Archived Events – GW Institute for Korean Studies

04/17/24 | Korea Policy Forum with Speaker Kim Jin-pyo

April 10, 2024April 17, 2024Archived Events, Korea Policy ForumLeave a Comment

Korea Policy Forum

Dynamics of the ROK-US Alliance: Bridging the Past, Present and Future

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

09:30 AM – 10:30 AM EDT

Hybrid Event

Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University (Room B12)

1957 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20052

Virtual via Zoom

See the Event Program

The ROK-U.S. alliance, originally conceived as a military and security pact 70 years ago, has since evolved into a “global comprehensive strategic alliance.” Rooted in shared values such as liberal democracy and a market economy, this alliance seeks to cultivate an “Alliance in Action towards the Future” by identifying potential areas of collaboration, thereby laying the groundwork for the next 70 years. In this special lecture, Speaker Kim Jin-pyo will reflect on the trajectory of the ROK-U.S. alliance over the past 70 years and delve into its future prospects for bilateral cooperation, with a particular focus on economic and political spheres, envisioning the next seven decades. With an illustrious career spanning key governmental roles including Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy and Deputy Prime Minister for Education, Speaker Kim has been a prominent figure in Korean politics for the past two decades. Drawing upon his extensive experience as a public servant and politician, he aims to offer insights and inspiring guidance for the next generation of leaders who will serve as vital connectors for the ROK-U.S. alliance. Furthermore, Speaker Kim will present his vision for fostering enhanced bilateral exchanges and cooperation between the two allies.

Speaker

portrait of Gregg Brazinsky in professional attire

HIS EXCELLENCY KIM JIN-PYO has served as Speaker of the 21^st National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (ROK) since July 2022. He started his career in civil service after passing the Senior Civil Service Examination in 1973. He held high-level government offices including Director General of Taxation (1999-2001) and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economy (2001-2002), Senior Secretary for Policy and Planning in the President’s Office (2002), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy (2003-2005), and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Human Resources Development (2005-2008). First elected to the National Assembly in 2004, he has since represented the 5^th District of Suwon City in Gyeonggi Province for 20 years. He was affiliated with the Democratic Party before his election as Speaker, a position that requires him to remain independent. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Law from Seoul National University, a Master of Arts in Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an Honorary Doctorate in Public Administration from Cumberland University. He has been invited to deliver guest lectures by a number of prestigious institutions, including Harvard University, Stanford University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Moderator

JISOO M. KIM is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at George Washington University. She is Founding Director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies (2017-Present) and Founding Co-Director of the East Asia National Resource Center (2018-Present). She also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Korean Studies (2020-Present). She specializes in gender, sexuality, law, emotions, and affect in Korean history. She is the author of The Emotions of Justice: Gender, Status, and Legal Performance in Chosŏn Korea (University of Washington Press, 2016), which was awarded the 2017 James Palais Prize of the Association for Asian Studies. She is currently working on a book project tentatively entitled Criminalizing Intimacy: Marriage, Concubinage, and Adultery Law in Korea, 1469-2015. In 2023, she received a Distinguished Research Award from the Ministry of Education in South Korea. She received her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University.

04/23/24 | North Korea Economic Forum: Revisiting Sanctions on North Korea

April 9, 2024April 24, 2024Archived Events, North Korea Economic ForumLeave a Comment

North Korea Economic Forum

Virtual Panel Discussion

“Revisiting Sanctions on North Korea“

Thursday, April 23, 2024

09:00 AM – 10:30 AM EDT

10:00 PM – 11:30 PM KST

Virtual via Zoom

Program & Profiles

The operations of the U.N. Panel of Experts on sanctions on North Korea are set to cease at the end of April as the Panel’s current mandate expires. Russia’s veto on a U.N. Security Council resolution to extend the mandate will mark the conclusion of the U.N. body, which has been tasked with monitoring compliance with the sanctions regime. We cordially invite you to join the GW Institute for Korean Studies and the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University for an engaging panel discussion where experts will delve into critical issues surrounding the efficacy and impact of current sanctions policies on North Korea. Our distinguished panelists will explore various facets of the sanctions regime, shedding light on key themes such as North Korea’s evolving dynamics with Russia and sanctions violations, the extent of China’s cooperation in enforcing sanctions against North Korea, the economic consequences of the changing sanctions landscape on North Korea, and strategies to fine-tune and optimize the sanctions policy.

