The conference invited participants to engage with the theme of "reflection" as it relates to North Korea, bringing together diverse perspectives across academic, literary, and artistic disciplines.
The opening event featured a thought provoking discussion on the memoir The Hard Road Out: One Woman’s Escape from North Korea with co-authors Jihyun Park and Seh-Lynn Chai. Chaired by Dr. Sarah Son, the conversation offered powerful insights into Jihyun’s extraordinary journey of survival and resilience under the Kim regime. The dialogue also explored South Korean Seh-Lynn’s evolving understanding of North Korea through her and Jihyun’s collaboration and friendship.
Following the book talk, day one continued with a series of thematic panels including ‘Sports, Medicine and the Body’, ‘Agency, Activism and Representation in North Korean Studies’, and ‘The Diplomatic, the Digital and the Divine’. Presentations spanned a wide range of topics, from socialist medicine in North Korea, the liberation of North Korean Studies and North Korean cyber operations in the global workforce.
Day two featured equally dynamic panels under the titles ‘Framing and Figuring the North’, ‘Artistic Mobilities’, and ‘Science and the Environment’. Topics included the representation of political identity in North Korean cinema, Cold War-era rural mobile cinema, and the role of the United Nations Framework Convention on climate change in North Korea.
The conference fostered a truly cross-disciplinary dialogue and international exchange. The event was well received by attendees and speakers alike for its thought-provoking content and engaging discussions.