History of the Center for Korean Research

The Center for Korean Research was established within the East Asian Institute in 1988 with the generous support of the Korean Committee for the Promotion of Korean Studies at Columbia University and continued to expand with the support of the Korean Foundation.

In cooperation with other organizations from inside and outside the East Asian Institute, the Center has sponsored visiting scholars and research associates as well as cultural events such as movies and concerts, monthly Contemporary Korean Affairs Seminars, and noon lecture series on Korea-related topics.

Since 1995 the Center has also sponsored annual research conferences on Korea-specific topics of major theoretical and practical significance. Conference proceedings have been or will be published as edited volumes under the auspices of the Center, including North Korean Foreign Relations in the Post-Cold War Era (Oxford, 1998) Korea’s Globalization (Cambridge, 2000) and Civil Society and Democracy in Korea (Routledge, 2002).

In addition to its own independent projects, the Center has worked in cooperation with the East Asian Institute as a whole, the Columbia Business School, the Columbia Law School, and other institutions at Columbia and in the New York City area to sponsor research seminars, talks, workshops, and conferences on Korea-related topics.

Among the most important goals pursued by the Center has been the expansion of Korean instructional resources in history, political science/international relations, sociology, anthropology, business, economics, and literature. Visiting Professors from Korea affiliated with the institute have included Dr. Sung-joo Han, Dr. Sang-jin Han, Dr. Roy Kim, and others, who have offered a variety of courses at Columbia in their specific fields.

Since 1997 the Center has sponsored one Visiting Fellow in Korean Studies per year to carry out his or her research as well as teach two courses in his or her area of interest. Visiting Fellows have come from the fields of economics, communications, and literature.

Brief History of the Korean Studies Program at Columbia

The history of Korean Studies at Columbia begins as early as 1931, when Korean students in the New York area donated a number of Korean books to Columbia and established a Korean Library and Culture Center. In 1934, Dr. Eungpal Yun, Minister of the Korean Methodist Church, taught the first Korean language course at Columbia. A formal Korean Studies program began in 1962, when a position of Professor of Korean was established. The first scholar to hold the position was Dr. William E. Skillend, a specialist in Korean literature. Dr. Skillend returned to his native England in 1964, at which time he was replaced by Dr. Gari Ledyard, who taught Korean history at Columbia until his retirement in 2000. Also in 1962, the Korean Collection was established within the East Asian Library (now the C.V. Starr East Asian Library), bringing together all books relating to Korea, which until then had been kept in other collections, cataloguing them according to the classification system of the National Central Library in Seoul. Korean-language and Korea-related books and periodicals form a major part of the East Asian Library, overseen by a full time librarian responsible for Korean materials. Korean Collection at C.V. Starr

Korean Studies in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures

The Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (EALAC) is responsible for humanities-related courses in East Asian studies, including history, language, literature, religion, and philosophy. EALAC has offered Korean language instruction since 1962, and now offers Korean language courses up to the fourth-year level annually, and other courses on Korean reading, including modern documentary Korean and Korean readings in classical Chinese, upon student demand. Beginning with two students in 1962, since the early 1990s enrolment in Korean language course has regularly exceed 100 students. The Korean language program, headed by Professor Ledyard until 1979, has been under the direction of Ms. Carol Schultz since 1980, and has now developed into a model for other programs around the country. Ms. Schulz currently heads a team of three language lecturers, and is also active professionally in international Korean language teaching groups. There are usually upwards of ten courses on Korea taught in EALAC every year, from language and literature to civilization and history. The department hosts an average of five to fifteen undergraduate majors and six to ten graduate students in Korean Studies every year.

Columbia’s Commitment to Korean Studies

In addition to the courses in EALAC, there are Korea-related courses taught regularly in the departments of political science, anthropology, and economics, and in the law and business schools. Besides the Center for Korean Research of the East Asian Institute and the Korean Studies program at EALAC, Columbia also houses the only Center for Korean Legal Studies in the United States. For thirty years, Columbia has been committed to the expansion and improvement of Korean Studies in the United States, and the University will remain intellectually and financially supportive of Korean Studies, as an integral part of its research and curriculum, into the future.

Search Columbia University Course Bulletin