Korea
Understanding Modern Korea
June 10-18, 2009
Itinerary
This 9-day seminar begins and ends in Seoul.
Seminar Fee
CIEE Member $3,000 Non-Member $3,200
Academic Content (please note this is tentative and subject to change)
Lectures
- Modern and Pre-modern Korea: A Historical Overview
- Modernization and Social Transformation in Korea: A Sociological Perspective
- Korean and East Asian Economic Development Model: Trade and Industrial Policies in Korea
- Confucian Korea: Past and Present
- North-South Korean Relations: North Korean Nuclear Issue and Its Impacts on Regional and Global Security
- Science Policy and Information Technology in Korea
- Modern Art in Korea
- Contemporary Korean Pop Culture and the Cultural Wave of “Hallyu” in Asia and Beyond
- Korea in a Newly Emerging Regional Security Order
Co-curricular Site Visits & Field Trips
- Seoul city tour
- Field trip to DMZ
- Visit to a major Korean company (Samsung or Hyundai)
- Art performance (“Nanta”)
- Visit to the Korean National Museum
Rationale
In little more than a generation, Korea has metamorphosed from an agrarian nation into the world’s tenth largest economy and Asia’s fourth largest, famous for making stylish electronic goods and high-tech ships. Its economic transformation has long been touted as a “miracle” and as a model of development for many of the newly emerging market economies to emulate. Korea’s political achievement is no less impressive. Since the late 1980s, democracy has progressively taken root with the first-ever peaceful transfer of power taking place in 1998.
Such rapid political and economic transformation produced unevenness between the economy and society, which translates into a series of difficulties and new challenges. Since the 1997 financial crisis brought the country to the brink of bankruptcy, the Korean economy has slowed down and recently has been dragging its feet due in great part to incomplete economic reforms and restructuring. Economic reforms are indeed a formidable task awaiting proper political solutions, particularly given the domestic resistance not only from conservative sectors, but also from other parts of society such as organized labor and the agrarian sector. Further consolidation and institutionalization of the still infantile democracy is yet another formidable challenge. At this critical juncture Korea must now find a new model for development and build up a societal consensus on it.
On the regional level, Korea is expected to redefine its role in East Asia. The potential security threat from North Korea is no longer a local issue as it has great repercussions on regional security, and thus is of grave concern to the regional and international powers. The issue has become particularly acute as the region’s conventional alliance system is currently undergoing reshuffling. In this context, forging a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations is of vital importance to regional security. Given the increasing rivalry between China and Japan in the region, Korea’s mediating role is no less critical to carving out a new formula of regional economic cooperation. Korea’s soft power, particularly its cultural wave, “Hallyu,” which is currently sweeping the region, could be a facilitating factor in this regard.
This seminar aims to go beyond existing stereotypical views of Korea to explore the dynamism of Korea’s past and current transformation and to examine the nature of Korea’s place in the evolving geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape of Asia. The seminar will also probe the future direction of change and development. What are the roots of Korea’s socioeconomic transformation? Where is Korea heading? What is the significance of its new dynamism on the regional level? This seminar will invite participants to explore politico-economic and socio-cultural sources of the old and new Korean dynamism with people who have expertise in different aspects of the dynamism.
Host Institutions
Yonsei University was established in 1885 with an educational mission based on the Christian principle of truth and freedom. With the top 1 percent of high school graduates in Korea comprising its student body, Yonsei is proud of its long history as the leading private institution of higher education in Korea, as well as of its reputation as the most internationalized university in the country. Yonsei is synonymous with international education in Korea and possesses the most extensive network of exchange partners from around the world. As of June 2008, Yonsei has 572 partner universities in 59 countries around the world. Yonsei offers a wide range of courses which include over 500 undergraduate courses taught in English each term, Korean language lessons through the Korean Language Institute, and regular courses taught in Korean in other departments for students with Korean fluency. A select number of incoming undergraduate exchange students can also take courses taught in English at the Graduate School of International Studies and the Global MBA Program.
Seminar Leadership
Yeonseob Ha is currently Dean of the Office of International Affairs and Professor in the Department of Public Administration at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. Formerly he served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Deputy Prime Minister for Education and Human Resources Development. Even after leaving the Ministry of Education in 2005, he has been deeply involved in educational policy-making as a consultant, evaluator, and a member of the advisory committee. He has served as a member of the Policy Advisory Committees of various government agencies including the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, and Ministry of Government Legislation. Professor Ha’s major fields of research interest include public budgeting and finance, institutional analysis, comparative public policy, and educational policy. He holds an MPA and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Indiana University at Bloomington.
Dr. Taehwan Kim is Research Professor at the OIA. He received his Ph.D. at Columbia University in Political Economy. His academic expertise is in post-socialist economic transformation with a regional focus on former and current socialist countries including Russia. His most recent article is “Impassive To Imperial? Russia in Northeast Asia From Yeltsin To Putin,” in Vinod Aggarwal et al. (eds.), Northeast Asia's New Institutional Architecture (Springer, 2008). He is currently in charge of OIA’s Short-term Exchange Program (Tailor-made Program).
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