Seoul Colloquium in Korean Studies
(Organized by the Seoul Center of the ÉFEO and RAS Korea)

Development of Leisure Parks in Pyongyang : Symbol of a Changing North Korean Society

DATE: Thursday. September 8, 2022. 6:00PM (Seoul)
SPEAKER: Manon Prud’homme

We would like to inform you of the September 2022 Colloquium, which will be held as a Zoom event.

All who wish to participate MUST register in advance by sending an email to efeoseoul@hotmail.com and a link to the Zoom event will then be sent to them.

SUMMARY:
Since the end of the famine in the late 1990s, North Korean society has undergone profound changes. These changes have also been visible in the North Korean urban space and more particularly in Pyongyang. Over the past decade, the North Korean capital has been transformed: new residential districts have been built and new spaces, such as leisure parks, have been highly developed.

This communication will present (1) the development of Pyongyang’s leisure parks since Kim Jong Un took to power and their specificities; (2) how these spaces are promoted by the North Korean state through the press; and (3) the new leisure practices that can be observed within the parks. Research on leisure parks in Pyongyang have been understudied until now. Thus, this study provides a better understanding of the socio-economic changes that are taking place in North Korea today.

Manon Prud’homme is a Ph.D. Candidate at The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS, Paris) et member of The Centre for Studies on China, Korea and Japan
– from November 2022 : Recipient of the Korea Foundation Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Europe
– June-November 2022 : Research Fellow at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University (Seoul)
– 2020 : Member of the French National Research Agency (ANR) projet City-NKor (City, architecture and urbanism in North Korea)
– 2019-2020 : Recipient of the Korea Foundation Scholarship for Graduate Studies in Europe

We hope that as many as possible of you can join us for this event.
Elisabeth Chabanol
Brother Anthony