A Study of Korean-Americans' Sense of Place and Characteristics of NGOs Created for North Korea

(Lecture will be in Korean)

Flicker, https://goo.gl/SSNiyu, Cropped

In Hye Oh, Researcher, The Institute for Korean Regional Studies, Seoul National University

Tuesday, April 3, 2018
11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

10383 Bunche Hall
UCLA

Sense of Place pays attention to an individual’s experience-based feelings and how they interact with places. This study focuses on the distinctive characteristics of North Korea as a place and how Korean-Americans play a role in extending humanitarian assistance to North Korea. North Korea represents a ‘heterotopia’ or a mixed place, being a closed dictatorship while sharing the 5,000 years of history of the Korean peninsula with South Korea. Korean-Americans have a perception of North Korea as a closed society, where political leader cult is practiced, with Pyongyang as a display city. As the place where Christianity was first introduced, they have Christian nostalgia toward it. Sense of Place concerning North Korea is divided into four categories; ethnic topophilia, ethnic topophobia, other topophilia, other topophobia. This study explains NGO activities in view of their intense experiences in North Korea. It is verification-based research explaining the links between the sense of place and behavioral patterns of Korean-Americans.

koreanstudies@international.ucla.edu

Sponsor(s): Center for Korean Studies