The Study of Korea

The Faculty of Oriental Studies is home to the University’s academic programmes in Korean Studies, focusing on the language and history of Korea. Since the late 1980s, the University has been working to strengthen Korean Studies, partly in recognition of the priority that language-based studies have for leading global universities such as Oxford. The first full time posts in Korean Studies - a University Lectureship in Korean History and a University Instructorship in Korean Language - were established in June 1994 with the generous support of the Korea Foundation. In July 2006, a generous joint endowment from the Korea Foundation and the International Communication Foundation established a permanent post with the name ‘Young Bin Min-Korea Foundation Lectureship in Korean Language and Linguistics’ at the Oriental Institute. (A ‘Lectureship’ at Oxford is a tenured position, and in some cases lecturers have the stature of full professors. These are permanent, full-time posts and are very different from a Korean lecturer’s position). The post is currently held by Dr Jieun Kiaer.

Dr James Lewis, University Lecturer in Korean History, works on Korean and Japanese history from ca.1600 to 1850 and has published extensively on relations between the two countries, focusing on trade and diplomacy. The University's Lecturer in Korean Language and Linguistics, Dr Jieun Kaier, focuses on Korean linguistics - most recently syntactic motivations - and  is also actively engaged in developing textbooks for Korean language and linguistics. Dr Young-hae Chi, Instructor in Korean, previously worked as a military specialist at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul. His recent work at Oxford has focused on the interdisciplinary analysis of politics, theology and religion.  

At undergraduate level, while there is not yet a full degree offered in Korean Studies, students in Chinese or Japanese can prepare for individual examinations in Korean language or Korean history allowing them to graduate with degrees in ‘Chinese with Korean’ or ‘Japanese with Korean’.

Undergraduate interest in Korean and Korean Studies is on the increase, and the Faculty of Oriental Studies is working towards the establishment of a full undergraduate degree in Korean Studies. In 1995, the University launched its postgraduate MSt in Korean Studies, which aims to build students' Korean language skills and to familiarise students with many of the most important classical texts from all periods of Korean history. The course also acquaints students with the major concerns and problems of contemporary Korean linguistics. Students also develop their ability to understand and use a range of classical references and historiographical research methods.

Students in Korean Studies have access to teaching in Korean history, language (both Middle Korean and Modern Korean) and linguistics (both of Korean and comparatively with other East Asian languages). The Faculty of Oriental Studies also offers a DPhil in Oriental Studies through which researchers can focus on Korea.

Across many departments of the University, academics, researchers and scholars find Korea to be a rich subject for their research.

•    In the Oxford Institute of Ageing, a number of DPhil students are conducting cutting edge research into the implications of the ageing population in Korea. In May 2012, one of these students, Seung-Min Park, was awarded a prize by the Korean gerontological Society,''The Outstanding Doctoral Thesis for the Geoson Scholarship', for his doctoral thesis. Park's research and thesis examined 'An Ageing Population in a Family and Welfare State: The Dynamics of Family Support and Public Pension Systems and Their Impact on Late-Life Happiness in Contemporary South Korea'. He was also selected as ‘The Best Student Researcher’ by the Brain Korea 21st Century (BK 21) Research Committee at Korea University, Seoul, in March 2012.

•    Professor David Coleman, Professor of Demography at the Oxford Centre for Population Research, has been studying Korean demographics and has issued advice on the impending demographic shift of swiftly contracting birth rates alongside an ageing population.

•    Researchers in both the International Migration Institute and the Refugee Studies Centre are currently working on analyses of migration dynamics in Korea, including labour migration and refugee flows.

•    Professor Stein Ringen, Professor of Sociology and Social Policy, has recently co-authored a book entitled ‘The Korean State and Social Policy: How South Korea Lifted Itself from Poverty and Dictatorship to Affluence and Democracy’. His co-authors included Taekyoon Kim, Professor of Public Policy at Ewha Womans University; Huck-Ju Kwon, Professor at the Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University; and Jooha Lee,  Professor of Public Administration at Dongguk University.

Bodleian Library
The Bodleian holds an extensive range of rare and ancient Korean resources in its collections. These include two titles which are included on the ‘100 Hangul Heritage’ list, in addition to rare antiquarian printed books, manuscripts, imperial publications, fine portrait albums, and a painted scroll of the funeral procession of King Yŏngjo.

The first arrivals of Korean materials at the Bodleian were a group of books from the New Testament translated in the 1880s into the native Korean script, han’gŭl, by John Ross. Many of the other rare and important Korean books and manuscripts were donated to the Library by Bishop Trollope, who first went to Korea in 1890, less than ten years after Korea was opened to the West. The donation included two manuscripts, one of which is a painted representation of the funeral of Queen Dowager Chô in 1890 (Yŏngjo kukchang palin panch’ado), and a small number of eighteenth and nineteenth century printed Korean texts given in 1927.

Thanks to Oxford’s strong relationship with Seoul National University (SNU), the Bodleian library now holds even more Korean treasures. In March 2009, Professor Jang Moo Lee, President of SNU, visited the University of Oxford to present a generous donation of 400 books from the Kyujanggak Archive, the royal library of the Joseon Dynasty, which is currently maintained by the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies at SNU.

In March 2012, the Bodleian Libraries were offered the project “Window on Korea” by the National Library of Korea.  The project will provide the Bodleian Libraries with up to 4000 volumes in the first year (2012) and 200 volumes annually for the next five years (2013 – 2017).  In addition, the National Library of Korea will also provide funding to help create a Korean library with an audio-visual room within Oxford’s Oriental Institute Library. 

The “Window on Korea” project thus expands Oxford’s collection of printed materials in Korean, as well as bringing all necessary Korean materials (reference, newspapers, teaching, audio visual and research materials) into one location at the Oriental Institute. The opening ceremony is expected to take place in June 2013.