern Korea. Her broader research interests include gender and sexuality, crime and justice, literary representations of the law, history of emotions, vernacular, and gender writing. She is the author of The Emotions of Justice: Gender, Status, and Legal Performance in Chosŏn Korea (University of Washington Press, 2015), which was awarded the 2017 James Palais Prize of the Association for Asian Studies. She is also the co-editor of The Great East Asian War and the Birth of the Korean Nation by JaHyun Kim Haboush (Columbia University Press, 2016). She is currently working on a book project, tentatively titled, Suspicious Death: Forensic Medicine, Dead Bodies, and Criminal Justice in Early Modern Korea.

black square tile with text: North Korean Human Rights - Activists and Networks edited by Andrew Yeo and Danielle Chubb

[September 12, 2018] Book Talk: “North Korean Human Rights and Transnational Advocacy”

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Soh Jaipil Circle on Contemporary Korean Affairs

Book talk:
“North Korean Human Rights and Transnational Advocacy”

North Korean Human Rights

Speakers:

Andrew Yeo
Associate Professor, Department of Politics, Catholic University of America

Celeste Arrington
Korea Foundation Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, The George Washington University

Discussant:
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea

Wednesday, September 12, 2018
11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Lindner Family Commons
The George Washington University
1957 E Street, Room 602 NW, Washington, DC 20052

 

Event Description

The evidentiary weight of North Korean defectors’ testimony depicting crimes against humanity has drawn considerable attention from the international community in recent years. Despite the ramped up attention to North Korean human rights, what remains unexamined is the rise of the transnational advocacy network which drew attention to the issue in the first place. In a recent book edited by Andrew Yeo and Danielle Chubb, North Korean Human Rights: Activists and Networks (Cambridge University Press 2018), a team of scholars trace the emergence and evolution of North Korean human rights activism and challenge existing conceptions of transnational advocacy, how they operate, and why they provoke a response from even the most recalcitrant regimes. In this event, two contributors to the book and a leading figure in the North Korean human rights campaign share insights into the politics, strategy, and policy objectives of North Korean human rights activism in both domestic and transnational contexts.

About Andrew Yeo

Andrew Yeo is Associate Professor of Politics and Director of Asian Studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC. He is the co-editor (with Danielle Chubb) of the newly published North Korean Human Rights: Activists and Networks (Cambridge University Press 2018). He is also the author or editor of Asia’s Regional Architecture: Alliances and Institutions in the Pacific Century (Stanford University Press, forthcoming 2019); Activists, Alliances, and Anti-U.S. Base Protests (Cambridge University Press 2011); and Living in an Age of Mistrust (Routledge Press 2017). His research and teaching interests include international relations theory, East Asian regionalism, social and transnational movements, overseas basing strategy and U.S. force posture, Korean politics, and North Korea. His scholarly publications have appeared in International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, Perspectives on Politics, Comparative Politics, Journal of East Asian Studies, and International Relations of the Asia-Pacific among others. He has also contributed pieces or provided commentary for MSNBC, Channel News Asia, CBS Radio, Voice of America, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, New York Times Magazine, Al Jazeera, and the Korea Times. He is on the advisory boards of the U.S.-Korea NextGen Scholars Program and the Korea-America Student Conference (KASC). He received his Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University, and B.A. in Psychology and International Studies from Northwestern University.

About Celeste Arrington

Celeste L. Arrington is Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University. She specializes in comparative politics, with a regional focus on the Koreas and Japan. Her research and teaching focus on law and social movements, the politics of redress, the media, litigation, lawyers, policy-making processes, historical justice, North Korean human rights, and qualitative methods. She is also interested in the international relations and security of Northeast Asia and transnational activism. She is the author of Accidental Activists: Victims and Government Accountability in South Korea and Japan (2016) and has published in the Comparative Political Studies, Law & Society Review, Journal of East Asian Studies, Pacific Affairs, Asian Survey, and the Washington Post, among others. She received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an A.B. from Princeton University. She is currently writing a book that analyzes the role of lawyers and legal activism in Japanese and Korean policies related to persons with disabilities and tobacco control.

About Greg Scarlatoiu

Greg Scarlatoiu is the Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK). He is a visiting professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and instructor and coordinator of the Korean Peninsula and Japan class at the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI).  Scarlatoiu is vice president of the International Council on Korean Studies (ICKS). Scarlatoiu holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, Tufts University, and a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from Seoul National University’s Department of International Relations. He completed the MIT XXI Seminar for U.S. national security leaders in 2016-2017. Scarlatoiu was awarded the title ‘Citizen of Honor, City of Seoul,’ in January 1999.

[September 11, 2018] Panel Talk “Post Trump-Kim Summit: What is the next step?”

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Soh Jaipil Circle:

Panel Talk
“Post Trump-Kim Summit: What is the next step?”

“North Korea Issue: Three-Level Games”
Dr. Sanghyun Lee
Senior Researcher, Sejong Institute; President, Korea Nuclear Policy Society

“The Fate of Nuclear Weapons in North Korea”
Professor Yong-sup Han
Former Vice President, Korea National Defense University; Former President, Korea Nuclear Policy Society

“A Paradigm Shift: Reverse-Kissinger Strategy”
Professor Youngjun Kim
Professor, Korea National Defense University; Research Director, Korea Nuclear Policy Society

Moderated by
Professor Immanuel Kim
The George Washington University

Tuesday, September 11, 2018
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Lindner Family Commons
The George Washington University
1957 E St. NW, Room 602, Washington, DC 20052

About Sanghun Lee
Dr. Sanghyun Lee is a senior researcher of the Sejong Institute, a leading Think Tank in the Republic of Korea. He served as Director-General for Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is the President of the Korea Nuclear Policy Society.

About Yong-sup Han
Professor Yong-sup Han is a former Vice President of the Korea National Defense University and a former director of the Research Institute of National Security Affairs. He was the former President of the Korea Nuclear Policy Society and served as a main negotiator to North Korea for arms control for many years.

About Youngjun Kim
Professor Youngjun Kim of the Korea National Defense University is the author of Origins of the North Korean Garrison State: People’s Army and the Korean War published by Routledge in 2017. He is a member of Commanders’ Strategic Shaping Board (CSSB) for the ROK-US Combined Forces Commander and a research director of the Korea Nuclear Policy Society.

About Immanuel Kim
Immanuel Kim is Korea Foundation and Kim-Renaud Associate Professor of Korean Literature and Culture Studies. Prior to working at the George Washington University, he was Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies at Binghamton University (SUNY). Dr. Kim received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. He is an authority on North Korean literature and film and is the author of a recent book on North Korean literature, Rewriting Revolution: Women, Sexuality, and Memory in North Korean Fiction (University of Hawaii Press, 2018).

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