The lectures will explore Korean memory, identity, and representation with the first looking at how ecology and history intertwine in Jeju’s Giving Forest, and the second investigating how North Korean refugee authors challenge dominant narratives through fiction.

Millions celebrate the founder of Buddhism’s birth each year with free meals at temples. Featuring Hyaeweol Choi, director of the Korean Studies Research Network at the University of Iowa.

Join the Korean Studies Research Network for a lecture by Pil Ho Kim, associate professor of Korean studies at The Ohio State University, that explores Gangnam's dual role as the epicenter of South Korea's entertainment industry and a zone of social evils, such as real estate speculation, sex work, and extreme educational competition.

The faculty-led affinity groups create opportunities for faculty to advance research and teaching through a focus on collegiate issues and perspectives, provide opportunities for faculty and students across disciplines to interact and collaborate, and develop public engagement projects to benefit communities in Iowa and abroad.

The talk, featuring Dr. Cindi Textor, University of Utah, will present an encounter between the critical discourse on intersectionality and texts by Korean subjects of the Japanese empire and their postwar descendants in Japan.

This lecture, by Dr. Peter Moody of Korea University, will present the emergence of North Korean-style electronic music, which aimed to raise the quality of electronic music worldwide in a healthier direction.

This virtual event is presented by Dr. Yu-Ri Kim, postdoctoral research scholar in sociology at the University of Iowa.

This webinar will be presentation by Dr. Sungha Yun, assistant professor of religion and Asian studies at St. Olaf College.

Korea Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Sunho Ko from the University of Wisconsin, Madison will present “Feeding the People: Collective Dining and Science in Postwar North Korea.”

The Korean Studies Research Network presents “Critical Capitalism: South Korea’s Aspiring Millionaires and the Spirit of the Asset Economy” on Thursday, November 30 and features Dr. Bohyeong Kim of Vanderbilt University.

The Korean Studies Research Network presents “Remedy, Mobility, and the Feminized Consumption of Beauty in Post-Authoritarian South Korea” on November 15, featuring Dr. So-Rim Lee from the University of Pennsylvania. 

The Korean Studies Research Network presents “Net-Fluxed Korea: Squid Game, Acting in/on the Logic of Platform Economy.” This virtual talk will take place on Thursday, November 2, from 5 – 6:30 p.m., and will feature Dr. Seung-hwan Shin of the University of Pittsburgh.