Korean Studies Institute

We hosted a variety of events this past academic year – conferences, book talks, cultural events and many more. We captured some of the memorable moments to share with you. Check out our video channel – Link to Videos

Opening remarks by Professor Jane Junn, USC Associates Chair in Social Sciences, University of Southern California, at the Symposium on Korean America and the US-Korea Relations. Professor Junn discusses analytical challenges and comparative frames in conceptualizing the Korean American identity and studying Korean American politics and history. The symposium was organized by the Korean Studies Institute under the Initiative on March 1st Symposium on History and Democracy. For more information, visit link here

Presentation on “From Diasporic Nationalism to Asian American Justice: The Durham Stevens Assassination and Chol Soo Lee Legal Cases” by Professor Richard Kim, UC Santa Davis. Professor Kim spoke during the session on “Korean America in National and International Politics.” The symposium was organized by the Korean Studies Institute under the Initiative on March 1st Symposium on History and Democracy. For more information, visit link here

Presentation on “Police State, Police Action, Police Brutality: Dongnip Sinmun and Freedom Newspaper on the Korean War” by Professor Christine Hong, UC Santa Cruz. Professor Hong spoke during the session on “Korean America in National and International Politics.” The symposium was organized by the Korean Studies Institute under the Initiative on March 1st Symposium on History and Democracy. For more information, visit link here

Presentation on “Korea and Korean America: Convergent and Divergent Paths” by Professor Shelley Lee, Brown University. Professor Lee spoke during the session on “New directions in Korean American Studies.” The symposium was organized by the Korean Studies Institute under the Initiative on March 1st Symposium on History and Democracy. For more information, visit link here

Presentation on “Memory, Identity, and Shared Transnational Heritage: Rehabilitating the Young Korean Academy (Hung Sa Dahn) Historic Site in Los Angeles” by Dr. Jong-Hyun Lim, Heritage Smart Consulting Group. Dr. Lim spoke during the session on “New directions in Korean American Studies.” The symposium was organized by the Korean Studies Institute under the Initiative on March 1st Symposium on History and Democracy. For more information, visit link here

Presentation on “Data-Driven Empowerment: Advancing Korean-American Communities through Data Analytics” by Professor Seon Ho Kim, USC. Professor Kim spoke during the session on “New directions in Korean American Studies.” The symposium was organized by the Korean Studies Institute under the Initiative on March 1st Symposium on History and Democracy. For more information, visit link here

Professors Jennifer Jihye Chun (UCLA, Asian American Studies) and Ju Hui Judy Han (UCLA, Gender Studies) discussed their latest book titled Against Abandonment: Repertoires of Solidarity in South Korean Protest (2025, Stanford University Press). The book is an ethnographic study of the widespread culture of protest in South Korea that examines both its significant achievements and inherent precarity. Based on long-term ethnographic research with labor and social movement activists, Against Abandonment is at once a chronicle of the life-and-death character of protesting precarity in South Korea and a searing examination of repertoires of solidarity for upending injustice. Protest forms such as long-term encampments, life-threatening hunger strikes, and perilous high-altitude occupations are agonizing to perform and to witness but often powerful as catalysts for change. Chun and Han situate South Korean protest in transnational context to demonstrate how the struggles of South Korean workers are inextricably tied to the globalized conditions of neoliberal capitalism. Building on the work of abolitionist feminist thinkers, the book theorizes protest as a political form with far-reaching resonance across history and geography, and underscores the significance of collective survival, self-determination, and emancipatory transformation.

Professor Ju Hui Judy Han (UCLA, Gender Studies) discussed her latest book titled Queer Throughlines: Spaces of Queer Activism in South Korea and Korean Diaspora (2025, University of Michigan Press). the book offers a rare account of the transnational Korean LGBTQ + activist movement since the 1990s with a specific focus on its intersections with various other social movements.  Queer Throughlines draws on years of direct participation, interviews, and ethnography to examine transnational Korean LGBTQ+ activism since the 1990s. Han maps the sites and routes of leftist and queer political movements, highlighting challenges posed by Christian conservatives in both South Korea and the United States. The book uses the concept of “throughlines” to weave together a web of movement stories across time and space: a coalition of Los Angeles–based LGBTQ+ activists and allies fighting an anti-gay petition campaign led by Korean immigrant churches; queer activists involved in anti-war protests in Seoul; progressive clergy embracing inclusivity and risking heresy charges and excommunication; and queer and trans activists refusing to be sidelined from visions of political change underway.