North Korea Forum

Program Summary | Forum Instructors | Prospective Clients |

Schedule | Fee | Transportation & Lodging |Application

Please apply by: February 20, 2009.
Registration fees have been reduced -- please see fee information below:

The mission of the Forum is to educate influential individuals in the United States with the goal of improving the quality and quantity of information about the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) that is available to the global citizenry. The forum will wage a campaign against the paucity of information that has characterized public discourse with regard to the DPRK by targeting three groups of individuals:

• By educating members of the media, it will enhance the quality of the information reaching the citizenry;
• By educating policymakers, it will increase the scope and effectiveness of their policy options;
• By educating members of the academic community, it will aid in the preparation of tomorrow’s media professionals and policymakers.
  

Program Summary

The Forum will be a five-day intensive immersion consisting of both seminar-type classes and panel discussion fora. The program will be directed by expert scholars with firsthand knowledge of the DPRK, drawn from around the world. All facets of the DPRK will be covered in-depth, including its politics, culture, social structure, domestic and foreign policy, history, and economics.

Click here to view our Spring 2009 program.

Forum Instructors

March 2009 Forum Instructors

Dr. Bruce Cumings is Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of the Department of History at the University of Chicago. His research and teaching focus is on modern Korean history, 20th century international history, U.S.-East Asian relations, East Asian political economy ,and American foreign relations. He is the editor of the modern volume of The Cambridge History of Korea (forthcoming), and is a frequent contributor to The London Review of Books, The Nation, Current History, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and Le Monde Diplomatique. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cumings was also the principal historical consultant for the Thames Television/PBS six-hour documentary, Korea: The Unknown War. In 2007, he won the Kim Dae Jung Prize for Scholarly Contributions to Democracy, Human Rights and Peace. He has just completed Dominion From Sea to Sea: Pacific Ascendancy and American Power, and is currently working on a synoptic single-volume study of the origins of the Korean War, as well as a book on the Northeast Asian political economy.

Dr. Geir Helgesen is Senior Researcher at the Nordic Institute of Asian Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark and leading coordinator of the Eurasia Political Culture Research Network (EPCReN). He is also a senior advisor to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Korean matters, as well as a frequent guest lecturer and a widely-used commentator in public media on Korean issues. Dr. Helgesen holds both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Cultural Sociology from Copenhagen University in Denmark. His previous academic appointments include Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Pacific Asia Studies (CPAS) at Stockholm University and a Guest Researcher at the Institute of Comparative Politics, of Bergen University in Norway. In addition, Dr. Helgesen is a consultant to Nordic companies with activities in Korea, as well as a course instructor for the Federation of Danish Industries (DI) concerning Korea and cross-cultural business matters. He is the author of several journal articles and four books, including Good Government, Nordic East and Asian Perspectives, which is co-authored with Uichol Kim, and the forthcoming Politics, Culture and Self: East Asian and North European Attitudes, with S.R. Thomsen.

Dr. Han Park is University Professor of Public and International Affairs and the founding Director (in 1995) of the Center for the Study of Global Issues (Globis) at the University of Georgia. Dr. Park’s areas of specialty include political development, globalization, and comparative politics, with an emphasis on East Asian studies. Among his numerous publications are North Korea: the Politics of Unconventional Wisdom and Human Needs and Political Development. He has been deeply involved in a number of peacemaking initiatives with North Korea. Under his leadership, Globis has hosted a number of Track-II seminars with participants from North Korea, South Korea, and the United States. In fact, this triad seminar will become an annual event beginning in the fall of 2008. Dr. Park was also instrumental in realizing former president Jimmy Carter’s trip to Pyongyang in 1994, which may well have averted a possible military confrontation between the United States and the DPRK. He has been relentless in his efforts to alleviate the nuclear tension on the Korean peninsula, making more than 40 trips to North Korea since 1990. This work has been widely praised, even earning him the nickname “the underwater diplomat.” The NKI is yet another such endeavor, designed to enhance the quality of knowledge and information on North Korea in the United States and beyond.

Dr Hazel Smith is Professor of Resilience and Security and Director of the Resilience Centre.  Her most recent monograph is Hungry for Peace: International Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Social Change in North Korea ).  She recently directed three research projects that have each resulted in edited publications (2007). These are Humanitarian Diplomacy: Practitioners and their Craft edited with Larry Minear of Tufts University; Diasporas in Conflict : Peace-Makers or Peace-Wreckers? edited with Paul Stares of the Council on Foreign Relations, New York; and Reconstituting Korean Security: A Policy Primer.  Smith has undertaken extensive field work in the DPRK, Nepal, China and Nicaragua – carrying out scholarly research and working for various intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.  She commentates for the international media on the DPRK, East Asian security, the United Nations and humanitarian assistance. She is regularly interviewed on Asia-Pacific security, North Korea and international affairs by the BBC, global media including CNN, Voice of America, and Radio Free Asia; and was recently a panelist for Forum at PressTV, hosted by Andrew Gilligan.

Dr. Alexander Zhebin is Director of the Center for Korean Studies (CKS) of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies (IFES) of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He worked for 17 years as a journalist at the TASS News Agency. He served as TASS correspondent in Pyongyang, then TASS Bureau Chief in Pyongyang until 1990. He joined the IFES in 1992. In 1998 he served as First Secretary and Counselor of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the DPRK till 2001. He is author of Pyongyang, Seoul, then Moscow (1991, in Korean) and Luster and Misery off the Kim’s Empire (1992, in Japanese). Dr. Zhebin is also author of numerous articles on political developments in the DPRK, Russia-North Korea relations, and security of the Korean peninsula.

