Joongho Kim smiling at the camera with blurred background

GWIKS SJP Circle: “Economic Engagement with North Korea – Opportunities and Challenges”

April 11, 2018July 29, 2021Archived Events, Soh Jaipil Circle on Contemporary Korean AffairsLeave a Comment

Economic Engagement with North Korea – Opportunities and Challenges

with Dr. Joongho Kim

Friday, April 27, 2018

12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Light lunch will be served

The Elliott School of International Affairs

Chung-Wen Shih Conference Room

Sigur Center for Asian Studies

1957 E St. NW, Suite 503

Washington, DC 20052

RSVP

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Lecture Topic

North Korea is a country of hunger and isolation. Its leadership has consistently pursued the national goal of making the country “powerful and prosperous.” Amidst the pressure of regime rivalry with the South, North Korea has consumed most of its resources to secure the regime’s survival rather than for the people’s welfare. In actuality, North Korea has great potential for economic development. However, despite its internal and external conditions changing dynamically, the North Korean economy has been left behind and remains severely unbalanced.

In order to find better ways to facilitate North Korea’s integration with the global economy, Dr. Kim will discuss the issue of how to engage with North Korea by exploring opportunities and challenges.

About Joongho Kim

Joongho Kim is currently a Visiting Scholar at the GW Institute for Korean Studies. Dr. Kim served as a senior research fellow at the Research Institute for North Korea and Northeast Asia Development at the Export-Import Bank of Korea. Additionally, Dr. Kim taught at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and served as a research analyst at the Institute of Foreign Affairs & National Security (IFANS) of the Korean Foreign Ministry. His research interests include strategic ways to facilitate North Korea’s economic and financial reform.

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Institute for Korean Studies (GWIKS) was established at the George Washington University to strengthen and grow the existing Korean Studies program at GW and promote the Korean humanities in the nation’s capital. It is determined to play a leadership role in encouraging and enabling productive research about Korea in the Washington DC metropolitan area. GWIKS Lecture Series is an attempt to bring leading local scholars in Korean studies to GW to interact with GW professionals and students and share their ideas and recent studies.

Soh Jaipil Circle “International Legal Issues for a Unified Korea”

April 10, 2018July 29, 2021Archived Events, Soh Jaipil Circle on Contemporary Korean AffairsLeave a Comment

International Legal Issues for a Unified Korea: Protection of Third Party Rights under Pre-Existing Bilateral Treaties with Angela Kim

Wednesday, April 11, 2018
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Light lunch will be served

The Elliott School of International Affairs
Chung-Wen Shih Conference Room
Sigur Center for Asian Studies
1957 E St. NW, Suite 503
Washington DC, 20052

RSVP

As of today, based upon the UN Treaty Series, the DPRK has about 50 bilateral treaties with third States and the ROK has over 300 bilateral treaties with third States. If and when a unification of the two Koreas occurs, one of the many international legal questions to be dealt with is the legal status of these pre-existing treaties with third party States. This important question can be answered by examining international law rules on treaty interpretation and state succession.

However, international law of state succession is an area of controversy and uncertainty. This is largely due to the inconsistency of state practice and the attendant uncertainties which occur from a choice among different types of state succession. For example, a unified Korea could occur either by incorporation or merger. However, there is a lack of adequate state practice on succession by unification as in the DPRK and ROK context. The questions which flows from this are: (1) Whether a Unified Korea has liberty to do as it pleases with its pre-existing treaties and (2) how can third States that have bilateral treaty relations with either North or South Korea feel secured and protected regarding their rights under those treaties? This presentation aims to answer these questions by focusing specifically on state practice resulting from unification of States such as Germany. It also examines sources of international law which can protect rights of third States under pre-existing bilateral treaties.

