Committee on Korean Studies-Sponsored Panel for San Diego AAS (2013)

Beginning with the Toronto annual meeting of the Association for Asian Studies this year, the Committee on Korean Studies of the AAS Northeast Asia Council began sponsoring innovative panels on Korean studies that present the broader Asian studies community with a knowledge that is interdisciplinary, transnational, comparative, and relevant to the issues of today’s world.

The committee is planning to sponsor one panel at the 2013 annual meeting in San Diego which places the history, culture, politics, and/or economy of the Korean peninsula in global perspectives.

Of especial interest are proposals for panels in non-traditional formats (i.e., roundtable) that are tightly focused around a pressing issue of debate, innovative methodological approaches, and comparative perspectives. Some possible examples include (1) Representations of the “foreign” in contemporary Korean culture and (2) Discourses on youth and popular culture in neo-liberal South Korea.

All proposals will be vetted through the standard process. If chosen, the committee will nominate a panel for sponsorship. For further details, contact Todd A. Henry at tahenry@ucsd.edu.

 

2012 Academy of Korean Studies Research Grant (Visiting)

The Academy of Korean Studies invites graduate students majoring in Korean studies to apply for the new AKS Research Grant program.

Grants are available to non-Korean citizen graduate students who are working on a thesis in the field of Korean studies at an overseas university or who have completed the required coursework and to Korean citizens who have completed more than sixteen years of education outside of Korea that is compatible with Korea’s elementary, middle, high school, and college education. Applicants living in Korea during the application period are not eligible to apply.

Grants run for a period of six months and may be extended. They carry a monthly stipend of KRW 900,000; travel allowance (economy-class round-trip airfare); on-campus accommodations at the student’s expense; and access to AKS facilities, including the library. Successful candidates must arrive at the AKS by August 15, 2012.

A downloadable application form and description of the usual AKS elaborate application procedures and other stipulations are available on line at http://intl.aks.ac.kr/english/viewtopic.php?t=404. The deadline for applications is May 31, 2012. On-line applications (to gradaks@aks.ac.kr) are preferred, but applications sent by mail will be accepted if received before May 31, 2012.

For further information, consult the Academy of Korean Studies Web Page (http://www.aks.ac.kr) or send e-mail to gradaks@aks.ac.kr.

 

CKS Announces Scholarship Recipients for 2012–2013 Academic Year

The Center for Korean Studies will award more than $82,000 in scholarships to University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa students pursuing Korea-related studies during the 2012–2013 academic year. In addition, seven students will receive grants for the study of the Korean language under the federally funded Foreign Language and Area Studies scholarship program.

The scholarships administered by the Center for Korean Studies and their recipients are listed here.

Donald C. W. Kim Graduate Scholarship

  • Terris Brown ($10,000)
  • Jonathan Kim ($5,000)
  • Yong Shin Kim ($5,0000)

Herbert H. Lee Graduate Scholarship

  • Alexander Benton ($3,000)
  • Denise Bodor ($1,000)
  • Jaerim Gauh ($1,000)
  • Zachary Jones ($2,375)
  • Emily Kessel ($1,000)
  • Daniel Kim ($3,000)
  • James Kim ($875)
  • Nicole Muyskens ($2,375)
  • He Jin Park ($1,000)
  • Dan Bee Suh ($3,000)
  • Jae Kwon Sutton ($3,000)
  • Grayson Walker ($2,375)

N. H. Paul Chung Endowed Graduate Scholarship

  • Robert York ($3,000)

Yŏng-Min Endowed Scholarship

  • Soo Young Hwang ($1,000)
  • Min-Jung Kang ($2,000)
  • James Kim ($1,500)
  • Jin-Sook Kim ($500)
  • Heui-Yung Park ($500)
  • Hye Won Um ($1,000)

Dong Jae and Hyung Ja Lee Endowed Scholarship

  • Patrick Higgins ($1,800)

Center for Korean Studies Graduate Scholarships

  • Dongmin Kim ($1,800)
  • Jiyoung Kim ($1,800)
  • Kyung Sook Kim ($1,800)
  • Na Young Kim ($1,800)
  • Ok Sim Kim ($1,800)
  • Hyun-Ji Lee ($1,800)
  • So Young Lee ($1,800)
  • Cheol Rin Park ($1,800)
  • Mi Yung Park ($1,800)
  • Jae Rim Yoon ($1,800
  • Sumire Matsuyama ($1,800)

