Seoul writer Andrew Salmon will talk about penning the “Modern Korea” title in the Hodder & Stoughton/McGraw-Hill series “All That Matters” and the contrasts he highlights in it.

While explaining why he chose the theme of a “land of extremes” to meet the challenge of examining the two Koreas in just 150 pages, he promises to raise some quirky questions: What do Joseon kings, North Korean Kims and chaebol chairmen have in common? Were the 1990s to South Korea what the 1960s were to the Western world? Is South Korea’s ultracompetitive society a result of ultrafast development, of traditional culture ― or both? And could there be a connection between shamanism and cyberspace?

Salmon is a longtime journalist in Korea, covering the peninsula for Forbes, France 24 and the South China Morning Post.

He has also written several books on Korea, including “To the Last Round,” an award-winning history of British troops’ actions in the Korean War.

The lecture will be held on Nov. 11 from 7:30-9 p.m. on the second floor of Somerset Palace, near Anguk Station in Seoul. Admission is free for RASKB members and 7,000 won for nonmembers.

(paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)