Angela Kim is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Korean Studies. She is a PhD candidate in Law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and is expected to graduate in August 2020. She received her Master of Laws from the George Washington University Law School in 2015 with a specialization in International and Comparative Law, and her Bachelor of Law from Handong Global University in 2014. She is currently conducting research for her thesis, titled “The Law of State Succession in the Case of Unified Korea: The Legal Effects on Treaties and the Rights of Third States,” with her research interests lying in legal perspectives on Korean studies, and especially those dealing with Korean unification.

The Soh Jaipil Circle is named after the famous champion of Korean independence who earned a medical degree at GW. The Circle will bring together people from the academic and think tank communities for serious and engaged conversations of Korea issues.

Soh Jaipil Circle – Prof. Sergei Kurbanov: Compiling History of North Korea in the 21st Century: Methodology of Fact Selection and Analysis

February 27, 2018July 29, 2021Archived Events, Soh Jaipil Circle on Contemporary Korean AffairsLeave a Comment

Prof. Sergei Kurbanov gave an illuminating presentation on the topic of researching the national history of North Korea, a difficult task even for the most experienced scholars. Unlike many scholars who refer to North Korea as a communist state, Prof. Kurbanov offered his own unique concept of North Korea as a “nationalistic tradition-based forced/self-isolated Asian Korean country”. He went on to explain that, in compiling a history of North Korea, there are two main principles. The first is a national North Korean history compiled for the North Korean population; the second is “external” North Korean history written by foreigners, which explains North Korean history to foreign audiences.

Prof. Kurbanov notes that historians of the latter category often – whether intentionally or not – inject their own country’s worldviews in compiling the history of North Korea or any other country for that matter. One example of approaches to North Korean history narrative is the Soviet case of historians emphasizing the “development” of North Korea as the result of Soviet help. In contrast, the U.S. history of North Korea describes the nation as “dictatorship regime”. This means that the language that history is written in reflects the point of view of the native country. For example, histories written in Russian are bound to be influenced by Russia’s political relationship with North Korea as is the case of American. Thus, understanding the perception and worldview that is embedded within different languages is incredibly important. Prof. Kurbanov posed the question of whether it is possible to overcome these national and cultural perspectives and compile a scientific history of North Korea. He argued that theoretically this would be possible though practically very difficult.

Towards the end of his lecture, Prof. Kurbanov gave two principles of describing two ways of compiling history gijeonchae and pyeonnyeonchae. He concluded his lecture a brief overview of major events or nodal events that have taken place in North Korea post-1945. The compelling presentation highlighted important aspects of conducting research on the history of North Korea.

For more lectures on similar topics, please stay tuned for more Soh Jaipil Circle news!

Written by Soo-Jin Kweon

SJP Third Talk: Jihwan Hwang

December 5, 2017July 29, 2021Archived Events, Soh Jaipil Circle on Contemporary Korean AffairsLeave a Comment

On December 1, 2017, Dr. Jihwan Hwang, visiting scholar at the Catholic University of America and lecturer at GW, presented on his research “Can North Korea Become America’s Friend” to a group of students, staff, and representatives from the Korea Economic Institute and the Department of State. Dr. Hwang compared the improvement of relations with Iran and Cuba under President Obama to the North Korean case. He proposed that the implementation of agreements, change in domestic politics, and level of nuclear development are initial conditions that determine whether a “rogue state” can become friends with the U.S. Until those factors change in North Korea, he remarked that friendship with the U.S. does not appear likely. During the question and answer session, Dr. Hwang and the participants discussed other possible factors such as leadership, geostrategic calculations, and economic considerations.

December 1: Soh Jaipil Circle with Jihwan Hwang

November 28, 2017July 29, 2021Archived Events, Soh Jaipil Circle on Contemporary Korean AffairsLeave a Comment

GWIKS Soh Jaipil Circle

The Third Talk

“Can North Korea Become America’s Friend?”