Event Agenda

04/18/2024 | Soh Jaipil Lecture Series with Sung Eun Kim

April 9, 2024April 22, 2024Archived Events, Soh Jaipil Lecture SeriesLeave a Comment

Conscripted at “Freedom’s Frontier”:

Korean Augmentees, Racialized Masculinity, and U.S. Military Empire

Thursday, April 18, 2024

2:00 P.M – 3:30 P.M. EST

In-Person Event

Elliott School of International Affairs, Room 505

1957 E ST NW, Washington DC

Event Program (PDF)

About the Event

In 2022, the Korean War Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC, was reopened with a new “Wall of Remembrance.” Emblazoned on the panels commemorating the war dead were over 7,000 Korean names. Hailed as a civil rights “victory” by then-President Barack Obama nearly a decade earlier, the Korean War, as enshrined in the Wall of Remembrance, now includes Korean Augmentation Troops to the U.S. Army, or KATUSAs, among America’s multiracial fallen sons. Who were these vaunted figures and what was their role at “freedom’s frontier”? As a term referring to an elite cadre of South Korean soldiers conscripted into the U.S. Army from the Korean War to the present, “KATUSA” is part of a military-imperial vocabulary in South Korea that has assigned value and status to the men who have served in this capacity. Yet what goes unseen in the celebration of KATUSAs in South Korea–and now, in U.S. official commemoration around the Korean War–is the centrality of their racialization and emasculation to the role they played under the U.S. military empire. The GW Institute for Korean Studies invites you to join us for this special lecture as Kim reconsiders the significance of “freedom’s frontier,” an epithet most commonly associated with the demilitarized zone (DMZ), by analyzing the ambivalent sovereignty of the KATUSA.

Speaker

SUNG EUN KIM is the Postdoctoral Fellow at the George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS). He is an interdisciplinary historian of modern Korea whose research focuses on U.S.–ROK relations, the intersections of transnational Korean militarism and U.S. imperialism in the Asia-Pacific region, and the racial and sexual politics of colonial soldiering. He earned his Ph.D. in modern Korean history from UCLA, his M.A. in East Asian Regional Studies from Columbia University, and his B.A. in Asian Studies and Political Science from Vassar College.

Moderator

portrait of Jisoo Kim in professional attire

04/16/24 | Korea Policy Forum, South Korea’s National Assembly Elections and US-ROK Relations: Journalists’ Views

April 3, 2024April 17, 2024Archived Events, Korea Policy ForumLeave a Comment

Korea Policy Forum

South Korea’s National Assembly Elections and US-ROK Relations:

Journalists’ Views

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

09:00 AM – 10:15 PM EST

10:00 PM – 11:15 PM KST

Virtual Event via Zoom

See the Event Program

On April 10th, South Korea held general elections for its National Assembly. While the major opposition party strives to maintain its current majority party status, the emergence of new third parties complicates the traditional two-way race between the ruling and major opposition parties. The results of the elections will greatly impact the remaining three years of the Yoon government’s term. What were the main political parties’ strategies and challenges leading up to the elections and how did they lead to the election outcome? How will the political landscape, including the power relations within the main political parties, shift in the coming months? What will be the potential impact of the election results on Seoul’s repositioning its foreign and security policy? Please join the GW Institute for Korean Studies and East Asia National Resource Center for an online discussion by American and South Korean journalists on the prospects of a new domestic political geography in South Korea and its potential impact on U.S.-ROK relations.

Speakers (Alphabetical Order)

HEEJUN KIM is the Head of the International News Department at YTN, a news channel in Korea. Prior to this role, she served as the head of Foreign Affairs and Security News. Kim was a former Washington Correspondent from 2016 to 2019, during which she conducted exclusive interviews with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser Herbert R. McMaster. Kim was a professional fellow at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute of Columbia University in New York from 2011 to 2012. She also serves as a policy advisor at MOFA. Additionally, she co-translated “International Negotiations” by Victor A. Kremenyuk. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from Ewha Womans University and completed her doctoral program in International Politics at Kyunggi University.

