BAKS: promoting the study and understanding of Korea in the United Kingdom

university degree courses

SOAS, University of London
The University of Sheffield
The University of Oxford

museums and libraries

The principal museum collections of Korean art and archaeology in the UK are those at the British museum (http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk), the Victoria and Albert museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk), and the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, http://www.ashmolean.org/).

For information about Korean holdings in the British Library, see its website at http://www.bl.uk/collections/korean.html

The following addresses outside the UK are of related interest:
http://www.museum.go.kr/eng/ (The National Museum of Korea)http://www.moca.go.kr/ (National Museum for Contemporary Art, Seoul)
http://www.sac.or.kr/eng/ (Seoul Arts Center)

http://yuldo.net (a site covering art and architecture, film, cyber culture, language and literature; maintained from Kumamoto, Japan, by Robert Fouser) http://www.Korea.net (English-language information on Korea produced by official sources in Seoul)

governmental and non-governmental organisations

UK-Korea Forum for the Future. BAKS is represented on the Standing Committee and the Education Working Group of the UK-Korea Forum for the Future, a bilateral organisation formed in 1992 which offers advice annually to Foreign Ministers on initiatives to reinforce the UK/Korea relationship. It aims also to assist the resolution of problems between the two countries, to improve public awareness of each country in the other and to develop personal contacts between high-level figures from both countries. Discussion at the Forum's annual meetings, held alternately in London and Seoul, can cover all aspects of the bilateral relationship but its principal focus is on political, economic, educational and cultural issues. Forum participants include senior politicians and government ministers, business leaders, academics, and representatives of NGOs and the media.

The UK Secretariat for the Forum is maintained by Asia House, a non-profit charitable company launched in 1996 to promote appreciation and understanding of Asian countries, their cultures and economies, and to foster closer communication between the peoples of Asia and Europe through dynamic cultural and corporate programmes. It is currently developing a property in central London which will provide extensive facilities including an art gallery and auditorium, reception rooms, meeting rooms and offices. Asia House promotes a Corporate Programme and a Cultural Programme. Its website is as http://www.asiahouse.org, or for more information contact enquiries@asiahouse.co.uk; tel. 020 7499 1287, fax 020 7499 8618.

trade links

Useful addresses for information concerning commercial links with South Korea include:

The Department of Trade & Industry (http://www.dti.gov.uk/)

The British Embassy in Seoul (http://www.britain.or.kr)

Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (http://www.kotra.org.kr)

Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (http://www.mocie.go.kr/engindex.htm)

Ministry of Finance and Economy (http://www.mofe.go.kr/mofe/eng/e_index.htm)

Korea Investment Service Centre (http://www.kisc.org)

Also see:

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr

further addresses of related interest

Korean Studies is an international, English-language, nonpartisan, moderated electronic discussion group on Korea. The list welcomes academic discussions on any aspect of Korean Studies. It may also be used for posting announcements of publications, job vacancies, and so forth. Its address is http://www.Koreaweb.ws/ks/From November 2000 to November 2001 it maintained an un-moderated discussion site on Korean topics. Its archives may be consulted at http://www.Koreaweb.ws/ks/ks-open

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ClickKorea (http://www.clickkorea.org) maintains a website on Korean arts and culture. This serves as a valuable source of information about various cultural events of Korea such as concerts, exhibitions and performances. Event listings include photos and detailed information, classified into current events, which can be searched by date or genre. News and essays on Korean culture are accessible. ClickKorea is not merely a search tool for cultural events as it links to a variety of sites dealing with Korea, including

Koreana - a quarterly on Korean arts and culture, Korea Focus - a bimonthly on current affairs in Korea, Koreanist.net - Korean Studies Scholars and Students Database. This website, developed by the Korea Foundation, is a foremost information resource on Korean culture.

