• Date: July 6th, Wednesday, 2022, 16:00 – 18:00
• Location: Room 406, SNUAC (Bldg. 101)

Speaker: Se-hoon Chang (Professor, Department of Sociology, Dong-A University)

In the sense that the North Korean society is still to be accessed upon fragmentary information leaking from the solid walls even in this era of globalization, it is close to being a ‘black box’. Especially due to the confrontational situation between the North and South Koreas and the focus being put on North Korea’s military or political and economic structures, it is even more difficult to examine how North Korean citizens are living their lives. As part of the effort to understand North Korean society in a more multifaceted way, we need to look at how the daily lives of North Koreans have changed in cities. Focusing on the spatial structures of cities and the networks of social relationships, which are the two pillars of urbanization, this seminar will trace how North Koreans living in large cities near the frontier (Chungjin, Sinuiju, Hyesan) make their living and examine the universality and specificity of the urbanization trend in North Korea.