2023 MCCAP Conference Guest Speakers and Bio
Regina Kim (Freelance Journalist, NYC)
Title: From K-pop to K-dramas: How K-culture Swept the World
Date & Time: Opening Keynote, October 26th, Thursday @6:00 pm
Regina Kim is an NYC-based freelance writer focusing on Korean pop culture and Asian American issues. She has written for Vanity Fair, Time, CNN, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Elle and other national media outlets and has talked about Korean entertainment on NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour, BBC Radio, Arirang News and more. You can read some of her work at reginakim.com and find her on Twitter/X at @ReginaEKim and on Instagram at @curious_idealist.
Youngshin Kwak (left; Ph.D. Candidate, Hanyang University) & Dr. Woongjae Ryoo (right; Professor, Hanyang University)
Title: Resistance and Domination in K-Culture: The Hybrid Modernity of the Global Korean Wave
Date & Time: Session 1, October 27th, Friday @ 8:15 am
Youngshin Kwak is a researcher in the Journalism Institute at Semyung University, Jecheon, Korea. His research interests include media and society, popular culture and journalism. He currently engages in a series of alternative media projects and pertinent civic activities. He is a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Media and Communication at Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. He has published several academic journals including, ‘The multi-dimensionality of fairness discourse in an unequal society’ and ‘Can socially critical K-content change the world?’.
Woongjae Ryoo is a professor in the Department of Media and Communication at Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. His research interests include international communication, globalization, state media and cultural policies, creative industries, cultural studies, communication and social change, the political economy of media and culture, political and cultural geography in East Asia and Korean studies.
Dr. Bora Yoon (Korean Cultural Center, NYC)
Title: Evolution of K-Wave toward K-Lifestyle: Unveiling the Flourishing Realm of Korean Culture – A Glimpse into the Work of the Korean Cultural Center New York
Date & Time: Session 2, October 27th, Friday @ 9:20 – 10:20 am
Bora Yoon is the Program Manager, Communications at the Korean Cultural Center New York, which is a government institution under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. She has managed education and fashion programs such as K-New Leaders, Korean Storytime, and Public Lecture Series in collaboration with major cultural institutions and influential artists. She received her Ph.D. in International Relations from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea in 2021 with a thesis illuminating the impact of the UN’s communication policies and activities on global public opinions. She is a co-author of the book “The Evaluation Model for Korean Public Diplomacy” published based on the research project of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her papers were presented at international conferences and one of them was published in the International Journal in 2020.
Sukie Park (www.NYCultureBeat.com Founder/ Journalist, NYC)
Title: Beyond BTS, Parasite and Squid Game
Date & Time: Session 2, October 27th, Friday @ 9:20 – 10:20 am
A native Korean, Sukie Park studied journalism at Ewha Womans University, film and theater at Hanyang University Graduate School in Seoul, and entertainment business studies at Baruch College in New York City. In Seoul, Ms. Park worked as a reporter for several Korean pop, cinema, photography, and video magazines. She also worked as a writer at Korean radio (KBS-2FM Film Music Salon/ 영화음악실) and television (MBC-TV Start! Video Journey/ 출발! 비디오 여행) stations. Additionally, she worked as a copywriter at Daewoo Video.
After moving to New York City in 1996, she covered culture as a journalist for The Korea Daily of New York (JoongAng Ilbo). In 2012, she founded www.NYCultureBeat.com, a Korean language website that focuses on cultural events, travel, food, wine, shopping, sightseeing, and people, on which Ms. Park publishes original content on a daily basis. She has edited two books, “The Movie That Changed My Life” (나를 움직인 이 한편의 영화, 1990), a collection of essays by Korean filmmakers, actors and writers, and “Drawing Helen Kim: The Master Who Changed Our Lives” (선생님 그리기: 우리를 움직인 스승 김활란, 1997), a collection of writings about the first President of Ewha Womans University. She is also the author of the recently-published book, “한류를 이해하는 33가지 코드: 방탄소년단(BTS), ‘기생충‘ 그리고 ‘오징어 게임‘을 넘어서 (33 Keys to Decoding the Korean Wave: Beyond BTS, Parasite, and Squid Game).”
Dr. Kyong Yoon (Professor, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Canada)
Title: Rethinking the Cultural Hybridity of K-pop
Date & Time: Closing Keynote, October 27th, Friday @ 10:25 am
Kyong Yoon is a Seoul-born media researcher. His research focuses on digital media, migration, cultural industries, and East Asian youth culture. He is the author of Digital Mediascapes of Transnational Korean Youth Culture and Diasporic Hallyu: The Korean Wave in Korean Canadian Youth Culture. He has co-authored Transnational Hallyu: The Globalization of Korean Digital and Popular Culture. Prior to coming to UBC Okanagan, he was an ESRC postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sheffield, a research assistant professor at Korea University, and a Korea Foundation visiting professor at McGill University.