4 CULTURE POWER KOREA TUESDAY JUNE 21, 2011 Berlin becomes hub of Korean studies in Europe Free University educates German experts in Korean social sciences One good sign for Korean Studies at Free University, claimed Mosler, is that there Culture are now more German students than ethnic Korean students. Power “At the beginning, we had more Korean-German students than German students, but the K REA situation has reversed now,” he said, noting that the recent Korean culture boom helped at- By Oh Kyu-wook tract more local students. Korea Herald correspondent Vincent Kreusel, 21, said he decided to learn Korean af- BERLIN — After speaking ter playing Korean computer with Hannes Mosler for five games. minutes, one might wonder “I loved playing StarCraft. I whether he is German or Ko- watched a lot of Korean game rean. programs. And when I started Although he has no Korean to learn about the country I got background, Mosler not only more interested in it. I found speaks flawless Korean, but that Korea has very interesting also perfectly understands its history which is very similar to culture and customs. German history in some ways,” “I first got interested in Ko- he said. rea in 1994, when I visited the Daniela Claus, 29, a master’s country during my backpack- Hannes Mosler, research fel- degree candidate, said: “My ing trip. Since then I started to low in Korean studies at Free mother is Korean, so I always learn the language, and now I University wanted to learn the language. visit Korea almost every year,” When I was in Korea I was un- he said. able to talk to my family, and Mosler joined Free University that made me really sad. So I in 2009 as a research fellow at started to learn Korean. the InstituteSOAS, of Korean Studies UNIVERSITY OF LONDON “But right now I have deeper after completing his doctoral interests in its culture and so- degree at Seoul National Uni- Students outside the Institute of Korean Studies building. Oh Kyu-wook/The Korea Herald ciety and politics. Now I’m in- versity.SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES terested in minority rights and “I studied Korean politics, “Some universities in Europe of the Japanese and Chinese In 2008, there were around in Germany and its Lesson for teachers in Germany with sup- civil movement,” she added. and found it really fascinating,” teach Korean language and Studies Departments. It took 10 students in the Korean Stud- Korea.” port from the Korea Founda- The main objective of the Ko- Mosler said in his office. literature, but only a few teach more than two decades until ies program, but the number The one-year research project, tion. Ten lectures were given to rean Studies program at Free Korea, in fact, has much val- Korean politics,” Mosler said. the Institute of Korean Studies jumped to 132 in 2010, accord- which was co-managed by Lee social studies teachers to give University is to become a hub of ue in social science, the German “But that’s why our univer- finally became an independent ing to Mosler. Eun-jung, director of the In- them a better understanding of Korean social science in central researcher said. sity is so special,” he added. division. The department has also stitute of Korean Studies and Korea’s history, politics, society Europe, said Mosler. “Korea is of great interest Korean Studies at Free Uni- The Institute of Korean Stud- conducted various research Werner Pfennig, an East Asian and culture. “The number of foreign ex- to students and scholars. For versity, he said, is not only fo- ies offered its first undergradu- projects, and held numerous foreign policy expert at Free Also, since 2009, the institute perts on Korea is quite small, instance, the rapid develop- cused on providing a language ate courses in 2005 and gradu- seminars and workshops over University, produced a great has been conducting a five-year compared to that of China and ment of Korean democracy is a course, but also lectures on ate school courses in 2009. the past five years. body of work that totaled 22 research project titled “Circula- Japan. But it also means there fascinating subject to study,” he Korea’s politics, economy and Despite its relatively short In 2010, in particular, mark- volumes with 14,500 pages in tion of Knowledge and Dynam- are a lot of opportunities for said. society. history, the institute has seen ing the 20th anniversary of Ger- both German and Korean. ics of Transformation,” with the new studies. I believe the im- Mosler, however, feels there Korean Studies was first rapid growth both quantita- man reunification, the institute In November 2010, the Insti- Ruhr University in Bochum, portance of Korean studies will is still a lack of interest from taught at Free University in tively and qualitatively, said the launched a special project called tute of Korean Studies also held with support from the Academy continue to grow,” he added. overseas academia. 