London Korean Links

Covering things Korean in London and beyond since 2006

Online lecture: North Korean Ghost Ships

A lecture and screening about a fascinating topic to ease you in to the Bank Holiday weekend. I missed the screening at SOAS last year so I’ll definitely be tuning in to this.

North Korean Ghost Ships

Thursday 7 May, 2020
5:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Talk by Robert Winstanley-Chesters and film showing and Q&A by Nicholas Leof Ahlmark

North Korean Ghost Ships

Lecturer in Human Geography at Bath Spa, Robert Winstanley-Chesters has spent the last five years research fishing and fishing communities in North Korea and neighbouring nations, research which constitutes his recent monograph ‘Fish, Fishing and Community in North Korea and Neighbours’ published as an Open Access book by Springer.

During this research, Robert became familiar with ghostly ecologies and ruined environments of the seas surrounding North Korea, China and elsewhere in East Asia and was intrigued by the phenomena of ‘Ghost Ships’ from North Korea washing up on the coasts of northern Japan and the Russian Federation with skeletal cargoes of dead North Koreans causing fear and anxiety among the Japanese.

The ghost ships and the necro-mobilities of the bodies of these unexpected and unwelcome visitors has become Robert’s next research project and he will soon publish his first journal article on the subject for the Journal of International Diaspora and Cultural Criticism.

Robert was particularly inspired by the work of Nicholas Leof Ahlmark and this event also features an online showing of his film ‘North Korean Ghost Ships’ for Channel News Asia’s ‘Undercover Asia’ documentary strand. Since graduating from the University of Westminster, Nicholas has built an incredible international career and reputation, working on short and long-form documentaries for broadcasters like Vice, CNBC, and Al Jazeera English, focusing on the Asia Pacific region and online branded content for major global clients such as Booking.com, Phillips, and Samsung, among others. Nicholas will also be attending to offer a Director’s Q&A.

How to attend

This will be an online event, hosted on Google Meet. Please RSVP to Robert Winstanley-Chesters ([email protected]), who will add you to the list of invitees.

If you are unable to join the session or would like to view the film in advance, you can watch it on the Channel News Asia website.

Links:

2 thoughts on “Online lecture: North Korean Ghost Ships

  1. What on earth are “necro-mobilities”? Does the word convey any meaning that would be impossible to express in plain English?

    1. ㅋㅋㅋ good point! Academics will be academics…
      Actually it’s unfair to generalise like that: I find that some academic books are perfectly lucid.
      But far too many are full of tortuous prose and meaningless guff that intentionally or otherwise obscures whether there’s any clarity of thought hiding behind the fog.

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