April 15, 2012
We held the first of a new series of focused seminars on eight challenges facing Korea today with a discussion of Korea’s current social and economic conditions. The program, run in cooperation with Tasan Books and GCS, will continue over the next six months.
I cannot count the number of times that I have heard friends, people from a background similar to my own, remark to themselves, after an election, or just in an idle moment, “I can’t believe how stupid American voters are!” The assumption behind such comments is that ordinary Americans stupidly vote for the demagogues who lie to them so blatantly and that such pathetic behavior is shocking. Also implied by the comment is that we, we cultivated and educated Americans, can see so clearly through the falsehoods and we are much superior to such people.
The Korea Times featured this article about the North Korea escapee Shin Dong-hyuk and his harrowing struggle for freedom with a focus on the recently published book Escape from Camp 14 which describes that experience. The book was written by the American journalist Blaine Harden.
April 13, 2012
This interview on the Korea Scholarship Foundation Blog concerns important issues in education today.
한국장학재단블로그
The Asia Institute Seminar
20th March, 2012
Dr. Harold Varmus
Director
The National Cancer Institute, U.S.A
Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
Co-chair, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
This article in the MK Business News (April 4, 2012) argues that what Seoul really needs is a structure with the genius and the intention to last 1,000 years. A project like the pyramids or the Louvre that will last and give a new gravitas to the city.
This article argues that there is much of the democratic tradition in Korea that can be traced back far beyond the democracy movement of the 1980s, back into the Joseon period of the 17th and 18th centuries. The argument may seem somewhat obscure to some, but I would argue that if we see democracy in terms of the balance of power, Korea has a powerful and old tradition that deserves to be treated seriously, and emulated around the world. The Korean model is particularly relevant for China today.
Asia Institute Seminar
Professor Marc Shell
Irving Babbitt Professor of Comparative Literature
Harvard University
“The Past, Present and Future of Money”
Date: Friday, April 27, 2012
Time: 6:30-7:30
Place: The Asia Institute
GCS International Building
Moderator:
Emanuel Pastreich
Director
The Asia Institute
(Professor, Humanitas College, Kyung Hee University)
Here is the talk that President Obama delivered at the Hanguk University of Foreign Studies on Monday. Much speculation in Korea as to why he picked this university, as opposed to Korea University. Well you could say that many of the rank and file of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are from Hanguk University of Foreign Studies, as opposed to the political appointees from Korea University. But honestly, we do not know.
The speech is quite interesting because of the specificity about Korean culture and society that it brings up. A serious effort to engage in Korea.
In this interview with Richard Bush, director of the Center for Northeast Asia Policy Studies at Brookings Institution in Washington D.C., we discuss recent developments in China and the important role of Korea in Northeast Asia and around the world.