Heonik Kwon
How Does North Korea Remember the Korean War?
The current international crisis concerning North Korea’s relentless pursuit of a nuclear-armed statehood is often considered to originate from the time of the Korean War (1950-1953). If this is indeed the case, it follows that we need to come to terms with how North Korea remembers the Korean War in order to get a clearer perspective on its nuclear ambition today. In this light, this lecture will examine a set of subtle yet significant changes in North Korea’s public commemoration of the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War since 2011—that is, after the country’s political order evolved into a third-generation hereditary leadership
Heonik Kwon is senior research fellow and professor of social anthropology at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and author of several prize-winning books on memories of the Vietnam War and the Cold War. His co-authored book North Korea: Beyond Charismatic Politics was published in 2012. Currently he is directing an international project titled “Beyond the Cold War, toward a Community of Asia” at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Cambridge.
The discussion will be chaired by Dr Eric Ballbach, Director of the Research Unit “North Korea and International Security” at the Korean Studies Unit, Free University Berlin.