Center for Korean Studies Undergraduate Scholarships

  • Iasha King ($1,000)
  • Joseph Michaels ($1,000)
  • Erin Yoo ($2,500)
  • Rona Jung ($2,500)

Foreign Language and Area Studies academic-year scholarships carry a $15,000 stipend and tuition support for graduate students and a $5,000 stipend and tuition support for undergraduate recipients. Summer fellowships carry a $2,500 stipend and tuition up to $5,000. Recipients for 2012–2013 are:

2012–2013

  • Sean Daly
  • Cody Thiel
  • Cheryl Tokita

Summer 2012

  • Phillip Boulay
  • Iasha King
  • Joseph Michael

2012–2013 Undergraduate FLAS

  • Stacey Cha

Scholarship recipients are selected by the Center for Korean Studies Student Affairs Committee. Descriptions of the scholarships and grants available from the, along with instructions for applying, can be found on line at http://www.hawaii.edu/korea/pages/schlrshps/cksschol.html.

 

Christopher Bae Selected to Receive Regents’ Medal for Research

Center for Korean Studies faculty member Christopher J. Bae, assistant professor of anthropology, has been selected to receive the 2012 University of Hawaii Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research. The medal is awarded by the Board of Regents to recognize scholarly contributions that expand the boundaries of knowledge and enrich the lives of students and the community.

Bae was awarded a $1.1 million research grant by the Academy of Korean Studies in 2011 for a multiyear, international project for paleoanthropological research in Korea. That project, which runs through 2015, is titled “The Earliest Peopling of the Korean Peninsula: Current Multidisciplinary Perspectives.” It aims to develop a more comprehensive understanding of East Asian human evolution during prehistory.

Recipients of the Regents’ Medal are selected by the University Research Council through a process that begins with nominations of outstanding faculty members, screening by a committee of former award recipients, and evaluations of the top nominees by leading U.S. scholars in the candidates’ specialties.

One of three research medal winners for 2012, Bae will be recognized at a special UH Mānoa awards reception May 9 at College Hill. The medal will be awarded at the 2012 Convocation ceremony scheduled for September 13, 2012. In addition, Bae will be invited to to give a public lecture early in the 2012 fall semester.

For more information about Bae’s research interests, publications, and teaching, see http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/People/Faculty/Bae/index.html.

The Center’s faculty includes one other winner of the Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research: Prof. Ho-min Sohn of the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures in 2005. Three have won Regents’ Medals for Excellence in Teaching: Prof. Chan Ho Lee of the Department of Art and Art History in 2011; Prof. Fred Lau of the Department of Music in 2010; and Prof. Sang Yee Cheon of the Department East Asian Languages and Literatures in 2009.

 

Community Lecture: Legal Perspectives on Human Rights in North Korea

Photo: Baik Tae-UngThe Center for Korean Studies Community Lecture Series returns on Sunday, April 29, 2012, with a presentation by University of Hawai‘i law professor Tae-Ung Baik (백태웅) titled “Human Rights Violations in North Korea: Legal Perspectives” (북한의 인권침해와 북한법). The lecture will take place in the Center for Korean Studies auditorium from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The CKS Community Lecture Series, initiated last year, is intended to present talks of especial interest to the local community beyond the UH Mānoa campus.

Dr. Baik attempts to gauge the seriousness of human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea by examining the country’s criminal process. The criminal justice system and the actual criminal process in North Korea are not completely known to the world, and it is important to analyze the actual processes of the system in order to come to an accurate understanding of the human rights violations in the society. By comparing the written laws and the actual practices, he provides an explanation of North Korean criminal procedure and human rights practice.

Tae-Ung Baik is associate professor of law in the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. He was formerly director of the Korean Legal Studies Program at the University of British Columbia. Baik graduated from the Seoul National University College of Law and earned master’s and doctoral degrees at the Notre Dame Law School. He teaches international criminal law, human rights, and Korean law. He is a member of the bar of the state of New York, worked for Human Rights Watch in New York, and served as a legal adviser in the South Korean delegation to the 56th United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. His book, Emerging Regional Human Rights Systems in Asia, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press.

This lecture is free and open to all. It will be presented in English with Korean translation. UH campus parking is free on Sundays, including the parking area next to the Center for Korean Studies at 1881 East-West Road. For further information, telephone (808) 956-7041 or (808) 428-1789.