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Korean Studies at Free University Berlin

In mid-April of this year, a new Korean Studies program was launched at the Free University Berlin (FUB). Professor Park Sung-jo of Japanese Studies Department began making efforts to initiate a Korean Studies program at the university in the early 1980s. Twenty years later, his efforts began to reap fruitful results. The faculty and staff of the Korean Studies program at FUB, composed of one professor (myself), one researcher, two lecturers, two undergraduate assistants and one secretary, are all united in marching Korean Studies at the university into the future. More than forty students have already enrolled in the eight new courses. The department is housed independently in a building, although small, of three floors plus one underground level.

Korean Studies at FUB will develop remarkably both in quality as well as in quantity in the near future. The university has already started the process of appointing a full-time Korean language instructor and is fully committed to hiring a professor of Korean politics and economy in addition to one in Korean history and culture (subjects that I currently cover). It is also expected that another researcher will be hired.

It is almost unprecedented that two full-time regular professors are employed in a Korean Studies department at a European university. For several years German universities have reduced the number of existing faculty positions on a massive scale. In the process, Korean Studies programs at several universities have suffered terribly. A Korean Studies professorship at the University of Tubingen no longer exists, while the Korean Studies program at Humboldt University in Berlin has been closed down entirely. Currently, Ruhr-University Bochum and the University of Hamburg offer Korean Studies programs actively under the leadership of Professor Marion Eggert and Professor Werner Sasse, respectively. All things considered, FUB? active bolstering of its Korean Studies program is exceptional.

Established in 1948, FUB, currently headed by President Dieter Lenzen, operates twelve colleges offering ninety programs. A faculty of approximately 3,000, including 500 full-time professors and 2,300 researchers and instructors, teach a total of 43,000 students. The university began offering Chinese and Japanese Studies early in its history and, more recently, established a professorship in East Asian Art History. The Chinese and Japanese Studies programs each have two full-time professors, two researchers, two language instructors and four or five lecturers, and offer about thirty courses each term. Each program boasts about one hundred undergraduates and twenty to thirty graduate students, as well as a collection of 20,000-30,000 books and reference materials, maintained by a professional librarian.

Korean Studies, still in its infancy, is simply not comparable to the current status of Chinese and Japanese Studies at FUB. The number of courses offered this summer does not exceed ten, and books in the Korean collection of the university library amount to fewer than 5,000. Books housed by the Korean Studies program are not properly catalogued and no new, significant acquisitions are being made. However, the situation will quickly improve when all the program's allocated positions have been filled.

The university is ambitious to develop East Asian Studies, including Korean Studies as a core field. Such a strategy is understandable considering that Berlin is Germany's capital, Germany's seat of power within the European Union, and East Asia's political and economic importance.

Moreover, Korean Studies at FUB is oriented towards a 'twenty-first century area study.' The program is attempting to find a new direction, fundamentally different from the traditional sense of Korean Studies (Koreanistik or Koreanologie). Philological studies of language, literature and religion have occupied an important position in Korean Studies at European universities in the twentieth century. That is, the purely academic and basic study of traditional Korean culture was a dominant trend in Korean Studies research and teaching. As a result, in-depth understanding about Korean culture became gradually available.

Despite its strengths, however, this direction for Korean Studies has revealed many limitations. The lack of interest in modern Korean society and culture from a social science perspective is a serious setback, making the utility of Korean Studies difficult to define. Career prospects for students of Korean Studies were not bright, and their role of bridging Korea and the world was extremely limited. In a somewhat extreme way, Korean Studies, thus far, had no role worth mentioning except for producing scholars in a classical sense.

Based on such self-examination, the Korean Studies program at FUB is looking for a new role. Without trying to neglect the long history and traditional culture of Korea, it plans to become an academic center for professional research and education in the politics, economy, law and society of contemporary Korea. It also hopes to play an intermediary role connecting, in a broad sense, Korea and Germany, and ultimately Korea and Europe.

In this regard, Korean Studies at FUB have actively organized many events during the first half of this year. In celebration of Korea Week (April 26-30, 2004), it organized various cultural events. These events included a Korean cinema festival, a performance by a Korean dance troupe, an exhibition of Joseon ceramics, a special lecture given by Korean Ambassador to Germany Kwon Young-min, a performance of Korean songs by the Berlin Ensemble, a special lecture on Korean folk paintings, and an international conference on globalization and personnel management. In addition, a symposium was held on June 9, in which Vice Minister of Unification Cho Kun-shik delivered a keynote speech on the policy of peaceful unification. Renowned Korean writer Lee Ho-cheol was also invited to a special lecture on July 2.

The Korean Studies program at FUB also plans to actively promote academic-industrial cooperation. This will strengthen ties between the university and society, and help Korean Studies majors advance into fields of business, politics, journalism, culture and economy. We look forward to your interest and encouragement.

Prof. Dr. Sungjong Paik｜Free University Berlin,
Korea-Studien FB Geschichte und Kulturwissenschaften
Lansstr. 5, D-14195 Berlin/Germany
Tel.: 00149-30 838 56895
Fax: 00149-30 838 56898
E-mail: chonmyongdo@hanmail.net or sjpaik@zedat.fu-berlin.de

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