Prospective Clients

• Policy Makers
• Media Professionals
• Academic Professional
• Business Professional

Spring 09 Schedule

The forum will be held in Athens, GA at the Hilton Garden Inn in the Dogwood meeting room and will commence on Monday March 2, 2009 and will end on Saturday March 6, 2009.

Sunday, March 1: Arrival

Monday, March 2: Bruce Cumings, North Korean History - Evening Welcome Reception at 6:30pm at East West Bistro

Tuesday, March 3: Hazel Smith, "The North Korean Economy: Poverty and the Provinces"

Wednesday, March 4: Han Park, Culture and Ideology of North Korea - Cultural Evening - Program and venue to be announced

Thursday, March 5: Alexander Zhebin, Succession Problem and the Army's Role in North Korea - Dinner Reception at 6:30pm, Dr. Park's Residence

Friday, March 6: Geir Helgesen, Politics of North Korea

Saturday, March 7: Departure

Fee Information

The fee for the NKI seminar this March is as follow:

Institutional rate: $750 for the full week, or $150 per day
Individual rate: $250 for the full week, or $50 per day
Student rate: $100 for the full week, or $20 per day

The fee will be used to help defray program costs and excludes transportation, lodging, and individual dinners. Breakfasts and lunches will be provided during the full day sessions. For your convenience, hotel rooms have been held at the Hilton Garden Inn Athens. Please see "Transportation and Lodging" for more information.

In addition, SPIA students who may be interested in attending may attend the sessions for free, and have the option of paying $20.00 for the day to stay for lunch and have the opportunity to talk with the instructors. All SPIA students should also fill out an application. 

Transportation and Lodging

Transportation

Upon your arrival at the Atlanta International Airport, you may reach Athens via the following ways:

• Triple A (AAA) Bus Service (Toll Free Number 1-800-354-7874) - the fare is $45.00 one-way. The shuttle leaves Atlanta at various times during the day. It takes approximately 1-1/2 hours to arrive in Athens after leaving the airport. In Atlanta, follow the signs to "Ground Transportation." Once outside, follow the signs to "Non-Metro Buses." Passengers board from "Ground Transportation-Non-Metro Buses" and should look for small vans with "AAA' on the sides. Stopping points in Athens are the Marriott, Ramada Inn, Holiday Inn, and at the Georgia Center.
• Georgia Skies offers several 30-minute flights a day between the Atlanta Hartsfield airport and the Athens Ben Epps airport. The fair starts at $39, will check you in in 10 minutes, but allows only a carry-on. The Athens Hilton Garden Inn, where you will be staying, offers complementary airport pick-up. (706) 353-6800
• Take a taxicab to the Atlanta Greyhound Bus station ($14.00-$20.00), and then the Greyhound Bus to Athens ($12.00 plus tax). Check with the taxi driver on the fare before departing.

If you need to stay overnight near the Atlanta Airport, the least expensive hotels are the Red Roof Inn (404) 209-1800 and the Fairfield Inn 1-800-359-4827. One night at the Red Roof Inn costs approximately $80.00 and includes transportation from the airport. One night at the fairfield Inn costs approximately $70.00 and includes transportation from and to the airport. You make arrangements for your free ride by calling the hotel on the courtesy phone in the terminal.

Lodging

Hilton Garden Inn Athens
390 East Washington Street
Athens, GA 30601
Tel: (706) 353-6800
Fax: (706) 353-6807 
www.hi-athens.com/hgi_index.htm

The Hilton Garden Inn Athens, the premiere hotel in Northeast Georgia, located in the heart of historic downtown Athens. The Hotel is across the street from The Classic Center, the premiere convention and performing arts center in Athens.

Our hotel is within walking distance to downtown restaurants, shops and a world renowned music scene. The Hilton Garden Inn Athens hotel is less than two blocks from the University of Georgia.

The Hilton Garden Inn Athens has 185 guestrooms that include a spacious work desk, 2 phones (each with two lines) data port and voice mail. You have a choice of a spacious king or two queen beds; and each guest room offers complimentary high speed internet, a hospitality center with microwave, refrigerator, and coffeemaker. Other amenities are in-room iron and ironing board, hairdryer, and 26'' television which includes complimentary HBO, ESPN, Disney Channel and the Weather Channel.

The hotel business center and fitness center are both accessible 24-hours a day. Whether staying in Athens for business or pleasure, use our HHonors Frequent Guest Program to reward yourself and earn free stays at Hilton Hotels Worldwide.

The American Grille offers outstanding breakfast choices in a relaxed atmosphere.

HOTEL RESERVATIONS

Please reserve your room by February 15, 2009 to obtain the group rate. Rooms have been held from Sunday, March 1 to Sunday, March 8.

Room Rates:

• Nonsmoking queen standard: $119

1. Rates are excluding taxes, which are currently 14%.

Group Reservation information :

• When making reservations, you must provide the code "NKI" in order to get the group rate.

Application

Please apply by February 20, 2009. Note that space is limited, so early application is advised to ensure acceptance. Please click here for an NKI application.