Understanding the Korean War Through the Lens of Film

On June 14th, Asia Society Korea held the year’s first face-to-face monthly lecture. Against the backdrop of the upcoming 72nd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, distinguished ambassadors and guests from the diplomatic community were treated to a fascinating analysis of the role of film in depicting the war from South Korea, North Korea, and Chinese perspectives.

Moderated by John Delury, a senior fellow of Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations and professor of International Studies at Yonsei University, the lecture included insights from Tatiana Gabroussenko, professor of North Korean studies at Korea University; Henry Em, associate professor of Korean history at Yonsei University; and Andrew Salmon, Seoul-based journalist, broadcaster, and author.

Often labeled as the forgotten war, the battle on the peninsular was a vast human tragedy that defined and shaped relationships between Korea and the wider world. While the Korean War may be distant and abstract to those outside Korea, the film and cinema industry has produced hundreds of movies worldwide depicting the conflict in popular culture. As the panelists highlighted, countries often use these films to show different perspectives and historical interpretations and portray the main protagonists in various lights. 

Moderator

John Delury is Professor of Chinese Studies at Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), where he serves as chair of the Program in International Cooperation. He is also chair of the undergraduate Program in International Studies at Yonsei’s Underwood International College (UIC), and founding director of the Yonsei Center on Oceania Studies.

He is the author, with Orville Schell, of Wealth and Power: China's Long March to the Twenty-first Century, and is writing a book about US-China relations in the early Cold War. Based in Seoul since 2010, his articles can be found in journals such as Asian Survey, Late Imperial China, and Journal of Asian Studies, his commentaries appear in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, Washington Post, and 38 North, and he contributes book reviews for the quarterly journal Global Asia, where he is associate managing editor. John is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, National Committee on US-China Relations, and National Committee on North Korea; he is also Pacific Century Institute board member, Asia Society senior fellow, National Committee on American Foreign Policy leadership council member, and Center on Strategic and International Studies adjunct fellow. He is a member of the Republic of Ireland’s foreign affairs advisory network and is invited to offer his analysis on East Asian affairs with government, think tank, corporate, and civil society organizations globally.

Professor Delury received his Ph.D. in History from Yale University.

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Panelists

Tatiana Gabroussenko graduated from the Far Eastern State University (ex-USSR), where she majored in Korean history. She obtained her Ph.D. in East Asian Studies at the Australian National University. Tatiana is an Assistant Professor in North Korean Studies at the Faculty of Korean Studies at Korea University where she teaches subjects related to mass culture, arts and propaganda of the DPRK.