H.E. the Korean Ambassador, Dr Ra Jong-yil, was recalled to Seoul in February to take up his new post as National Security Adviser to the incoming President. Until a new ambassador is appointed, Minister Kim Il-soo adopts the role of Charge d'Affaires. BAKS wishes Dr Ra, who is an honorary member of the Association, every success in his new post. Before he left, Dr Ra kindly invited members of the BAKS Council to lunch at his residence before their January meeting.

Dr Ra was the introductory speaker at a highly successful BAKS Seminar held at SOAS in conjunction with the Centre for Korean Studies on Saturday 7 December. Entitled 'Korea in the New Millennium: Culture and Society', speakers included Dr James Hoare, recently returned from Pyongyang, Dr James Foley, Jane Portal, Beth McKillop, Soyoung Kwon, and Agnita Tennant.

The Association's AGM took place in the course of the day, when Dr Hoare succeeded Mrs McKillop as President, Susan Pares took over as Treasurer, and Mrs McKillop became the new Secretary. Dr John Swenson-Wright (Cambridge University) was coopted to the Council.

A new volume of BAKS Papers has been published (no 8 in the series). Members will need to purchase their copy, and details can be found on the appropriate page of this website.

Council hopes to be able to run an INSET day on Korea for school teachers, perhaps in 2004. Discussions with the School of Education, University of London, are under way.

A complete bibliography of the important writings by one of the Association's Honorary members, Dr Richard Rutt, will be found on the Bibliography page of this website.

The British Embassy in Pyongyang is now fully staffed, with four UK-based officers, and has both functioning office premises and smart new housing accommodation. The offices were more or less ready before Jim Hoare left in October 2003, but have since had to undergo further work to allow for the installation of new communications equipment. This followed on from a DPRK decision in June 2003 finally to allow the British Embassy to install and use satellite-based communications¡¯ equipment - the result of a long and hard battle following on from the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Because of the original refusal to allow the use of such equipment, a decision was taken not to seek new premises for the British Embassy. Instead, all efforts concentrated on temporary offices in the German Embassy. It was also decided that suitable staff accommodation could be constructed in the shell of a semi-derelict building also on the German compound. While this was being prepared, the two members of staff lived in temporary but adequate flats created in another of the German buildings. The new accommodation provides three good-sized flats, plus a small transit flat for visitors, and a five bed-roomed semi-detached ambassador¡¯s residence. While this may be the only semi-detached residence in the British diplomatic service, it is by far and away the most up-to-date and comfortable foreign residence in Pyongyang. Susan and Jim Hoare lived there for the last two weeks of their time in Pyongyang.

DPRK-UK relations remain formally correct, but the increased international concern about possible nuclear developments and other matters have had their effect. An expected visit by a British minister has not taken place, although the DPRK Minister of Trade and a large delegation visited the UK in March 2002. Nevertheless, at the local level, relations remained good. A British Week - in the end more like four weeks - marked the first anniversary of diplomatic relations in December 2001. There were films, a book exhibition, a dinner, with Scottish dancing, and a number of other activities. The Queen¡¯s Jubilee and Birthday were celebrated with a grand party on the Taedong River. Many senior Koreans turned out for this, remarking on the unusual setting for a national day party.

BAKS was well-represented on this occasion, since not only were Susan and Jim Hoare the hosts, but Beth McKillop and Jane Portal also.

David Slinn, the first British Ambassador to the DPRK, was due to arrive on 19 October 2002, following the Hoares¡¯ departure on 15 October. However, the news broke on 17 October of the apparent DPRK admission to US Assistant Secretary of State Kelly that they had broken the terms of the 1994 Agreed Framework in engaging in an enriched uranium programme, and Jack Straw, the Secretary of State, decided to postpone his arrival. It was not until November, therefore, that David Slinn took over as ambassador.

Jim Hoare has now retired from the Diplomatic Service. The following news item followed his recent trip to Seoul:

FORMER U.K. ENVOY TO N.K. URGES HUMANITARIAN AID

North Koreans will face a high risk of starvation on a massive scale if the international community fails to increase its humanitarian assistance to the destitute state, a former British envoy to Pyongyang said in Seoul yesterday. "The World Food Program (WFP) had a rough period last year. And if its supplies for North Korea dry up, there is no doubt that people in North Korea will die," James Hoare said in an interview with The Korea Herald. Hoare said external humanitarian aid to North Korea has come mostly via the WFP, which sustains one third of North Korea's 2.2 million-strong population. As the first official British representative to North Korea, Hoare resided in the reclusive state from May in 2001 until October last year. He noted that international aid is hardly diversified enough to support even the North Korean military. "The army and government do not need to rely on what is supplied via the WFP because they have their own resources," Hoare said. While in the North, he regularly inspected the field with WFP members. The former British charge d'affairs in Pyongyang said South Korea's engagement policy toward North Korea has yielded substantial results in encouraging the communist state to open itself up to the South as well as to the international community. "It is producing real results in the sense that North Koreans are engaging more with, and depending on, South Korea," Hoare said. He said North Korean residents are increasingly exposed to South Korean ideas, people and influences. They are heading abroad for training thanks to the South's engagement policy toward the North, which began when former President Kim Dae-jung took office in 1998. The East Asia expert said the South should boost economic cooperation projects with the North. "I know that there are controversies in the South regarding paying money to the North, but the money is well spent and has begun to pay off," Hoare said.

