News

'Seoul Train' film documentary

24 November 2009, Leeds University Union
The student club Liberty@Leeds will be sponsoring a screening of a documentary called "Seoul Train" on 24 November at 7pm in Leeds University Union, ARC Conference Room. The event will be free for all Leeds staff and students.

Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) is a movement of students and administrators seeking to raise awareness and support for the modern-day underground railroad that exists in Southeast Asia. Fleeing starvation and oppression in North Korea, refugees by the thousands have fled to China to live in hiding. If caught in China, they face repatriation (in violation of international law). Since North Korean law dictates that defection is punishable by execution or imprisonment in a concentration camp, it is very dangerous for the refugees to be sent back. As such, there is a modern-day underground railroad that refugees are using to get out of China, seeking asylum in safe countries.

Many students and professors in the United Kingdom and around the world are taking a stand to help support this underground railroad. LiNK is currently doing a documentary tour to raise awareness, presenting a film entitled "Seoul Train" that highlights this underground railroad and the hardships faced by North Koreans refugees.

Representatives from LiNK will be present at the film event to describe the organization's work on the underground railroad, including ways that Leeds students can help.

Korea Study Group at Leeds University

The Korea Study Group at Leeds University is an on-going activity of the joint Leeds/Sheffield Korea Research Hub development.

The study group meets regularly (once a week during term time) for informal lunch meetings and public seminars. All those with an academic interest in Korean affairs are invited.

Core members of the Korea Study group, with their research interests listed, are:

Professor Christoph Bluth
North Korea, South Korean national security policy

Dr. Chunyao Yi
China’s Policy Towards North Korea

Rhu Sun-hye
The Six Party Talks and Regional Security Cooperation in North East Asia

Park Min-hyoung
The South Korea - US alliance

Tim Page
Russia’s Policy Towards North Korea

Yukari Fujiwara
Japan and North Korea

For more details about the Korea Study Group contact Prof Christoph Bluth at c.bluth@leeds.ac.uk

Berlin Conference on Asian Security

The  Berlin Conference on Asian Security is jointly organized by Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (a German government think tank), the German Federal Ministry of  Defence and  the  Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta. It goes back to an initiative launched in 1998 in Waldbröl outside Bonn and has been held on an annual basis since. The  meeting aims to facilitate an exchange of information and  views among Asian, American, and European scholars and officials on Asian Pacific security issues.  This year’s  conference  is the tenth. It will look into the domestic stability of Indonesia,  North Korea, Pakistan, Central  Asia and China as well as the implications on the regional and international level. 

Prof. Andrei Lankov, one of the most renowned specialists on North Korea will address the conference, as will a representative of the French Ministry of Defence, as will Jonathan Pollack from the Naval War College who has written widely on Korea. Experts on China, Central Asia and South Asia will also be present. Attendance is by special invitation only. Professor Bluth will attend the conference.

• Berlin Conference on Asian Security
  
  

Inter-Korean Summit, Korean Herald

The Korea Herald is the arguably the most important daily English language newspaper in Korea.  It can be said that its political orientation is somewhat more liberal than the more conservative Chosun Ilbo or Korea Times. For the momentous event of the North-South summit that started on 2 October 2007, the Korea Herald commissioned a series of opinion articles from a range of Korean and Western experts. The article below is the first of two articles Professor Bluth was asked to contribute, giving an assessment of the signifcance and likely outcome of the summit involving President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

• Summit: Poisoned chalice or a chance for peace? - Christoph Bluth