Information about Korea-related events in and around London can be found on the following portal:

http://www.londonkoreanlinks.net/blog/

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An interesting blog related to Korean history is run by Own Miller at:

http://www.froginawell.net/korea/

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The DPRK

The Institute for North Korea of the University of Detroit Mercy in Detroit, Michigan (http://business.udmercy.edu/ink.php) and McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, in North Carolina (www.mcfarlandpub.com) are pleased to announce the publication of a new refereed journal entitled North Korean Review (NKR). The purpose of NKR, which will be published three times annually, is to provide both North Americans and Europeans with opportunities for improved understanding of this secretive nation. NKR will be able to address these opportunities in a unique way through the lens of focused research, analysis, and information dissemination. NKR?s inauguration issue will be published in summer 2005. NKR will be the first academic journal in North America or Europe to be focused exclusively on North Korea.

Websites dedicated to North Korea

1. Korea publications Export & Import Corporation /Beijing Sunyong Scientific Technology trade Co., Ltd. http://www.korea-publ.com

Email: admin@korea-publ.com

2. The link to KCNA is available directly at http://www.kcna.co.jp

3. The main North Korean Naenara site (http://www.kcckp.net), has now become far more user-friendly. No need to register any more, and you can access recent issues of the Pyongyang Times, Korea Today, Foreign Trade of the DPRK, and more. Among other resources, this includes the full text of the DPRK Constitution; and also of no fewer than 38 different laws and regulations pertaining to foreign business (at http://www.kcckp.net/en/trade/trade-rule.php)

Other delights include sections on art, tourism, politics and more. You can also listen to music (eleven full CDs available: you can even follow the musical score).

4. For details of the journal North Korean Review, go to:

www.mcfarlandpub.com/nkr.html

suggested sites from BAKS members

The following update was received from Aidan Foster-Carter:

1. www.northkoreatimes.com will, if you sign up

(no charge), email you daily DPRK-related headlines

It's a bit hit and miss, and the links don't always work. I suspect it's computer-generated, as it seems to be part of a whole family of sites. (The South Korea equivalent www.southkoreatimes.com is snazzier.) Though not a patch on proper sites, like Nautilus or the indispensable NKZone, this can serve as a useful alert. (NKZone used to send alerts - but no longer, it seems.)

2. Daily headlines are also one of the services offered by the similarly named but quite unrelated www.nk-news.net This is a new dedicated North Korea site, technically excellent, which manages both to be extremely useful and a lot of fun. For anyone who has ever chafed at the lack of a search function on KCNA (www.kcna.co.jp), this lacuna has now been filled - not by the comrades themselves, but by a web designer in California as an exercise in his craft. (He explains, thoughtfully, at

http://www.nk-news.net/about/site_history.php) For anyone put off (but why be?) by the cheerful irreverence - site features include a Random Insult Generator, with suggestions like "human scum" (24 entries) or "resolutely smash" (48) to get you started - this is nonetheless a serious research tool, going right back to 1996. Thus one of my own hobbyhorses, "land rezoning", yields 93 entries. There are 43 for catfish, 26 for ostrich; and so on. Other useful features include a Gregorian - Juche era calendar conversion tool.

3. Some are born, others die. With no updating since February, it looks as if www.pyongyangsquare is no more.

of further interest

Association for Korean Studies in Europe

Korea Research Hub (University of Leeds)

Frank Hoffmann's Korean Studies Portal

Ken Robinson's Korean History Bibliography

http://www.kofo.or.kr (the Korea Foundation)

http://www.krf.or.kr (Korea Research Foundation)

http://www.ncktpa.go.kr (National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts)

http://rki.kbs.co.kr (Radio Korea International)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LearningKorean/ (a general mailing list run from the USA for people interested in learning Korean or in other aspects of the language)

http://NKzone.org (a site devoted to North Korea entitled NKZone, run by Rebecca Mackinnon, formerly of CNN). It complements existing English-language resources for the DPRK such as PyongyangSquare, Nautilus, and CanKor. NKZone has links to other sites.

And the following site is recommended by Dr Aidan Foster-Carter:

http://www.nkeconwatch.com
Asia Research Centre, London School of Economics