Sun, 29 November 2015
On November 30th, 2015, high-ranking officials from most countries on Earth will convene for two weeks at the so-called “COP21” summit in Paris. The objective of this international conference is to reach a strong agreement, which many parties hope will be legally binding, to curb greenhouse gas emissions and keep global warming below 2° Celsius. To learn more about South Korea’s efforts and interests with regards to the COP21 negotiations, we had the pleasure of interviewing Chung Suh-Yong, who is a professor at Korea University and one of the leading experts on the political and economic aspects of climate change in South Korea. Professor Chung was a Member of the Presidential Committee for Green Growth, the Honorary Committee to Host the Green Climate Fund in the Republic of Korea and the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute. He sat on the Policy Advisory Board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is currently the Director of the Seoul Center for Climate Sustainable Development Law and Policy. He also chairs the Committee on International Cooperation at the Seoul Climate Change Center. Professor Chung holds degrees in law and international relations from Seoul National University and the London School of Economics. He received his PhD from the Stanford School of Law. |
Sat, 21 November 2015
The Korean bar exam is one of the toughest in the world. While open to all, only a thousand candidates are admitted every year, less than 5% of test-takers. Hopeful applicants often study for years in the hope of passing the bar, yet with failure comes foregone income, young people joining the workforce at an ever increasing age and, of course, severe ailments such as depression and suicidal tendencies. The Korean government recently enacted a sweeping reform: the bar examination in its traditional format is gradually phased out and replaced with a law education system modeled after the United States’: students are now required to attend a graduate law school before sitting the bar exam, but have much greater odds of succeeding. But what does it mean for the education of the next generations of Korean lawyers, the Korean judicial system and its underlying philosophy? To learn more, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jasper Kim. Jasper Kim is Professor at the Graduate School of International Studies of Ewha Womans University. He is the Director of the Center for Conflict Management and was a visiting scholar at Harvard University. Professor Kim earned his bachelor from the University of California, San Diego, his MSc from the London School of Economics (LSE), and his J.D. from the Rutgers University School of Law. He is a U.S. licensed lawyer (in Washington D.C) and, prior to joining Ewha, worked for Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers. |
Fri, 13 November 2015
Legally, South Korea does not recognize the existence of its northern neighbor. Yet North Korea remains a pervasive feature of South Korean politics both domestically and internationally. The discourse Seoul holds on Pyongyang, however, is far from homogeneous and inconsistencies abound: in a single speech it is not uncommon for North Koreans to be described both as brothers and as enemies. To make sense of this conundrum, we met with Dr. Sarah (A.) Son who studied South Korea’s narrative on North Korea to talk about her research and the practical implications of this narrative: South Korea’s handling of North Korean defectors. Dr. Son is Research Fellow at the Academy of Korean Studies and a contributor to NK News since 2012. Prior to her current position, she was a Research Fellow at the Asiatic Research Institute at Korea University in Seoul, with a focus on identity and inter-Korean relations. Dr. Son earned a Bachelor in International Relations (Hons) from Bond University in Australia, where she was awarded the John Hardy medal for Most Outstanding Humanities and Social Sciences Graduate, and an MA in International Law and International Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (SOAS). She completed her PhD at SOAS as well, where she researched national identity and policy as related to the Korean unification and the issue of North Korean defector resettlement in South Korea. |
Fri, 6 November 2015
South Korea’s culture scene is booming and Seoul is steadily establishing itself as a regional and increasingly global hotspot for design, fashion and music. Our guest for this episode, Tom Bueschemann, is a household name in the Korean creative scene. Originally from Germany and now based in Korea, he is the co-founder and CEO of Platoon, a creative network that brings together designers, artists, movie directors, photographers and other creative minds. In Korea, Platoon is arguably best known for its Kunsthalle, an art space in Seoul’s Gangnam neighborhood that has become a social and cultural landmark. It provides a platform for hip crowds, young artists and changemakers from all horizons, while hosting communication events for some of the world’s major brands. Tom kindly agreed to talk to us about Seoul’s artistic and cultural ecosystem, and how he and his business partners decided to set up shop in Korea almost a decade ago. |