The Koreas are officially at war, a situation that’s remained unchanged since 1953 when an Armistice Agreement was signed by China, North Korea and the United States, ending hostilities on the peninsula without achieving a final peace settlement.

The long stalemate between the two Koreas has prevented countless opportunities for social, cultural and political exchanges, with occasional exceptions. Which is why I. Jonathan Kief’s area of study is so interesting.

In his research, Kief, a Korea Foundation post-doctoral fellow at the University of Michigan’s Nam Center for Korean Studies, explores an unconventional perspective on the relationship between writers in North and South Korea.

Here, in the first of a two-part conversation, he discusses the real as well as imagined ways in which literature of the post-war period managed to cross the 38th parallel and attempts to outline a more complicated and nuanced understanding of what division literature has meant in Korea over the years.

This episode was produced in collaboration with the University of Michigan’s Nam Center for Korean Studies.

To find our more on Kief's research or to view other lectures from the Nam Center Colloquium series , visit https://www.youtube.com/user/umichncks/featured

Photo credit: http://www.notesonslowtravel.com/a-peek-into-north-korea-visiting-the-dmz-in-korea/