Dr. Victor Cha, Senior Adviser and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, presented a public talk on “The Impossible State: North Korea and the Future of the Korean Peninsula” at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Victor Cha is the senior advisor and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C., and the D.S. Song-KF Endowed Chair in International Affairs in the Department of Government and School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

This event was part of the East Asia and the World Speaker Series and was co-sponsored by the Institute for Korean Studies and the East Asian Studies Center.

Victor Cha Speaking at the HLS Auditorium

Third Annual International Conference: A Middle Power and the Middle Kingdom in Today’s Asia: The Korea-China Relationship

On October 19^th, the Institute for Korean Studies held its third annual conference, entitled “A Middle Power and the Middle Kingdom in Today’s Asia: The Korea-China Relationship.” The conference was made possible with funding from the Dr. Lee Se Ung Distinguished Lecture Series on Korean Global Affairs.

Koreans often refer to the country’s fate as “Korae ssaume saeudeung teojinda” (a shrimp between two whales), an apt expression given its geographical position. This year’s summit diplomacy, however, has reignited hopes for long-term peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. Thus, today’s conference began with the question: “How will the Korea-China relationship develop in the years to come, and what does it mean for the United States’ role in Asia?”

IKS third annual international conference brought together scholars and diplomats to discuss the past, present, and future of Korea-China relations. The conference commenced with academic presentations covering various aspects of the Korea-China relationship: Dr. Sixiang Wang from Stanford University presented “Wagging the Imperial Dog”: Negotiated Autonomy and the Diplomacy of Universal Empire in Early Choseon Korea; Dr. June Hee Kwon from New York University presented “Borderland Dreams: Korean Chinese Migrants between Chinese Dream and Korean Dream”; and Dr. Sunhee Koo from the University of Auckland (in New Zealand) presented “Hallyu and Beyond: The Impact and Influence of Hallyu on the Chaoxianzu Community and its Identity.”

After the academic presentations there was a musical performance featuring Eun Sun Jung playing the gayageum; IKS visiting scholar Young Ju Lee singing Korean art songs; and a quartet composed by Jacobs School visiting scholar Beomseok Yoo and performed by Eun Sun Jung on gayageum, Jieun Yoo on violin, Mary Eunkyung Chang on viola and John Yang on cello.

Finally, Lee Feinstein, dean of IU’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies and former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Poland, moderated a policy discussion about the Korea-China relationship. The panelists were Jaewoo Choo, professor of Chinese foreign policy at Kyung Hee University in South Korea; Mark Minton, professor of practice in the Hamilton Lugar School, former president of the Korea Society in New York and former U.S. ambassador to Mongolia; Jung H. Pak, senior fellow and SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korean studies at Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies; and John Park, an Asia security analyst and director of Korea projects at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Dr. Sixiang Wang, Stanford University, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, East Asian Languages and Cultures

Dr. June Hee Kwon, New York University, Faculty Fellow, East Asian Studies

Dr. Sunhee Koo, University of Auckland, Senior Lecturer, Anthropology

Eun Sun Jung on gayageum, Jieun Yoo on violin, Mary Eunkyung Chang on viola & John Yang on cello

Dr. Young Ju Lee, IKS Visiting Scholar

Policy Panel: Dean Lee Feinstein, Indiana University; Ambassador Mark Minton, Indiana University; Dr. Jung H. Pak, Brookings Institution; Dr. John Park, Harvard Kennedy School; and Dr. Jaewoo Choo, Kyung Hee University

Application Deadline: October 31, 2018

The Institutes for Korean Studies at the George Washington University and Indiana University Bloomington invite students to apply for the first annual GW-IU Undergraduate Research Exchange Program. We are seeking to select students who are interested in conducting research about Korea. All students receive mentoring from faculty at the Institute for Korean Studies.

Selected students participate in research workshops during the fall and spring semesters, take part in a mini-conference, and present their papers at the annual GW-IU Korean Studies Undergraduate Research Exchange Conference in the spring semester. The conference alternates locations between Washington, DC, and Bloomington, IN. This academic year’s conference will be held at GW on Saturday, April 20, 2019.

Benefits of the Program

• Get close mentoring by faculty through workshops and office hours
• Produce a 15-20 page research paper on any Korea-related research topic such as politics, inter-Korean affairs, literature, film, K-pop, history, sociology, anthropology and more!
• Participate in a mini-research conference in March 2019
• Participate in the annual GW-IU Korean Studies Exchange Conference in April 2019 (Exchange Program participants’ meal and travel costs will be covered)
• Opportunities to volunteer at the Institute for Korean Studies events

Eligibility:

• Undergraduates (juniors and seniors preferred)
• Idea for research paper on any Korea related topic

How to Apply:

IU students send an email to kjseidel@indiana.edu and GW students send an email to gwiks@gwu.edu with:

• your resume
• brief introduction of yourself
• working title / brief explanation of your proposed research project

Professor Roald Maliangkay of the Australian National University is the IKS Scholar-in-Residence for 2018, thanks to the Core University Program grant from the Academy of Korean Studies.

