Upcoming Events at RASKB – March 2012

Upcoming events at Royal Asiatic Society – Korea Branch for the month of March 2012.

Lecture on Competition Dilemma: Has Korean Competition Reached Its limit?

The severe competition in Korean society was the main force behind Korea’s seemingly miraculous economic development. On the other hand, many of the serious social issues facing Koreans today are the result of excessive competition. There is also much evidence that the Korean way of competing may in fact be stifling the creativity needed to continue to develop into an advanced society. Ms. Lee will discuss the issue of competition and, based on the research of the SBS Future Korea Report (aired on November 2, 2011), will suggest that Korean competition is in a dilemma. She will share the results of the first research that SBS did last year with Gallup about how Koreans feel about competition and will suggest some ideas about how Korea can build a happier, healthier, better society in the future.

Lee Chong-ae has been a TV reporter for SBS (the Seoul Broadcasting System) since 1995. She is known mostly as an investigative reporter for the news magazine program News Pursuit, where she worked from 1999 to 2003. She has won more than 19 awards, including Reporter of the Year award from the Journalist Association of Korea and the Korean Broadcasting Grand Prize (TV Report Field) from the Korean Broadcasting Association, both in 2003. She has also worked as a reporter on the police beat and on the international news and economic news desks, as well as a producer of the general news. She is now a senior reporter in the Future & Vision Division, which helps set a mid- to long-term agenda for the nation. In this division, she plays a pivotal role in the organization of the annual Seoul Digital Forum and the Future Korea Report. She graduated from Ewha Womans University with a major in History and has a Master’s Degree in Broadcasting & Visual Communication from the Graduate School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Yonsei University. She has given a number of special lectures on investigative reporting for the Korea Press Foundation and the Broadcast Journalist Association and taught for one semester at Konkuk University Graduate School of Journalism.

Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 – 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Lecturer: Lee Chong-ae (Kristen) (SBS-TV)
Venue: Second floor Residents’ Lounge, Somerset Palace
Admission: 5,000 won (non-member); free for members

Lecture on Traditional Korean Porcelain Culture: The Art and Science of Underglaze Painting

The vitality and spontaneity of painted underglaze decoration is one of the unique characteristics which makes Korean porcelain one of the best known and most appreciated in the world. Unlike the potters of China and Japan, whose colorful elaborate overglaze decorations made their porcelain so popular that it was known as “white-gold” up to the 18th century, Korean ceramicists achieved their beauty by leaving their wares totally undecorated or decorated them sparingly with only under glaze designs using various techniques such as incising, inlaying and painting. During the Goryeo period (918-1392), the material for the inlaying and painting was white slip and iron-rich clay, readily obtainable in nature along with the material for the body and glaze. These two materials continued to be the dominant decorative material in the Joseon period (1392-1910) for both buncheong and whiteware. The use of copper compounds, first used in small amounts in inlaid celadon in the Goryeo period, was revived as a painting medium in the 18th and 19th centuries. Cobalt pigment was one material that had to be imported, mostly from China. Its use began for blue and white porcelain only a few decades after hard-textured whiteware was successfully developed in the newly founded Joseon Kingdom, but by 19thcentury it was used rather freely.

In this lecture some representative works of brush-painting decoration are presented along with brief introductions of the composition and microstructural characteristics of the decorative materials.

Carolyn K. Koh Choo is a professor emeritus at Chung-Ang University in the department of chemistry and the department for science of cultural properties. She was dean of the College of Basic Sciences during 2003 and 2005. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1969 and received a Ph.D. in Chemisty from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973.

Dr. Choo was instrumental in the founding of a graduate program for scientific studies on cultural properties, where students are encouraged to study cultural objects with the multidisciplinary approach of combining analytic analysis and conservation efforts with background observations in history and the philosophy of science. She supervised students for their master’s and doctoral theses on traditional ceramics, glass technology, plant dyeing, and metallic arts and crafts. Her main research interest is centered on the scientific analysis of traditional ceramics technology in terms of modern principles and methods. Her articles on Korean traditional celadon and whiteware are published in both English and Korean in journals of science as well as in journals of the history of science.

Date: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 – 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Lecturer: Carolyn K. Koh Choo, Professor Emeritus, Chung-Ang University
Venue: Second floor Residents’ Lounge, Somerset Palace
Admission: 5,000 won (non-member); free for members


About RASKB Lectures
The Royal Asiatic Society – Korea Branch regularly hosts English-language lectures by respected figures on Korean culture and history. Lectures are held in the Residents’ Lounge on the second floor of the Somerset Palace, Seoul. Lectures are free for RASKB members, while a 5,000 won donation is asked of non-members.

Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch
Seoul, Korea
Phone (02) 763-9483
Email : [email protected]