Overview

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1) 13 June 2024

Beyond the Boundaries: Migration Choices of Women from North Korea

Presenter:

Dr. Jinah Kwon (권진아) University of Sheffield

Abstract:

This special lecture, Beyond the Boundaries: Migration Choices of Women from North Korea, presents insights from the speaker’s ongoing book project, which delves into the migration choices and constraints faced by North Korean migrants. Initiated in 2012 with a preliminary interview conducted among North Korean women in China, the author posed two fundamental questions: "Why do you migrate?" and "Are you happy?" Through these questions, the author investigates the socioeconomic boundaries that influence the life decisions of these migrants. The study encompasses four key countries: North Korea, China, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, identified by official statistics as hosting the largest populations of North Korean migrants. By exploring the experiences and narratives of the women interviewed, the author seeks to understand the complex interplay between individual agency and structural forces within these diverse contexts. The research highlights the tensions and challenges faced by North Korean migrants as they navigate their paths among these countries. This work aims to provide deeper implications for societal development, particularly regarding how these societies can serve as platforms supporting a range of migration choices. The lecture will offer a comprehensive analysis of the migrants' lived experiences, contributing to broader discussions on migration, happiness, and social development.

About the lecturer:

Dr. Jinah Kwon is a political sociologist with an interdisciplinary background. Her Ph.D. dissertation dealt with the migration choices of women from North Korea and is planned to be published under Palgrave Macmillan Studies on Human Rights in Asia with a grant from the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS). She has worked on North Korean human rights with various institutions, including civil society organizations, government agencies, and international organizations for the last 15 years. Prior to joining SEAS, she served as a lecturer at the College of International Studies, Korea University, and as a senior research fellow at Soongsil Institute for Peace and Unification. She is also one of the recipients of the 2023 Award of Excellence presented by the Vice Prime Minister/ Minister of the Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea.

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2) 20 June 2024

The Migration Policies of South Korea - Focusing on the Types of Migrants

Presenter:

Prof. Dr. Hwa Yong Lee (이화용) Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy and Civic Government, Kyung Hee University

Abstract:

Migration is a global phenomenon and issue, and South Korea is no exception to the global migration flow. This lecture explains the characteristics of Korean migration policies, focusing on the types of migrants (in particular labor migrants, married migrant women, and undocumented children). The influx of migrants to South Korea began in earnest after the 1988 Olympics, and the country officially declared its transition towards becoming a multicultural society in 2006. Since then, Korean migration policies and discourses have developed steadily. The characteristics of Korean migration policies exhibit duality. Migrant workers and married migrant women are the main components of South Korea's migrant population. While Korean migration policies are concentrated on these two groups, they adopt different approaches; that is, policies of economic control, management, and exclusion for migrant workers vs. policies of social acceptance, assimilation, and support for married migrant women. The reason for the contrasting approaches lies in how they are taken, that is, whether they are considered as members of the nation-state or not. These migrant groups are introduced as members of Korean society due to its economic and social needs. Perception of and policies for migrants need to be considered in terms of social membership, not citizenship. In exploring Korean migration policies, the lecture will raise the following questions about borders and beyond: “Are national boundaries and governance challenged in the era of migration?” and “Is politics without boundaries possible?” Through this lecture, it is hoped that we can have an opportunity to think and reflect on these questions.

About the lecturer:

Hwa Yong Lee is a professor in the Graduate School of Public Policy and Civic Engagement at Kyung Hee University. Her researches are on global governance, multicultural societies and migration, the change of nation-state. Her publications include ‘A Critical Study on the Policies for Undocumented Immigrant Children in Korea(2024),’ ‘Empire and City-States, the Emergence of Popular Sovereignty(2020)’, ‘The Policy for Guest Workers of Border: The Issues and Tasks of Employment Permit System(2015)’. Prof. Lee obtained Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. She has served as Dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy and Civic Engagement, Kyung Hee University, and Editor-in-Chief of the Korean Society for Political Thought.

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3) 27 June 2024

Living as a Zainichi in Japan and Korea: Between Discrimination and Multiculturalism

Presenter:

Adj. Prof. Dr Sung-sook Lim (임성숙) Chungnam National University

Abstract:

In this lecture, based on her own experiences living in South Korea and Japan, she attempts to show how a Korean diaspora has grappled with various life possibilities and limitations in times when both Japan and South Korea had promoted their own types of ‘multiculturalism.’ In Japan where the colonial legacy remains, she has become a subject of “being (in)visible” in everyday life based on her background such as education, ethnicity, and citizenship. In South Korea, so-called her ethnic homeland (technically a divided space due to the cold-war), she found herself as “an overseas Korean” which is regarded as neither a foreigner nor Korean citizen. Since the 1980s and the 1990s, the two nation-states have claimed that they are no longer culturally(ethnically) homogeneous countries. However, she will offer a critical analysis of how state powers operate in the name of multiculturalism by “universalizing” differences, which prevents tracing specific historical and cultural backgrounds of various ethnic groups of people. Finally, she will suggest that transnational lives are highly contested even in the global era.

About the lecturer:

Lim Sungsook is an adjunct professor in the department of Japanese language and literature at the Chungnam National University, South Korea. As a Korean resident, she was born and grew up in Japan. After completing B.A. degree in Japan (J. F. Oberlin University), she started to study cultural anthropology at Hanyang University, South Korea, where she conducted research on ethnic Korean Chinese, most of whom migrated to South Korea to work. Then she continued to study anthropology at the University of British Columbia where she completed her Ph.D. Her research was about return migration among elderly Koreans on Sakhalin Island (Russia) to South Korea within the context of post-colonial transformations. Her research interest is in transnational migration and kinship (gender), nation-state, citizenship, post-socialism, everyday life, and Korean diasporas in Northeast Asia.

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Moderator: Suhon Lee

 

Time & Venue:

Thursday, June 13th 2024 - June 27th 2024

Online:

Webex