Global Korea Project

Dr. Tae-Ung Baik, former Director of the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii, joins the Global Korea Project to discuss human rights and transitional justice in Korea with a focus on implementing UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Abstract

South Korea is known for its comprehensive efforts to promote transitional justice. Various truth commissions dealing with past human rights violations and atrocities have been established including the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the Republic of Korea. The issue of enforced disappearance has not been widely discussed in Korean context, but Korea is not an exception to the serious human rights problems. Many cases of enforced disappearances related to South Korea have been filed with UN mechanisms including cases of the POW in the 1950s, abductees in the 1960s and 1970s. South Korean National Assembly ratified the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED) in 2023. The CED ratification demonstrates that Korea is trying to follow international standards. However, the legislation of an implementation law is being delayed. The speaker will talk about South Korea’s efforts to deal with the past and key elements of the implementation legislation for CED to further transitional justice in Korea.

Dr. Tae-Ung Baik 

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Dr. Tae-Ung Baik is a Professor at the William S. Richardson School of Law. He served the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) as Chair-Rapporteur (2020-2021), Vice-Chair (2018-2020), and Member (2015-2022). He was also Director of the Center for Korean Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa until recently (2018-2024). He received his Bachelor of Law degree from Seoul National University College of Law and earned his master's (LL.M.) and doctoral (J.S.D.) degrees from Notre Dame Law School. He is admitted to the Bar as an attorney-at-law in the State of New York. He is currently on sabbatical as a visiting scholar at Korea University Law School. He teaches international human rights law, comparative law, and human rights in Asia. His publications include Seeking Human Rights Community in Asia (Changbi, 2017) and Recommendations for a Ratification of the UN Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, 189 Justice 541 (2022).

Why is K-pop so popular around the world? Stephanie Choi discusses how the globalization of Korean popular music has generated new modes of communication and community-building across national borders and continents. Focusing on the digital creation of gendered intimacy, Choi explores how the emotional labor of idols and fans sustains the global economy of K-pop. This talk draws on Choi’s interviews with K-pop idols, producers, managers, and fans in Seoul, Los Angeles, and New York, and is part of her forthcoming book Branding Intimacy: Media, Labor, and Community in K-pop.

Stephanie Choi is a postdoctoral researcher at the Asia Research Institute at SUNY Buffalo.

This event is sponsored by the Global Korea Project, the Dean's Office, and the Institute for Liberal Arts. It is co-sponsored by International Studies, Asian Studies, and the Department of Eastern, Slavic, and German Studies. 

** THIS EVENT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR JANUARY 23, 2025 **

To RSVP for this event, please fill out the Google Form linked below by January 20, 2025.

Google Form: http://forms.gle/VvqBiGcCfyVERae38

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As part of a Global Korea Project initiative, Dr. Kyung-wha Kang joins us at Boston College to discuss global challenges and Asian leadership. Dr. Kang is President and CEO of the Asia Society, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, and a Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development at Yonsei University.

Event Description

Dr.Kang will be addressing the global challenges and Asian leadership through a conversational format. She will be answering both GKP and audience-generated questions.

Dr. Kang will be introduced by Dr. Fr. James Keenan, S.J., Vice Provost for Global Engagement, Canisius Professor in Theology, and Director of the Jesuit Institute. The conversation will be moderated by Dr. Erik Owens, Director of the International Studies Program, Director of the Global Ethics and Social Trust Program, and Professor of the Practice in Theology.

Dr. Kyung-wha Kang

Dr. Kyung-wha Kang is an accomplished diplomat who served as South Korea’s 38th Minister of Foreign Affairs (2017 to 2021). She is the first woman appointed to this post in the nation’s history, endeavoring to garner global support for South Korea’s initiative to engage with North Korea toward lasting peace and complete denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. She previously held key leadership roles at the United Nations, including as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and Senior Advisor on Policy to Secretary-General António Guterres.

Before joining the United Nations, Dr. Kang held various positions in South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, specializing in multilateral affairs and intergovernmental organizations. Among others, she served as Minister at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, during which she chaired the 48th and 49th sessions of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Additionally, she spearheaded efforts to highlight women with disabilities in the drafting of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Dr. Kang graduated from Yonsei University in Korea with a BA in political science and diplomacy and holds an MA and PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her doctorate research as in the field of international and intercultural communication. Dr. Kang served as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Ewha Womans University and is currently a Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development at Yonsei University.

Sponsors and Co-Sponsors

This event is sponsored by the Global Korea Project with the Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences Dean's Office, the Institute for the Liberal Arts, the Office of Global Engagement, the Asian American Studies Program, and the University Core Curriculum. It is co-sponsored by the International Studies program, Asian Studies program, the Department of Eastern, Slavic, and German Studies, the Asian Caucus, and the Korean Student Association.

Boston College Global Korea Project Presents...

Event Description

The criminalization of adultery has a long history. It was in the twentieth century that many countries began decriminalizing adultery based on principles such as gender equality, privacy, and sexual autonomy. In contrast, South Korea maintained its adultery law until 2015, when the Constitutional Court declared the sixty-two-year-old law unconstitutional. South Korea diverged from the global trend when its National Assembly enacted a gender-neutral adultery law in 1953. This presentation explores South Korea’s adultery law to examine why it took this different path, demonstrating how the principle of gender equality in marriage—enshrined in Article 20 of the 1948 Founding Constitution—shaped the criminalization of adultery in postcolonial Korea.

Dr. Jisoo Kim

Korea Foundation Associate Professor of History, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at George Washington University & Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study Fellow

Sponsors and Co-Sponsors

This event is sponsored by Boston College Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office, Institute for the Liberal Arts, and Women's and Gender Studies Program, and is co-sponsored by the International Studies Program, Asian Studies Program, Department of Eastern, Slavic, and German Studies, and the History Department.