The Council on East Asian Studies Celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Korean Language at Yale

On October 8, 2022, the Council on East Asian Studies at the MacMillan Center celebrated the 30th anniversary of Korean Language Study at Yale. Nelleke Van Deusen-Scholl, Director of the Yale Center for Language Study, delivered opening remarks. Council Chair Hwansoo Kim offered welcoming remarks to the audience, which included students, faculty, alumni, and friends.

Congratulatory remarks were also offered by Jaeseung Moon, Deputy Director of Korea Foundation USA and Byung Hwa Chung, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in New York. Robert Ramsey, Professor Emeritus of East Asian Linguistics, University of Maryland delivered a lecture entitled “The Korean Alphabet, Korea’s Gift to the World” and Yale Professor Aaron Gerow, East Asian Languages and Literatures, delivered a lecture entitled “Bong Joon-ho and Koreeda Hirokazu: Some Thoughts on Korean and Japanese Cinema.”

The event also featured a conversation with acclaimed author Min Jin Lee '90, who reflected on her time as a Yale student and her advocacy for Korean language study. 

Current Yale undergraduates also put together a video tribute on the History of Yale’s Korean Language Program. Last, the event featured a traditional Korean dance and music performance by the New York Korean Performing Arts Center and a special flower arrangement by Claire Won Kang.