CURRENT & UPCOMING EVENTS

May 2008

EXTERNAL EVENT

Book Launch: Ch'oe Yun's "There a Petal Silently Falls"
Ch'oe Yun, Professor and Author
Bruce and Ju-Chan Fulton, Translators

Friday, May 9, 2008
6:00 - 6:30 pm - Registration and Reception
6:30-8:00 pm - Presentation and Q&A
Location: The Korea Society (950 Third Avenue, Eighth Floor)

The Korea Society, Asia Society and the American PEN Translation Committee invite you to join us for a book launch reception and discussion on There a Petal Silently Falls and meet prize-winning Korean author Ch?oe Yun as she explores history, trauma, and the vagaries of remembrance in her collection of three stories. Elegantly crafted and quietly moving, Ch?oe's work portrays the psychological and spiritual reality of contemporary Korea against a backdrop of past state-sanctioned violence, hope for reconciliation, rampant consumerism and academic rivalries.

CKR / KOREAN STUDIES GROUP SPECIAL LECTURE

"The Munhak Tongne Phenomenon: The Publication of Literary Fiction in Contemporary South Korea"
Bruce Fulton, Associate Professor and Young Bin Min Chair in Korean
Literature and Literary Translation, University of British Columbia

Thursday, May 8, 2008, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University

CKR / POSCO FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

"Korean NGO Activities and Perspectives for a Better World"

Two mid-level NGO officials from South Korea spent the past academic year at Columbia University as CKR/POSCO Fellows. They will present their research on civil society in North America at this conference.

Heesun Park (Civil Solidarity for Open Society): "Neighborhood Renewal Projects and Popular Participation: Community Boards in New York City"

Sungbong Kang (The Educational Foundation for Koreans Abroad): "Suggestions for Overseas Korean Education viewed in light of Jewish-American education and its influence on Jewish identity"

Thursday, May 1, 2008, 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
CK Choi Building, 1855 West Mall, Room #120
Vancouver, BC

EXTERNAL EVENT

"Dongducheon: A Walk to Remember, A Walk to Envision"
Opening Reception & Artist Talk / Panel Discussion
Thursday, May 8, 2008, 7:00 pm
New Museum of Contemporary Art (235 Bowery, at Prince St)

For more information on the project, please visit: http://www.museumashub.org/neighborhood/insa-art-space
or direct questions to haeyun.park@gmail.com

As a partner organization of the New Museum's ambitious new program called "Museum as Hub," which has invited four art institutions from the world to engage in the critical discourse of discussing the meaning of "Neighborhood" in the rapidly changing geo-political environment, Insa Art Space (IAS), an alternative art space run by Arts Council Korea, is proud to present "Dongducheon: A Walk to Remember, A Walk to Envision."

Running from May 8th to June 29th, IAS will exhibit the works of four Korean artists (Sangdon Kim, Koh Seung Wook, Rho Jae Oon and Siren Eun Young Jung) at the New Museum. In addition to the exhibition, there will be two public lectures. Professor Theodore Hughes in the East Asian Department at Columbia University will speak on Saturday, May 10th. Three public talk programs will provide a forum to situate the social-historical context of Dongducheon. The event on May 8th will provide a general overview of the project. Light refreshments will be served along with live music.

April 2008

DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC AND CENTER FOR ETHNOMUSICOLOGY LECTURE

"A Survivor's Music Manifesto: On the Singing of Korean Survivors of the Japanese Military 'Comfort Women'"
Josh Pilzer, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Music

Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
701C Dodge Hall (116th and Broadway), Columbia University

For more information, please visit http://ethnocenter.org

CKR REGIONAL SEMINAR

"Cold War Culture in East Asia"
Panelists:
Charles Armstrong (Columbia University):
"The ‘Americanization’ of Post-War South Korea"
Steve Chung (Princeton University):
"A More Refined Fantasy: New Film Cultures in Late 1950s South Korea"
Kim Brandt (Columbia): "Japan, U.S. and the Cold War"

Discussants:
Jaeho Kang (The New School for Social Research)
Joshua Pilzer (Columbia University)

Friday, April 18, 2008, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
403 Kent Hall, Columbia University

March 2008

CKR SPECIAL LECTURE

“Journey to Yongbyon: Inside North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program.”
Joel Wit, CKR Research Fellow
Monday, March 31, 2008, 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
918 IAB, Columbia University

CKR Research Fellow, Joel Wit, will discuss his most recent trip to North Korea and to Yongbyon where he was given unprecedented access to its facilities and its nuclear scientists. Aside from his observations on that visit, Mr. Wit will also discuss the prospects for achieving the denuclearization of North Korea based on his 15 years of experience in dealing with Pyongyang both at the U.S. State Department and as a non-government researcher.

Joel Wit is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Weatherhead Institute and a Visiting Fellow at the U.S.-Korea Institute, Johns Hopkin's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C. Prior to leaving the State Department in 2002, he was in charge of implementing the 1994 U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework. Mr. Wit joined the State Department in 1986, working in the U.S. intelligence community and then on U.S. nuclear arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union. He was a top aide to Ambassador Robert L. Gallucci who was in charge of American policy towards North Korea during the Clinton Administration. Mr. Wit is also the co-author of the book Going Critical: The First North Korea Nuclear Crisis, published by the Brookings Institution in 2004.

CKR KOREA COLLOQUIUM SERIES

"Oriental Orientalism in the Korean Enlightenment: New Reflections on So Chaep'il and Yun Ch'iho"
Vipan Chandra, Professor of History, Wheaton College
Thursday, March 27, 2008, 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
918 IAB, Columbia University