JUNG EUN LEE is the Deputy Managing Director of the Newsroom at the Dong-A Ilbo Daily in South Korea. She worked as a Washington correspondent from 2019 to 2021. She specializes in national security and foreign affairs, and has been reporting on North Korea, denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy. She was dispatched to Channel A, the affiliate broadcasting company of Dong-A Ilbo, as a senior reporter at the political desk in 2014. She was a visiting scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute (USKI) at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies from 2014 to 2015. She obtained her B.A. in journalism from Seoul National University, and an M.A. from the Graduate School of North Korean Studies.

TIM MARTIN is the Korea bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, where he oversees news coverage on the Korean Peninsula. He has been based in Seoul since early 2017, with prior stints at the Journal’s offices in New York, Chicago and Atlanta—where he covered public health and the CDC. He holds a B.A. in Journalism from Eastern Illinois University and also previously studied Korean at Seoul National University.

JOSH ROGIN is a columnist for the Global Opinions section of the Washington Post. He is also the author of Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the 21^st Century, released in March, 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcout. Previously, he has covered foreign policy and national security for Bloomberg View, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, Foreign Policy magazine, Congressional Quarterly, Federal Computer Week magazine, and Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. His work has been featured on outlets including NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, NPR, and many more. He has been recognized with the Interaction Award for Excellence in International Reporting and as a Finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. He has also received journalism fellowships from the Knight Foundation, the East-West Center, and the National Press Foundation. He has a B.A. in international affairs from the George Washington University and studied at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife Ali Rogin of the PBS News Hour.

Moderator

YONHO KIM is the Associate Director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies and an Associate Research Professor of Practice. He specializes in North Korea’s mobile telecommunications and U.S. policy towards North Korea. Kim is the author of North Korean Phone Money: Airtime Transfers as a Precursor to Mobile Payment System (2020), North Korea’s Mobile Telecommunications and Private Transportation Services in the Kim Jong-un Era (2019) and Cell Phones in North Korea: Has North Korea Entered the Telecommunications Revolution? (2014). His research findings were covered by various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Yonhap News, and Libération. Prior to joining GWIKS, he extensively interacted with the Washington policy circle on the Korean peninsula as Senior Researcher of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Senior Reporter for Voice of America’s Korean Service, and Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council’s Program on Korea in Transition. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Relations from Seoul National University, and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

04/11/2024 | GWIKS Special Event, Bridging Cultures: Museum Public Relations & Community Engagement for Diversity

March 28, 2024April 11, 2024Archived Events, GWIKS Special Talk SeriesLeave a Comment

“Bridging Cultures: Museum Public Relations & Community Engagement for Diversity”

Thursday, April 11, 2024

2:00 P.M – 3:30 P.M. EST

Hybrid Event

Elliott School of International Affairs, Room 505

1957 E ST NW, Washington DC

Virtual via Zoom

Event Program (PDF)

About the Event

This lecture delves into the world of museum marketing and community engagement, offering fresh perspectives through the lens of diversity and ethnic museum PR. Dr. Kang will share communication strategies, drawing inspiration from the art exhibition, “Old Korea“. This exhibit showcased the works of four Western artists, Elizabeth Keith (1887-1956), Paul Jacoulet (1896-1960), Lilian Miller (1895 – 1943), and Willy Seiler (1903 – 1988) – who embarked on a journey to Korea a century ago. Their artworks, born from curiosity, critical reflection, and genuine respect for the Korean people, offer a glimpse into a bygone era. These pieces serve as a powerful reminder of our shared humanity, transcending cultural differences and fostering understanding. The lecture is specifically designed for communication specialists, marketers, and anyone with a passion for Korean culture and history. The GW Institute for Korean Studies invites you to join us for this special lecture as Dr. Kang explores how museums can leverage the power of art to inspire audiences to embrace differences, celebrate cultural heritage, and dismantle harmful stereotypes.

Speaker

JIN-AE KANG (Ph.D. at the University of Alabama) is a researcher, educator, and lifelong learner with a passion for harnessing the power of storytelling across diverse topics such as corporate communication, public health issues, and community building. Her publications span journals like Public Relations Review, Journal of Communication Management, Journal of Consumer Behavior, and Communication Studies. Driven by the stark realities of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustices, Dr. Kang champions the need for storytelling strategies that transcend cultural, national, and generational divides. Her commitment to intercultural communication birthed impactful projects like the 2022 art exhibition, “OLD KOREA from the Eyes of Four Western Artists” and the mini-documentary “OLD KOREA-Dr. Song Story.“ Recognized for her outstanding contributions, she received the ECU International Service and Engagement Award and the ECU Scholar-Teacher Award in 2022. She recently served as president of the Korean American Communication Association from 2021 to 2023.