Roald Maliangkay is Associate Professor in Korean studies and Director of the Korea Institute at the Australian National University. He focuses on the mechanics of cultural policy and the convergence of major cultural phenomena as he analyzes cultural industries, performance and consumption in Korea from the early twentieth century to the present. He is the author of Broken Voices: Postcolonial Entanglements and the Preservation of Korea’s Central Folksong Traditions (University of Hawaii Press, 2017), and co-editor (with Jung-bong Choi) of K-pop: The International Rise of the Korean Music Industry (Routledge, 2015). He is currently working on his second monograph on changes in time management and everyday life in Korea under Japanese colonial rule.

While at Indiana University, Professor Maliangkay presented a public lecture about his research, A Musical Kaleidoscope for Cosmopolites: Seoul’s Walker Hill Shows, 1962 – 2012, and met with scholars and students at IU.

As the IKS Scholar-in-Residence Professor Maliangkay visited our partner institutions, and presented his lecture about the Walker Hill shows at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Kentucky. While in Lexington, he gave an additional talk, K-Pop’s Utopia: What K-Pop Sells & What Its Fans Are Buying, to Professor Donna Lee Kwon’s Asian American music class.

Professor Liang Luo introduces Professor Maliangkay at the University of Kentucky

On Monday, September 17, IU President Michael A. McRobbie, Vice President for International Affairs Hannah Buxbaum, IKS Director Seung-kyung Kim and their fellow IU delegation members traveled to a satellite city just outside Seoul to meet with representatives of the Academy of Korean Studies – including new President Byung-ook Ahn – to thank them for their support of the institute and discuss future funding opportunities.

The IU delegation spent the rest of the day at Yonsei University, sharing a meet-and-greet with IU students studying abroad there this semester, as well as meeting with Yonsei President Young-Hak Kim and former secretary-general of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon. Ban now serves as honorary chairman at Yonsei University’s Institute for Global Engagement and Empowerment, which is directing various university expertise and resources toward addressing major challenges such as climate change, poverty and inequality. A positive discussion ensued about reinvigorating the partnership between IU and Yonsei, seeking new opportunities for collaboration and cooperation, and working collectively to build – to borrow from Ban – “better global citizens.”

Read more about the trip in President McRobbie’s travel blog

Ban Ki-Moon, secretary-general of the United Nations from 2007 to 2016, meets IU President Michael McRobbie.

Members of the IU delegation pose for a picture with IU students studying this fall at Yonsei University.

The IU delegation meets with the president of the Academy of Korean Studies

IKS held its Korean Speech Contest on March 31. Eighteen students participated. Winners were chosen from Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Levels. Congrats to all the participants and winners:

Beginner

1st Place: Lirui Yang
2nd Place: Jia Zhou
3rd Place: Morgan Klutzke

Intermediate

1st Place: Lucas Maurer
2nd Place: Yingfei Sun
3rd Place: Nur Ain Nabilah Azwan

Advanced

1st Place: Ki Yiu
2nd Place: Victor Cornet
3rd Place: Trang Hoang

The College of Arts and Sciences Office of International Affairs is currently accepting applications for their College exchange program with Sungkyungkwan University (SKKU) for the Fall 2018 semester and Academic Year 2018/2019. Applications are due by March 9, and IKS will award a $500 scholarship to students who are selected to participate in this program. Please contact collOIA@indiana.edu for more information on this program.

Learn more about this exchange

In September 2017, IKS was awarded a publication grant from the Academy of Korean Studies to publish an anthology based on IKS’s inaugural conference: “Peace Corps Volunteers and the Making of Korean Studies.” The volume is edited by IKS Director Seung-kyung Kim and Professor Michael Robinson. It is expected to be published in 2019 by the University of Washington Press.

IKS Group Photo

IKS co-sponsored a screening of the South Korean film As One, which portrays the true story of North and South Korea uniting to form a unified women’s table tennis team to compete in an Asian tournament.

This event was co-sponsored by the Department of Business Law and Ethics and IU Cinema as part of the Cultural Foundations for Peace series. After the screening, IKS Director Seung-kyung Kim and Associate Director John Finch led a question and answer session discussing North and South Korean relations and the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in South Korea.

IKS, the East Asian Studies Center, and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures will host a Korean Speech Contest on March 31, 2018, in GISB 1128 from 10:00am – 12:00pm. Prizes will be awarded for first, second, and third place finishes in beginner, intermediate, and advanced categories. Participation is limited to currently enrolled students of Korean language, but the public is welcome to attend. Lunch will be served.