The Korea Society

November 22, 2024 - The Van Fleet Signature Policy Conference is The Korea Society’s landmark policy event. Held in the District Ballroom of The Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C., the conference provides insights on the fast evolving threats and opportunities impacting the dynamic U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK) relationship, including a panel on security, a panel on diplomacy, and a keynote address. The keynote speaker is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Jedidiah P. Royal. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1882-u-s-rok-indispensable-partnership-amid-increasing-geopolitical-competition

November 22, 2024 - The Van Fleet Signature Policy Conference is The Korea Society’s landmark policy event. Held in the District Ballroom of The Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C., the conference provides insights on the fast evolving threats and opportunities impacting the dynamic U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK) relationship, including a panel on security, a panel on diplomacy, and a keynote address. The diplomacy panel, “A Broadening U.S.-ROK Relationship in a Changing Regional and Global Landscape,” is moderated by Amb (Ret.) Kathleen Stephens and features former ROK Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Dr. Victor Cha, and Dr. Katrin Katz. Policy director Jonathan Corrado and Policy program officer Chelsie Alexandre are emcees. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1882-u-s-rok-indispensable-partnership-amid-increasing-geopolitical-competition

November 22, 2024 - The Van Fleet Signature Policy Conference is The Korea Society’s landmark policy event. Held in the District Ballroom of The Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C., the conference provides insights on the fast evolving threats and opportunities impacting the dynamic U.S.-Republic of Korea (ROK) relationship, including a panel on security, a panel on diplomacy, and a keynote address. Korea Society president and CEO Thomas Byrne provides an introduction and a congratulatory message is provided by H.E. Cho Hyundong, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the U.S. The security panel, “U.S.-ROK Alliance Evolving to Meet Future Challenges,” is moderated by Gen (Ret.) Walter Sharp and features former ROK Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup, Admiral (Ret.) Harry Harris, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Affairs Alexandra Bell. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1882-u-s-rok-indispensable-partnership-amid-increasing-geopolitical-competition

November 19, 2024 - The Korea Society is pleased to announce that the eighth annual Sherman Family Korea Emerging Scholar Lecture Awardee is Dr. David Krolikoski, assistant professor at the University of Hawai’i. In his lecture Dr. Krolikoski examines The Silence of Love (Nim ŭi ch’immuk, 1926), the acclaimed collection of eighty-eight poems by Han Yong-un (1879-1944), a Buddhist monk and public intellectual. Although the book is commonly celebrated as a metaphor for colonial subjugation, Dr. Krolikoski complicates this established reading to argue that its artistic significance lies in Han’s paradigm-shifting use of colonial poetry as a medium of communal expression during a time of national crisis. The lecture explores how Han uses fiction and symbols to collapse the boundary between private and public address, transmuting the individual voice of his poetic speaker into a platform for a community. Dr. Krolikoski also contextualizes The Silence of Love within the history of the translation of foreign poetic forms into Korea during the 1920s, with a focus on how Han incorporated elements from the lyric and prose poem into his verse. Dr. Emily Jungmin Yoon, author of Find Me as the Creature I Am (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024) and assistant professor of Korean literature at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, will serve as moderator. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1859-sherman-family-korea-emerging-scholar-lecture-2024

November 18, 2024 - Inside a one-room apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, Oliver lives a happily quiet life, listening to jazz records and caring for his favorite plant. But what else is there to do when you’re a Helperbot 3, a robot that has long been retired and considered obsolete? When his fellow Helperbot neighbor Claire asks to borrow his charger, what starts as an awkward encounter leads to a unique friendship, a surprising adventure, and maybe even…love? Winner of the Richard Rodgers Award, MAYBE HAPPY ENDING, starring Darren Criss and Helen J. Shen, is the offbeat and captivating story of two outcasts near the end of their warranty who discover that even robots can be swept off their feet. Helmed by the visionary director and Tony Award winner Michael Arden (Parade, Once on This Island), with dazzling scenic design by Dane Laffrey (A Christmas Carol) and book, music, and lyrics by the internationally acclaimed duo Will Aronson and Hue Park, MAYBE HAPPY ENDING is a fresh, original musical about the small things that make any life worth living. Join us for a conversation with the cast members Helen J. Shen and Marcus Choi of this enchanting new Broadway musical. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1881-maybe-happy-ending-a-new-broadway-musical