Featuring Dr. Jihwan Hwang

RSVP

Friday, December 1, 2017

12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Lunch Will Be Provided

Elliott School of International Affairs

Chung-Wen Shih Conference Room

Sigur Center for Asian Studies

1957 E Street, NW, Suite 503

Washington, DC 20052

Can North Korea become America’s friend? In recent years, North Korea has seemingly become an exceptional case compared to America’s other old enemies: Iran and Cuba. Although the Trump administration seeks to reverse the Obama administration’s policy, Iran and Cuba have gone through impressive internal and external changes, and have recently been approaching the international community. However, North Korea’s attitude towards the U.S. has become increasingly provocative rather than cooperative. Even with the Obama administration’s engagement diplomacy toward enemy nations, North Korea did not reciprocate. North Korea still continues its hostility and the U.S. has put several economic sanctions against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile provocations. What differentiates North Korea from Iran and Cuba? This talk compares changes in Iran and Cuba’s domestic politics, economic situation, and security environment with those of North Korea in order to find out what makes North Korea’s course look so different.

With Jihwan Hwang

Jihwan HWANG is Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Seoul, Korea. He is now a year-long visiting scholar at the Catholic University of America. He is also teaching “Politics in the Two Koreas” at the George Washington University for this semester. He has served in several advisory positions in the Korean government, including the President’s Committee for Unification Preparation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Unification. His publications include “The Paradox of South Korea’s Unification Diplomacy” and “The Two Koreas after U.S. Unipolarity.” He is a graduate of Seoul National University and received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Moderated by Gregg Brazinsky

Gregg A. BRAZINSKY is Associate Professor of History and International Affairs and Deputy Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. His research seeks to understand the diverse and multi-faceted interactions among East Asian states and between Asia and the United States. He is the author of Nation Building in South Korea: Koreans, Americans, and the Making of a Democracy (University of North Carolina Press, 2007) and Winning the Third World: Sino-American Rivalry during the Cold War (University of North Carolina Press, 2017). He served as interim director of the GW Institute for Korean Studies during the Spring 2017 semester.

Second Soh Jaipil Circle – Jai Kwan Jung

June 26, 2017July 29, 2021Archived Events, News, Soh Jaipil Circle on Contemporary Korean AffairsLeave a Comment

For our second SJP Circle meeting, we had Dr. Jai Kwan Jung present his working research: “Why Is There No Rebellion in North Korea?” Dr. Jung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Korea University. Prior to joining Korea University, he was an Assistant Professor of our own George Washington University in the Department of Political Science and the Elliott School of International Affairs. His research interests include political conflict and violence, party politics, and inter-Korean relations. He is now working on a book project on a comparative study of the North Korean Regime’s durability.

North Korea is the longest existing “non-monarchy dictatorship” country to have avoided any large scale rebellion. Therefore, a topic that explores possible explanations for this phenomenon is of interest to many scholars. In many other autocratic states rebellions are mostly started by elites with political grievances toward the inner circle. However, the North Korean regime was seen to have established an effective elite control system that prevents the well-educated elites from starting a rebellion. This talk provided empirical evidence regarding the elite control system in North Korea that was found by conducting in-depth interviews with high-ranking North Korean defectors.

Dr. Jung first examined the existing North Korea studies-related theories – Chuch’e ideology & supreme leader system, military first politics, and shadow economy – and proved how they weren’t fully explaining the reasons for not even having a small-scale rebellion since the 1990s. Even the academic answer – comparative authoritarianism – couldn’t explain how the collapse of the economy in North Korea still failed to bring about any rebellion. He sought to answer the question which other scholars or theories failed to fully answer. That is, “Why is there no rebellion in North Korea?”

The results of the qualitative research mainly focused on the elite control system in North Korea. One of the effective mean of controlling the elites was ideological control. The Chuch’e idealogy that emphasizes independence in politics, autonomy in the economy, and self-defense in the military worked well for the elite control in North Korea. However, there was skepticism that grew among elites, especially those with overseas experiences. The organizational control further explains the reason why North Korea didn’t see any rebelling organizations. The North Korean government executed “10 Principles” that strictly prohibited forming an organization or a voluntary association, which destroyed regional, family, school, and other social network ties. North Korea had no concept of social networks and didn’t have enough social capital for a rebellion to occur. The economic benefits for the inner elites were also seen as one of the main reasons that a rebellion didn’t occur. There was special distribution of goods and services for elites that made them satisfied with the current regime.