Moderator

04/04/2024 | Soh Jaipil Lecture Series with Andre Schmid

March 27, 2024April 6, 2024Archived Events, Soh Jaipil Lecture SeriesLeave a Comment

“North Korea’s Mundane Revolution:

Socialist Living and the Rise of Kim Il Sung, 1953-1965″

Thursday, April 4, 2024

3:00 P.M – 4:30 P.M. EST

Hybrid Event

Elliott School of International Affairs, Room 505

1957 E ST NW, Washington DC

Virtual via Zoom

Event Program (PDF)

About the Event

When the crucial years after the Korean War are remembered today, histories about North Korea largely recount a grand epic of revolution centering on the ascent of Kim Il Sung to absolute power. Often overshadowed in this storyline, however, are the myriad ways the Korean population participated in party-state projects to rebuild their lives and country after the devastation of the war. North Korea’s Mundane Revolution traces the origins of the country’s long-term durability in the questions that Korean women and men raised about the modern individual, housing, family life, and consumption. Using a wide range of overlooked sources, Andre Schmid examines the formation of a gendered socialist lifestyle in North Korea by focusing on the localized processes of socioeconomic and cultural change. This style of “New Living” replaced radical definitions of gender and class revolution with the politics of individual self-reform and cultural elevation, leading to a depoliticization of the country’s political culture in the very years that Kim Il Sung rose to power. The GW Institute for Korean Studies invites you to join us for this special lecture which will highlight aspects of North Korea’s origins that are often overlooked in history.

Speaker

ANDRE SCHMID has taught Korean and East Asian History at the University of Toronto for over 25 years. He is the author of Korea Between Empires, 1895-1919 and, most recently, North Korea’s Mundane Revolution. Professor Schmid’s research and teaching focus on 19^th and 20^th century Korea and East Asia, as seen in the broader context of global, comparative history. He is interested in historiography and the uses of public memory, the relation between cultural practices and political economy, gendered social history and popular social movements. His book, Korea Between Empires, 1895-1919 (Columbia University Press, 2002), received the John Whitney Hall Award of the Association of Asian Studies. He has published in various journals including the Journal of Asian Studies, American Historical Review, Yoksa Munje, South Atlantic Quarterly, International Journal of Korean Studies, and SAI among others. He has also served two terms as the Chair of the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto.

Moderator

03/27/24 | Premodern Korea Lecture Series with Wenjiao Cai

March 18, 2024March 27, 2024Archived Events, Premodern Korea Lecture SeriesLeave a Comment

“The Commodification of Chosŏn Ginseng and the Scale

of Environmental Change in Early Modern East Asia”

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

10:00 A.M – 11:30 A.M. EST

Virtual Event via Zoom

Event Program (PDF)

About the Event

This talk explores the ecological impacts of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century trade of Chosŏn ginseng in East Asia. Focusing on the transformation of Kanggye—Chosŏn’s largest producer of export ginseng—it shows how cross-border commodity flows reorganized local natural and social landscapes through the systematic extraction of the root and how the resulting exhaustion of ginseng reserves prompted countermeasures ranging from regulating sales, adjusting tribute collection, and eventually, promoting cultivated varieties. By demonstrating how foreign demand for ginseng altered the environment on the Korean peninsula, the analysis illuminates the forces of ecological change that transcended national and imperial boundaries. Moreover, by elucidating the diverse practices the Chosŏn state developed to extract and conserve ginseng, it enriches scholarly understandings of natural resource management in this period, which has been predominantly studied through the institution of state forestry.

Speaker

Wenjiao Cai is a historian of early modern Korea with research interests in environments, science and technology, law, and frontiers and borderlands. She is working on her first manuscript, Coping with the Cold: Nature and State on Chosŏn Korea’s Northern Frontier, which examines how human-climate relations shaped state expansion in Chosŏn’s northern provinces of P’yŏngan and Hamgyŏng. Wenjiao received her Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University in 2022 and currently serves as a Moon Family Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

Moderator

Jisoo M. Kim is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at George Washington University. She is Founding Director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies (2017-Present) and Founding Co-Director of the East Asia National Resource Center (2018-Present). She also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Korean Studies. She specializes in gender, sexuality, law, emotions, and affect in Korean history. She is the author of The Emotions of Justice: Gender, Status, and Legal Performance in Chosŏn Korea (University of Washington Press, 2016), 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 entitled Criminalizing Intimacy: Marriage, Concubinage, and Illicit Sex in Chosŏn Korea. She received her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University.

