Some 70 scholars exchanged their research findings and recent institutional and personal progress at the fourth Korea Foundation Workshop of Korean Studies in the German-speaking Region, held on November 4-5 at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany. The annual workshop consisted of five panels.

Diverse Approaches to Korean Politics and History

The workshop participants represented Korean Studies programs at universities in Berlin, Bochum, Bonn, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Tübingen, and Vienna, as well as a language program at Regensburg and individual scholars from other regions of Germany. The workshop had two special guests from Prague: Dr. Vladimir Glomb and Ms. Oh Moon-kyoung who both made noteworthy contributions to its proceedings. Mr. Choi Jae-jin, director of the Korea Foundation’s Berlin Office, was also present

After registration and a welcome address by Marion Eggert, a professor at Bochum University and the chief organizer of the workshop, Martina Deuchler (Zürich) delivered a keynote speech on Korea’s pre-modern history seen through its kinship system, based on her recently completed, but yet unpublished, book.

Two parallel afternoon panels ensued. At the panel on history and philosophy, Vladimir Glomb discussed Korean Confucian interpretations of afterlife in the context of ancestral rites. A short introduction with reference to The Analects of Confucius was followed by discussion of three representative texts on gwisin (ghost) theories by Hwadam So Kyong-dok (1489-1546), Toegye Yi Hwang (1501-1570) and Nongmun Im Song-ju (1712-1788). Next, Florian Pölking (Bochum) discussed Yi Pyong-hon’s (1870-1903) efforts to modernize Korean Confucianism, as presented in his treatise “Yugyo pogwŏllon” (Restoration of Confucianism). A short biographical introduction led to an overview and analysis of outstanding aspects of Yi’s reformist text. Finally, Tobias Scholl (Tübingen) introduced Japan’s hypothesis of a common origin of the Japanese and Korean peoples (Il-Son tongjoron), and its function and uses in Japan.

The panel on politics and society featured Joanna Elfving-Hwang’s (Frankfurt) discussion of the changing concept of masculinity in contemporary Korea, as reflected in the increasing number of men wearing makeup and the so-called “kkot minam” phenomena as depicted in the popular TV drama “Flower Over Boys” (Kkot-boda namja). The second speaker, Park Myung-joon (Berlin), assessed policy experts as both translators and entrepreneurs, a dual function which he exemplified by citing two cases of reform in Korean labor market, namely, the “employment insurance system” (EIS, koyong pohomje) and the “employment permit system” (EAS, koyong hogaje) for foreign workers. The announced presentation on “Punk and Hardcore in South Korea” by Daniela Claus (Berlin) was cancelled due to the presenter’s illness.

Status of Korean Language Education

A joint session of Korean language lecturers on the second day sought to build a foundation for closer cooperation between Korean language programs at German-speaking universities, including a convergence of instructional materials, teaching methods, and, most importantly, standard vocabulary for grammar instruction. Of course, these far-reaching ives could not be fully debated in a single panel session, but the participants agreed to work for their realization. The session began with an exchange of the curricula and language instruction methods employed at different institutions (Berlin, Bochum, Bonn, Cologne, Hamburg, Regensburg, Tübingen, and Vienna), which revealed a substantial divergence among existing practices. While Berlin and Bochum have adopted Sogang University’s teaching materials, Hamburg, Cologne and Vienna use the German textbook for Korean, written by Dorothea Hoppmann based on materials and expertise accumulated at Bochum, and the rest of the institutions utilize a melange of other resources from Korea.

Oh Moon-kyoung’s presentation on the evaluation of speaking skills of Korean language learners in regard to the “Common European Framework of Reference for Languages” (CERF), a device for measuring language competency used throughout Europe, sparked a lively discussion on TOPIK and CERF as the guidelines for assessing student progress. All participants agreed that for enhancing Korean language education, the region needed most urgently to develop a common terminology. They requested Dorothea Hoppmann (Bochum) and Holmer Brochlos (Berlin) develop a proposal of such terminology to be discussed at a future meeting. On a most positive note, all institutions reported growing student enrollments.

A joint morning session on North Korea concerned cultural and political issues. Choi Sun-ju’s (Tübingen) analysis of the representation of the father image in the North Korean film “The School Girl’s Diary” concluded that the absent father in the film is a symbol of the ultimate father figure, or the (Great) Leader, whose absence for the individual is equivalent to his ultimate care for his people in general. Sang-Yi O-Rauch (Bonn) approached North Korean politics from the perspective of language, illuminating various ideological characteristics of the North Korean standard language. Lastly, Eric Ballbach (Berlin) introduced the audience to the intricate paradoxes of South Korea’s engagement with North Korea at the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

The other two panels focused on language, literature, and translation. A panel on pre-modern literature featured Barbara Wall’s (Bochum) presentation outlining her doctoral thesis on the influences of the Chinese novel “Xiyouji” (Soyugi, Journey to the West) in modern and contemporary Korea, including roof-ridge figurines on Korean palaces, high-brow novels like Choe In-hun’s “Soyugi,” and recent manhwa (cartoon) and film productions. Gunhild Stierand (Bochum) outlined the preliminary results of her doctoral project on Kim In-gyom’s 1763 travel account, “Ilttong changyu-ga” (Verse on Travel to Japan), one of the most important Korean language records of pre-modern diplomatic missions to Japan, explaining why the use of conventional research methods can help to explain the seeming contradictions contained in the record.

In the panel on language and translation, Andreas Schirmer (Vienna) provided a useful overview of sources for common mistakes in the translation of modern literature from various linguistic dimensions, such as phonology/orthography, syntax, pragmatics, and stylistics. Georgij Nowossjelow (Konstanz), who is working on a dissertation on contemporary linguistics, presented his research findings on optional affix application in coordination structures in the Korean language, which he also compared typologically with Turkish. Lastly, Albrecht Huwe (Bonn) discussed the relations between Hangeul and Chinese seal script through an in-depth analysis of a relevant passage from “Hunmin Chongum,” the original text for proclaiming the invention of the Korean script.

As always, the workshop helped to deepen the personal relations between Korean Studies professionals from different German-speaking areas in Europe. Organizers of this year’s workshop placed focus on research papers of next-generation scholars, especially encouraging doctoral students and young researchers to present their works. As a result, a great majority of the papers submitted were by this target group. The participants expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to forge new networks among young scholars across institutions and raise awareness of the ongoing projects at each institution.

Upon completion of the panel sessions, about half of the participants stayed on to attend the founding event of the Association for Korean Studies in German Speaking Countries (Vereinigung für Korea-Forschung, VKF). The association held an inaugural meeting during the 2010 Korea Foundation workshop in Berlin, but completed its founding procedure with the election of Prof. Lee Eun-jeung (Berlin) as president, Prof. Lee You-jae (Tübingen) as vice-president, and Dr. Andreas Schirmer (Vienna) as treasurer. Membership is open regardless of nationality, but all proceedings are conducted in German.

Marion Eggert, Professor
Ruhu University Bochum