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Kazakhstan and Central Asia

During the Soviet period, Korean Studies -- classified as Oriental Studies in general --were concentrated in Moscow and Leningrad. Korean Studies in Kazakhstan and Central Asia are now going through their initial stages. At present, students majoring in Korean Language Studies are trained at the following institutions: the Oriental Studies department of Kazakh National University (KazNU), the philological department of Kazakh Pegagogical University, the Kazakh University of World Languages, the Kzyl Orda and Ust-Kamenogorsk universities, the University of World Journalism, the Academy of the Committee of National Security, and the Kazakh Institute of Management and Economy.

Characteristics of Korean Studies Students
There are about 200 students total in Kazakhstan’s Korean departments. In Uzbekistan there are two main universities where specialists in Korean Studies are trained: the Institute of Oriental Studies and Tashkent State University. In Bishkek, over 300 students are studying Korean, either as a major or a minor, at Bishkek Humanities University or Kyrgyz State University. In total, the region boasts nearly 1,000 students in Korean Studies or Korean Language programs.

In Tashkent, the majority of students within Korean departments are ethnic Koreans. In Bishkek, the ratio of Koreans to Kyrgyz is about 50:50. At Kazakh Pegagogical University, Koreans constitute 70-80 percent, while at KazNU, because of its policy of supporting Kazakh students, Koreans represent only one third. Most of the students in Korean departments are female; male students make up only about 10-20 percent of department populations.

Many students enter Korean departments without any knowledge of Korea and with virtually no training in the Korean language. Gradually, they appear to be making a conscious choice in taking Korean. Some attend courses either in missionary churches or in their centers of education. In general, students seem to enter Korean departments for the following reasons: their nationality, their parents’ wishes, or the possibility of going to Korea or getting a job at a South Korean company after graduation. An overarching factor in all of this, of course, is the development of relations between Korea and Kazakhstan or other Central Asian countries.

Lack of Qualified Instructors
The issue of the qualifications of teachers has been and remains acute. During the initial stages of educational development, either elder ethnic Koreans or people of North Korean origin were employed as teachers. Most of the teachers had not properly learned Korean, had little practical experience in teaching, and had insufficient methodological training. Quite often, following graduation, the best students from Korean language programs start working in private companies or at churches as interpreters or managers because the salary at these institutions is much higher than that offered to university teachers.

Since 1999, a Korean Studies department has existed at KazNU. The teachers here not only teach Korean to their students but also give lectures and seminars, and assist students in writing papers on the history, culture, socio-political system, and the history of religion in Korea. Taking into account the government’s intention to integrate science into higher education, one can assume that in the near future the research activities in the sphere of Korean Studies will shift to KazNU.

Instability and constant changes are typical features of Korean department academic plans. For example, in Kazakhstan, Korean Studies had the following specialties: philology, oriental studies, and regional studies, over a four- or five-year period. There were too many general humanities disciplines that were not directly connected to Korean Studies. The plans usually take into account the availability of teachers in Korean departments. If there are no lecturers, then there can be very few special courses and seminars.

Quality of Teaching Materials
The problem with Korean language textbooks has been solved with help from Seoul. However, the problem of good quality textbooks and teaching materials remains acute because there are no good textbooks or computer programs designed specifically for Russian-speaking students. For Kazakh, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz groups, alternative textbooks and dictionaries are needed to support Korean language studies among non-Russian-speaking students. Yonsei University’s textbook is used nearly everywhere, as there are no practical alternatives. The situation with textbooks on Korea’s history, culture and socio-economic system is even worse. Other books on Korea are old-fashioned or difficult for students. The new Russian literature on Korea does not reach Central Asia. Modern technologies in teaching and studying Korean (i. e., CD programs, Internet, video and audio) are rarely used.

In an effort to improve the material-technical base of university-level Korean Studies, the most important roles have been played by the following bodies: the Republic of Korea, the Ministry of Education, government foundations, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, Centers of Education, KOICA, and other government institutions. Sponsors have presented computers, audio-visual equipment, photocopy machines and teaching materials. The best equipped among Korean departments is the department of Korean Studies at KazNU. There are 25 PCs, four printers, two television sets, two video recorders, all kinds of projectors, Internet, a library of 3,000 books, five classrooms and office rooms equipped with new furniture.

Relations between Korean departments and South Korean universities can be characterized as weak, under-developed, and unstable. The universities in the capitals find themselves in a better position because teachers from Korean universities come to these cities. Many universities have formal agreements of cooperation with Korean universities, which in practice do not adequately function. Cooperation, to a large degree, depends on the personal relations and contacts of the leaders of local universities and Korean universities.

Brief Existence of Research Institution
Scientific institutions specializing in the research of Korean Diaspora in Kazakhstan began their work at the end of the 1980s. The Department of Korean Studies was set up in 1996. Under the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Academy of Sciences in Kazakhstan, the Association of Korean Researchers was established. The journal Newsletter of Korean Studies in Kazakhstan was published, and several international conferences on Korean Studies were held. The department was recognized by and received help from sponsors such as the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, the Korea Foundation, and the Korea Research Foundation. A number of doctoral students and post-graduate students from the Republic of Korea, Japan and the United States were trained in the department. However, in 1999, because of the changes in the financing system of scientific projects in Kazakhstan, the department ceased to exist. At present, the Center of Korean Studies is functioning as part of the department of Oriental Studies at KazNU. In other republics of Central Asia there are no such scientific departments, sectors, or centers of Korean Studies at all. Scholars specializing in Korean Studies in post-Soviet Central Asia have been excluded from the geographical frameworks of both the European and Pacific region.

Present and Future of Korean Studies in Central Asia
The evidence presented above allows for the following conclusions. First, Korean Studies as a complex of scientific and academic disciplines is not fully developed and is going through a developmental stage in Kazakhstan and Central Asia. This stage is characterized by certain early-stage deficiencies that represent a lack of Korean Studies traditions and schools, professionals with education in Oriental studies and with a good command of the Korean language, as well as an insufficient material and financial base.

Second, development of Korean Studies in Kazakhstan and Central Asia will depend on external factors. The most prominent of these is the way in which the Republic of Korea, represented by government institutions and foundations, will render assistance and how cooperation with foreign scholars, centers for Korean Studies and universities will develop.

Third, at present, tiny Korean departments belonging to many different universities and colleges are leading to a lower quality and prestige of education in Korean Studies, a scattering of specialists and funds, and a weak coordination and cooperative spirit. In the future, there should be two or three very strong departments, specializing either in linguistics and philology or in area studies.

Finally, Korean Studies as a complex of academic disciplines has focused on a rather limited topic, the Korean Diaspora. This topic is quite logical, but we must find a way out of such limited frameworks. It is necessary to concentrate forces, specialists and funds in one place and to strive to a strong scientific institution for Korean Studies. Once this task is complete, cooperation with academic centers in Russia, Korea and Uzbekistan can be developed.

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