Upcoming Events​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

​

※ Title: Forgotten Modernist: Lee Qoede, Muralism, and the Geopolitics of Memory

​

Host: Weatherhead East Asian Institute

​​

Date: February 19th, 2026, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM EST

​​

Location: In-person at School of International and Public Affairs (420 West 118th Street, Room 918, New York, NY 10027)​

​

Sign up: https://ckr.weai.columbia.edu/events/forgotten-modernist-lee-qoede-muralism-and-geopolitics-memory

​

Description:

​This lecture discusses the subject of Jinyoung Anna Jin’s recent book, Art, War, and Exile in Modern Korea, which seeks to restore a pivotal yet long-marginalized modernist to the center of Korean and global art history. Lee Qoede (1913–1965) painted during some of the most turbulent decades of the twentieth century—through Japanese occupation, the Korean War, and his eventual exile to North Korea. His portraits, murals, and large-scale narrative compositions bear witness to both the constraints of ideology and the resilience of artistic vision.

​

--

​

※ Title: Fallout: America's Failure to Disarm North Korea

​

Host: Royal United Services Institute

​​

Date: February 19th, 2026, 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM GMT

​​​

Location: Online only

​

Sign up: https://my.rusi.org/events/fallout-america-s-failure-to-disarm-north-korea.html

​

Description:

This online event will survey the history of US-North Korea nuclear negotiations and future options for dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat, the emerging nuclear arms race in northeast Asia, and the prospects for another Trump-Kim summit during the US president’s visit to China in April 2026.

​

--

​​

※ Title: Andrei Lankov on North Korea: The Need for Imperfect Compromise

​

Host: Russian Democratic Society

​​

Date: February 20th, 2026, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM GMT

​​

Location: 10 Thornhaugh St, London, England WC1H 0XG​

​

Sign up: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/north-korea-the-need-for-imperfect-compromise-tickets-1981956060931

​

Description:

​A talk on North Korean politics by Andrei Lankov, a specialist in Korean studies. The event willbe held in English, followed by Q&A

​

--

​

※ Title: The Politics of Yesultan: An Entangled Performance Network and the Cultural Labor of North Korean Defector Musicians in South Korea

​

Host: Korea Institute at Harvard University

​​

Date: April 2nd, 2026, 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM EDT

​

Location: In-person at Thomas Chan-Soo Kang Room (S050), CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138​

​

Sign up: https://korea.fas.harvard.edu/event/chaeyoung-lee-politics-yesultan-entangled-performance-network-and-cultural-labor-north-korean?occ_id=0

​

Description:

​This seminar examines how crossing the border between the two Koreas transforms the socio-musical lives of North Korean defectors as they enter South Korea’s so-called “free world.” In particular, I focus on Yesultan (예술단)—multi-genre performing arts troupes strongly associated with North Korea and reconstituted by defectors in the South.​​​