Jae-Cheon Lim to present on governing styles of North Korean leaders on Nov. 15

The Institute for Korean Studies will present a lecture featuring Jae-Cheon Lim, Korea University, on Wednesday, November 15 from 2:20 p.m. to 3:40 p.m. in 062 Hagerty Hall. Prof. Lim will present "Governing Styles of North Korean Leaders."

Abstract: Currently the North Korean regime can be defined as an autocratic communist where an absolute ruler monopolizes decision-making by depending on a communist party or it can be also defined as a dynastic totalitarian where one family monopolizes political succession in totalitarian institutional mechanisms. Whatever definition, North Korean leaders have been the crux of social unity for decades, exercising absolute power. This lecture attempts to compare three North Korean leaders (Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un) and their leadership in order to review their difference and similarity, which helps us understand the continuity and change of the present North Korean regime. It specifically examines the leaders’ formative period, their activity before they ascended to power, and their leadership styles.

Paul Chang to present on family change in South Korea on Nov. 28

The Institute for Korean Studies will present a lecture featuring Paul Chang, Harvard University, on Tuesday, November 28 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in 191 Mendenhall Lab. Prof. Chang will present "Reinventing Family: Development, Democracy, and Demographic Crisis in South Korea."

Abstract: The dramatic transformation of family patterns in advanced capitalist societies has received much public attention. The empirical trends characterizing family change include later age of first marriage, declining marriage and fertility rates overall, rapidly aging societies, and the prevalence of “modern” family structures: single-parent families, cohabiting couples, interethnic marriages, and unmarried single-person households. In this talk I provide a historical account of family change in South Korea, a representative case of the demographic crisis sweeping East Asia. Drawing on archival sources, survey data, and interviews, I show that by 1997, on the eve of financial ruin, South Korea had already experienced dramatic economic, political, and cultural transformations that became the foundations for the contemporary socio-demographic revolution.