November 12, 2024 - Join us for a conversation with Stephen Biegun, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Special Representative for North Korea. This discussion will examine past diplomatic efforts to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea, lessons learned, and future prospects. What are Mr. Biegun’s takeaways from his summitry engagement with North Korea? Is it still possible today to pursue mutually acceptable waypoints within the confines of a grand bargain or should more modest goals be pursued? How do geopolitical shifts and hardening regional rivalries undermine the U.S. and North Korean interest in improving bilateral relations? How does the public discourse create reductive dichotomies between deterrence vs. diplomacy and human rights vs. humanitarian efforts? The moderator for this program is Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado.  The Korea Society thanks the Kim Koo Foundation, our corporate sponsors, and individual members for their generous support, which has made this program possible. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1873-expert-take-stephen-biegun

November 8, 2024 - Is South Korea on the verge of a nuclear breakout? Join us for a discussion about South Korea’s nuclear option with Victor Cha, the president of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and the distinguished university professor at Georgetown University. Much of the speculation in Washington and Seoul about South Korea’s nuclear ambitions has been informed by a handful of recent public opinion polls. This has created an echo chamber effect in Washington and Seoul where some experts have accepted South Korean nuclear ambitions as a reality. Using evidence derived from multi-question polling of South Korean strategic elites available to read here, Dr. Cha finds that concerns about a nuclear South Korea are exaggerated: 66 percent of South Korean strategic elites oppose nuclearization and confidence in the United States as a security provider remains strong. However, if the U.S. withdraws ground troops from South Korea or otherwise triggers abandonment fears, half of the strategic elites who presently oppose nuclearization would change their minds. This program is moderated by Korea Society policy director Jonathan Corrado.   This program is co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University and the Columbia SIPA Korea Focus student club.   The Korea Society thanks the Korea Foundation, our corporate sponsors, and individual members for their generous support, which has made this program possible.  For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1875-breaking-bad-south-koreas-nuclear-option

November 7, 2024 - Join us for an expert discussion on the impact of intensifying competition on the U.S.-Korea relationship. How can the allies evolve together to face shared threats as geopolitical rivalries intensify in Northeast Asia? What is the role of trilateral U.S.-Korea-Japan collaboration? How should North Korea’s increasing provocations and alignment with Russia and China be addressed? Featuring insights from Daniel Russel, Vice President for International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI). It is moderated by policy program officer Chelsie Alexandre. The Korea Society thanks the Kim Koo Foundation, our corporate sponsors, and individual members for their generous support, which has made this program possible. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1877-expert-take-u-s-korea-relations-amid-geopolitical-competition-with-daniel-russel

October 29, 2024 - This program explores the historical and contemporary relationship between North Korea and Russia. How did the Kim Regime’s relationship with the Soviet Union evolve during The Korean War, early Cold War period, and the Sino-Soviet split? How did triangular diplomacy with the People’s Republic of China play a shaping role in the relationship? How should we characterize relations from the end of the Cold War period, including South Korea’s Nordpolitik, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the emergence of the Russian Federation? Finally, how should we view recent developments, including weapons transfers, military cooperation, and policy coordination, in the context of the historical relationship? This discussion features historian Dr. Kathryn Weathersby and is moderated by policy director Jonathan Corrado. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/policy-and-corporate-programs/item/1872-expert-take-the-moscow-pyongyang-connection-then-and-now-with-dr-kathryn-weathersby

October 10, 2024 - Banchan, the shared side dishes that accompany a Korean meal, are often the real stars of the table, and it's time we celebrate them. From the kitchen of chef Caroline Choe, Banchan: 60 Korean American Recipes for Delicious, Shareable Sides offers 60 mouthwatering recipes for classic and modern banchan dishes. From namul (fresh vegetables) to buchimgae (pancakes), these tasty sides are proof that big flavor can be found in small bites. In this conversation with Marja Vongerichten, Choe discusses her first cookbook that shares her experiences, the global emergence and evolution of Korean American cuisine, and the importance of women's contributions to this movement. For more information, please visit the link below: https://www.koreasociety.org/arts-culture/item/1857-banchan-with-caroline-choe