“North Korea might be known as the world’s most secluded society, but during the new millennium it too has witnessed the rapid rise of new media technologies. While the North Korean state is anxiously trying to catch up with the world standard when it comes to communication technology, it is also faced with the need to block the open influx of outside information by designing its own "intranet" for its people. In a country where the smuggling of foreign media is still punishable by public execution, how do North Koreans manage to access outside information? This project asks how millennials in North Korea manage to live creatively under the threat of censorship and relatively freely under the constant watch of state surveillance by taking a deep dive into how intellectual property and copyright are creatively reconstituted in North Korea.”

Dr. Kim is Professor of Theater and Performance Studies at UCLA where she also directs Center for Performance Studies. She is the author of Illusive Utopia :Theater, Film, and Everyday Performance in North Korea (Michigan, 2010), DMZ Crossing: Performing Emotional Citizenship Along the Korean Border (Columbia, 2014), and most recently, K-pop Live: Fans, Idols, and Multimedia Performance (Stanford, 2018). Her scholarship has been recognized by the James Palais Book Prize from the Association for Asian Studies, the Association for Theater in Higher Education Outstanding Book Award, and ACLS/SSRC/NEH International and Area Studies Fellowship.

The Forum on Critical Issues in Korean Studies is free and open to the public. For further information, including information regarding access for the handicapped, telephone the Center for Korean Studies at (808) 956-7041. This presentation is supported by the Kim Chŏn-hŭng Fund.