The conclusion of the talk was as follows:

As long as the elite control system functions properly as a whole, highly authoritarian countries like North Korea may avoid rebellion and a regime collapse.
There is a need to compare the elites’ perspective with other defectors’ perspectives to better assess the possibility of a regime collapse that may start from the bottom.
There is also the need to compare North Korea with other autocracies (e.g., Romania, Serbia, Libya) to figure out how elite schisms emerge and develop.

Written by Ann Yang

Soh JaiPil Circle – The Second Talk: Why is There No Rebellion in North Korea?

April 19, 2017July 29, 2021Archived Events, Soh Jaipil Circle on Contemporary Korean AffairsLeave a Comment

Considering its dire economic conditions and abrupt leadership changes since the 1990s, North Korea has been considered one of the most likely autocracies that could experience a large scale rebellion. In reality, however, there has been no such internal turmoil so far. What can account for the absence of rebellion in North Korea? This talk is about a paper that seeks to answer this question based on the understanding of how rebel groups emerge in autocracies. Since rebel groups are generally formed by a small number of the relatively well-educated who have support networks and political grievances toward the inner circle of ruling elites, they argue that the North Korean regime established an effective elite control system that prevents an elite schism from developing into a rebellion. To support this argument, they draw empirical evidence from the historical development of elite control system in North Korea and in-depth interviews with high-ranking North Korean defectors.

April 26th, Wednesday

12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Lunch will be provided.

The Elliott School of International Affairs

Chung-Wen Shih Conference Room

Sigur Center for Asian Studies

1957 E st. NW, Suite 503

Washington DC, 20052

RSVP

with Jai Kwan Jung

Jai Kwan Jung (Ph.D., Cornell University) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Korea University. Prior to joining Korea University, he was a Korea Foundation Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Elliott School at the George Washington University. His research interests include political conflict and violence, party politics, and inter-Korean relations. His work has appeared in a number of academic journals such as Democratization, European Journal of Political Research, International Political Science Review, Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, Mobilization, and Pacific Focus. He is now working on a book project on a comparative study of the North Korean Regime’s durability.

Moderated By Celeste Arrington

Celeste Arrington is a Korea Foundation Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at GW. She is one of the core faculties of GWIKS and a member of the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation’s U.S.-Japan Network for the Future and its U.S.-Korea Scholar-Policymaker Nexus. She specializes in comparative politics, with a regional focus on the Koreas and Japan. Her research interests include civil society, social movements, democratic governance, law and society, policymaking processes, the media and politics, and qualitative methods. She is also interested in the international relations and security of Northeast Asia and transnational activism.

First Soh Jaipil Circle – Dr. Daniel Roh

February 21, 2017July 29, 2021Archived Events, News, Soh Jaipil Circle on Contemporary Korean AffairsLeave a Comment

GWIKS held its first Soh Jaipil Circle, a meeting to bring professionals together from the academic and think tank communities to engage in conversations related to Korean issues, on February 16th, 2017 at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies conference room. For our first meeting, we had the honor of having Dr. Daniel Roh, president and CEO of Asia Risk Monitor, Inc., as our first speaker. With his work and study experience in Hong Kong, China, Japan, and Korea, he is an expert in East Asian relations. He received his Ph.D. degree in the field of comparative political economy as a specialist in Japanese studies at MIT. In recent years, he has been interested in historical conflicts between Japan and Korea. As the current political turmoil between Japan and Korea heightens, his main talk explored the prospects of reconciliation between the two countries. He explained the history of main conflicts between Japan and Korea: Dokdo/Takeshima, comfort women, and post-war tensions. He shared his interesting prospects about the current issues between Japan and Korea to 30+ professors and students who gathered for the Soh Jaipil Circle meeting.

Written by Ann Yang