03/22/2024 | GWIKS Special Talk, “Late Industrialization, Tradition, and Social Change in South Korea”

March 12, 2024March 28, 2024Archived Events, GWIKS Special Talk SeriesLeave a Comment

GWIKS Book Talk

Late Industrialization, Tradition, and Social Change in South Korea

Friday, March 22, 2024

12:30 PM – 02:00 PM EST

Hybrid Event

1957 E ST Northwest, Washington DC

Lindner Family Commons, Room 602

Virtual via Zoom

See the Event Program

Event Description

In Dr. Yong-Chool Ha’s latest book, he examines a paradox in Korea’s economic development: an ultra-modern industrial economy has been achieved, yet traditional networks of obligation and solidarity, such as blood, school, and regional ties have persisted, and even become more deeply reinforced, profoundly affecting the fundamental aspects of Korean politics and socio-economic relations. Ha contends that this paradox is not accidental, and that the course of Korea’s late economic development shaped and entrenched these “primordial” ties into Korea’s politics, society, and economy. Thus, the persistence and predominance of these ties, what he calls “neofamilism,” requires an explanation as to when, why, and how it arose. “Late Industrialization, Tradition, and Social Change in South Korea” is about the social consequences of late industrialization. While much has been written about the economic success stories of late industrialization, the analysis of changes in social relations engendered by late industrialization has been strikingly absent. The GW Institute for Korean Studies and East Asia National Resource Center invite you to join us for this special book talk lecture from Yong-Chool Ha as he narrows the gap between political economy and sociology in the study of late industrialization.

Speaker

YONG-CHOOL HA is Director of the Center for Korea Studies and Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Social Science at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. His primary academic interests are comparative politics and society with a particular focus on late coming nations (Korea, Japan, Prussia, China and the Soviet Union), Soviet and Russian politics, the Russian Far East, Korean domestic and international politics, inter-Korean Relations and East Asian regional politics and international theories in East Asia. He has edited or co-authored many books in Korean and English, including New Perspectives on International Studies in Korea, Russia’s Choice at the Crossroads, and Global Standards and Identity in Korean Society. He has also published countless articles for academic journals and conferences. His latest book, Late Industrialization, Tradition, and Social Change in South Korea, was released by UW Press in February 2024. He holds a B.A. from Seoul National University, an M.A. from Kent State University, and a Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley.

Moderator

CELESTE ARRINGTON is Korea Foundation Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at GW. She specializes in comparative public policy, law and social change, lawyers, and governance, with a regional focus on the Koreas and Japan. She is also interested in Northeast Asian security, North Korean human rights, and transnational activism. Her first book was Accidental Activists: Victim Movements and Governmental Accountability in Japan and South Korea (Cornell, 2016). She has published numerous articles and, with Patricia Goedde, she co-edited Rights Claiming in South Korea (Cambridge, 2021). Her current book project analyzes the legalistic turn in Korean and Japanese governance through paired case studies related to tobacco control and disability rights. She received a PhD from UC Berkeley, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an AB from Princeton University. She is a core faculty of the GW Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS) and president of the Association of Korean Political Studies. Her recent article“Knowledge production through legal mobilization: Environmental activism against the U.S. military bases in East Asia” with Claudia Kim won the Asian Law and Society Association’s distinguished article award.

03/07/24 | Korea Policy Forum: The United States-South Korea Alliance

February 27, 2024March 12, 2024Archived Events, Korea Policy ForumLeave a Comment

Korea Policy Forum

The United States-South Korea Alliance: Why It May Fail and Why It Must Not

Thursday, March 7, 2024

12:30 PM – 02:00 PM EST

Hybrid Event

Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University (Room 505)

1957 E Street Northwest Room 505 Washington, DC 20052

Virtual via Zoom

See the Event Program

The alliance between the United States and South Korea has endured through seven decades of shifting regional and geopolitical security contexts. Yet it now faces challenges from within. Domestic political turmoil, including deepening political polarization and rising nationalism in both countries, has cast doubt on the alliance’s viability―with critical implications for the balance of power in East Asia.