1980 as a subsidiary subject German researcher. “Twenty Years of Reunification a special workshop for school of Korean Studies. ([email protected]) Learning Korean in London ally great because there are a lot of different people from SOAS attracts students with different backgrounds. For in- stance, I study Korean and my broad exchange programs friend studies Persian, and we can talk about two different By Oh Kyu-wook ing to Yeon Jae-hoon, professor cultures, share similarity and Korea Herald correspondent at the Center of Korean Studies differences,” she added. of SOAS. Grace Koh, who oversees the LONDON — Majoring in “Korean language is currently university’s administration, said Korean might sound a little in- taught in 25 different European that the recent Korean culture timidating to most Europeans, countries. But SOAS has by far boom has also helped increase but Kevin Fry, a senior at the the largest number of students the popularity of Korean stud- School of Oriental and African and professors in Europe,” ies here. Studies, University of London, claimed Yeon. “This year we have received was up to the challenge. There are around 25-30 stu- one of the highest numbers of “I tried to learn Chinese, but dents in each year group, and applications. And surprisingly didn’t find it particularly enjoy- currently seven professors teach K-pop has been mentioned in able. So I started to learn Ko- them. almost all the applications I’ve rean, and initially got interested “This number will continue to seen,” said Koh. in it,” he said. rise. Each year more and more Still, Yeon admitted that Ko- Kevin noted that the student students come to study Korean, rean Studies lag behind Chinese exchange program of SOAS, in so we’re hiring one more profes- Yeon Jae-hoon, professor in and Japanese studies in terms particular, helped broaden his sor this year,” he said. Korean studies at SOAS of numbers of students. interest in Korean Studies. SOAS has intensive language “The size of Korean Studies is “I stayed one year in Korea. I training. Students in their first Grace Koh (right), a lecturer in Korean literature at SOAS, holds a tutorial with her students. now about the size of Japanese really enjoyed the time, and the year must take a minimum 10 Oh Kyu-wook/The Korea Herald Studies in the ‘80s,” he said. more I studied, the more I got hours of Korean language a However, Yeon added that interested in Korea,” he said. week, explained Yeon. certain level of knowledge of — which are believed to be series and workshops for the language education. Fifty-eight he believes Korean Studies at Located in central London, In their second year, they Korean culture,” she said. the largest in Europe, said Fu- British Association of Korean Korean language lecturers from SOAS will grow rapidly and just a few meters from the Brit- must spend one year at Korea Sophie Bowman, an MA jiko Kobayashi, a librarian at Studies and the Association of 17 different countries partici- soon catch up with other popu- ish Museum, SOAS is the only University in Seoul as part of a student at SOAS, picked the li- SOAS. Korean Studies in Europe. pated in the annual workshop, lar studies. higher education institute in the student exchange program be- brary as another strong point of “SOAS is the only university In March 2010, in particular, looking at ways to cooperate to “I hope and believe that in U.K. specializing in the study tween the two universities. SOAS. in the U.K. which has an online the Center of Korean Studies develop curriculum materials less than ten years Korean of Asia, Africa and Middle East “The student exchange “I think the library here is database of Korean books and held a workshop on Korean and teaching resources. Studies will become as popular studies. program is one of the main better than anywhere else, they newspapers,” she added. court paintings. This one-day “Most of all, SOAS is in Lon- as Japanese Studies,” he added. Korea at SOASThe Center of Korean Studies strengths of our university,” have four or five stacks of books One of the main activities workshop explored different don, an international city. Near ([email protected]) first opened its door at SOAS said Dr. Grace Koh, a lecturer in Korean,” she said. of the Center of Korean Stud- themes and aspects of Korean the university there are four in 1987 with support from the in Korean literature at SOAS. The library has a vast selec- ies, Yeon said, is its extensive court paintings of Joseon Dy- Korean restaurants and lots of Korea Foundation.