A panel of experts moderated by most recent Library of Congress Chair in U.S.-China Relations Carla Freeman discussed the likely outcomes of recent missile tests, the impact of increased competition between the U.S. and China, as well as prospects for the Biden Administration to reduce tensions in the region.

Suk-Young Kim, a fellow at the John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress, presents a program that provides insight on North Korean culture, politics and the leadership of Kim Jong-il titled "For the Eyes of the Dear Leader: Fashion and Body Politics in North Korean Visual Arts." Kim explores how visual media, such as theater, film, magazine illustrations, paintings and posters represent and propagate the ideal body in North Korea. According to Kim, North Korea's political leaders have been preoccupied with how to dress people. Fashion, especially women's fashion, is seen as a national project, where beauty and politics meld to cultivate bodily discipline. As in many communist states, North Korean designers have been drawn to masculine, military styles that seem to embody revolutionary spirit. But women's fashion in North Korea also openly allows for a contradictory sense of traditional femininity.

Suk-Young Kim, a fellow at the John W. Kluge Center, Library of Congress, presents a program that provides insight on North Korean culture, politics and the leadership of Kim Jong-il titled "Kim Jong-il and North Korean Film." The world's understanding of Kim Jong-il is often linked to his personal obsession with film, but little is known about how and why film serves as a window through which the outside world can glimpse the enigmatic North Korean leader. The talk explores Kim Jong-il's relationship with film on various levels, such as the filial duty to protect his father's legacy and desire to gain political capital through artistic achievement on both domestic and international fronts.