Scott A. Snyder provides an authoritative overview of the internal and external pressures on the U.S.–South Korea alliance and explores its future prospects. He argues that nationalist leaders’ accession to power could put past successes at risk and endanger the national security objective of both countries. In the United States, “America first” nationalism favors self-interest over cooperation and portrays allies as burdens or even free riders. “Korea first” sentiments, in both progressive and conservative forms, present the U.S. military presence in South Korea as an obstacle to Korean reconciliation or a shackle on South Korea’s freedom of action. Snyder also examines North Korea’s attempts to influence South Korean domestic politics and how China’s growing strength has affected the dynamics of the alliance. He considers scenarios in which the U.S.–South Korea relationship weakens or crumbles, emphasizing the consequences for the region and the world. Drawing on this analysis, Snyder offers timely recommendations for stakeholders in both countries on how to preserve and strengthen the alliance. The GW Institute for Korean Studies and East Asia National Resource Center invite you to join us for this special lecture which will highlight newly-unfolding opportunities and challenges related to a new chapter of the U.S.-ROK alliance.

Speakers

SCOTT A. SNYDER is senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Starting on April 1, Mr. Snyder will assume the role of president and chief executive officer at the Korea Economic Institute of America. Mr. Snyder is the author of The United States-South Korea Alliance: Why It May Fail and Why It Must Not (December 2023) and South Korea at the Crossroads: Autonomy and Alliance in an Era of Rival Powers (January 2018). Mr. Snyder received a BA from Rice University and an MA from the regional studies East Asia program at Harvard University.

Discussant

NICHOLAS ANDERSON is Assistant Professor of International Affairs and Associate Director of the Master of Arts International Affairs Program in the Elliott School of International Affairs. His research and teaching interests include great power politics, territorial conflict and expansion, conventional military operations, cybersecurity, and East Asian international relations. He previously held fellowships at the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies at the Elliott School, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School, the MacMillan Center Program on Japanese Politics and Diplomacy at Yale University, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His research and other writings have been published in International Security, International Interactions, Political Science Quarterly, The Washington Quarterly, Strategic Studies Quarterly, the Australian Journal of International Affairs, and International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, among other outlets.

Moderator

02/22/2024 | Premodern Korea Lecture Series with Sujung Kim

February 1, 2024February 27, 2024Archived Events, Premodern Korea Lecture SeriesLeave a Comment

“Warding Off Woes: Epidemic Talismans in Chosŏn Buddhism“

Thursday, February 22, 2024

10:00 A.M – 11:30 A.M. EST

Virtual Event via Zoom

Event Program (PDF)

About the Event

Buddhist temples served as hubs for printing in the Chosŏn era, producing a diverse array of Buddhist woodblocks and prints. Despite their prevalence and abundance, printed talismans have often been overlooked by Buddhist historians, dismissed as artifacts of commoner’s interest in worldly benefits and superstitious beliefs. However, a closer examination reveals that talismans transcend the surface appearance of illegible inscriptions on paper strips; instead, they emerge as miniaturized cosmic conduits channeling sacred knowledge for healing and offer a lens into everyday Chosŏn life. This talk, informed by William McNeil’s insights into the interplay between epidemics and religion, focuses on talismans employed as protective measures against epidemics. By integrating Buddhist doctrines, medical concepts, visual analyses, and firsthand accounts from Western visitors to Chosŏn, it offers a comprehensive exploration of the Buddhist epidemic talismans. The presentation ultimately aims to illustrate the multiple layers of social connections and coping mechanisms, forged and fostered by the rich talismanic culture and ritual healing in Chosŏn.

Speaker

Sujung Kim is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at DePauw University. She received her Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University in 2014 and her M.A. in Buddhist Philosophy from Korea University in 2007. Sujung specializes in Japanese and Korean Buddhism and is interested in tracing the interaction between Buddhist cultures using textual and material sources. After her first monograph, Shinra Myojin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian “Mediterranean” (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2019), she is currently working on her second book project, titled Korean Magical Medicine: Healing Talismans in Chosŏn Korea, which explores socio-cultural, religious, and medicinal roles that paper talismans played in the everyday life of ordinary people in Chosŏn. This project is supported by the ACLS/Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation (AY 2021–2022).