At 4:00 p.m. on June 19, the Modernity and Developmental History Research Team of Seoul National University’s Center for Contemporary Korean Studies held the second lecture in its seminar series for the first half of 2026.

Titled “Exploring the Humanities of Technology and Energy,” the seminar consisted of two consecutive special lectures and provided a forum for discussing how the pressing contemporary issues of technology and energy can be approached from the perspective of the humanities.

The second lecture, titled “U.S.–Soviet Relations in the Age of the Great Acceleration: Oil, Synthetic Materials, and Economic Détente,” was delivered by Dr. Jisoo Hong, a Humanities Fellow at Seoul National University. Focusing on businesspeople during the Cold War, Dr. Hong demonstrated how particular materials, including synthetic substances, served as instruments of economic détente. In doing so, the lecture explored cracks in the Cold War order from a new perspective.

The lecture was followed by a lively question-and-answer session conducted simultaneously in person and online. The discussion was led primarily by emerging scholars, including graduate students from Seoul National University’s Department of Korean History and undergraduate students from a wide range of academic disciplines.