Following the ROK elections, Ambassador Ra Jong-il has left London to become head of the National Intelligence Service in Seoul. A new ambassador has not yet been appointed.

The UK-Korea and Korea-UK Forum was held this year in Seoul from 24-27 April. Among those attending from the British side was Jim Hoare, the President of BAKS. Susan and Jim Hoare were in Seoul from 19-27 April, as guests of the Korea Foundation. A copy of Dr Hoare's report to the Forum on the state of Korean studies in the UK is appended at the end of this Newsletter.

The DPRK Embassy in London, situated 73 Gunnersbury Park, Ealing Common, London W5 4LP, was formally opened at the end of April 2003. Its officials are:

Charge d'Affaires: RA Si hong

First Secretary: THAE Yong ho

Second Secretary: HA Sin guk

The Korea Times, the oldest and most respected English-language newspaper in Korea, is seeking contributions for its editorial page. It is seeking short essays (no longer than 800 words), attached as word files to an e-mail, on issues of significance from individuals and organizations.

It will pay a token sum of money to the authors of published essays. Please contact:

The President of BAKS, Dr Hoare, attended the annual meeting of the UK-Korea Forum for the Future in Seoul, at which he presented the following paper which will be of interest to BAKS members.

The annual meeting of the Korea-UK, UK-Korea Forum, this year in Seoul on 25-26 April, provides a good opportunity to provide an update on Korean studies.

The main universities¡¯ centres for Korean studies at the undergraduate level continue to be at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London, the University of Sheffield, and the University of Oxford. In addition, Korean studies also feature at the University of Durham, the University of Newcastle on Tyne, and the University of Cambridge, while individual scholars interested in Korea, and who include some aspects of Korean studies in their programmes, can be found in many other universities and colleges. Among disciplines, apart from language studies, art history remains a popular subject. Security concerns on the Korean peninsula also attract much attention. The Korea Foundation has provided regular support to all aspects of Korean studies in Britain. A new development is that as the numbers of Koreans living in Britain increases, more and more second generation Koreans are now taking an interest in Korean studies, thus bringing Britain into line with trends in the United States, Australia and other countries where there are sizeable Korean communities. This growing community, with its newspapers, festivals and other activities, also provides increasing opportunities for all engaged in Korean studies to experience more direct exposure to things Korean.

Going beyond the formal academic institutions, Korean studies are underpinned by the collections of Korean-related material in art galleries, libraries and archives. These include the Korea Foundation Gallery at the British Museum and the Samsung Gallery of Korean Art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, both of which go far beyond just staging exhibitions of artefacts from Korea. Both museums have professional staff qualified in Korean language and history. There are significant collections of Korean art in Cambridge and Durham, and other collections can also be found in several towns. Korea is well represented in the British Library¡¯s collection and many other British libraries and archives have important Korea-related material. Over the years, the Public Record Office - now the National Archives - has provided scholars of modern Korea with a rich source of information. The long-established Anglo-Korean Society, which aims to promote friendship between Britain and the ROK, has helped Korean studies by occasionally offering a venue for talks and presentations, and by offering an annual bursary to students engaged in Korean studies. This year, the internationally renowned British think-tank, the Royal Institute for International Affairs, has established a Korea Discussion Group, which joins long-established China and Japan discussion groups.

To provide a co-ordinating body for those interested in Korea, a group of scholars established the British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS) in 1983. After some early problems, it is now a flourishing society, with about 50-60 members, whose aim is to promote the study and understanding of Korea in the United Kingdom. The membership now includes not only academics but also a wide range of those with an interest in Korea. It holds regular conferences, workshops and study days. The most recent study day was in December 2002 at SOAS, on aspects of North Korea. The keynote speaker was the then Republic of Korea Ambassador to London, Dr Ra Jong-il, who gave some philosophical reflections on studying North Korea. Other speakers dealt with the opening of the British Embassy in Pyongyang; literature and film in North Korea, and the most recent British Library/British Museum visit to Pyongyang.

BAKS publishes a regular series of papers, based mostly on presentations made at the conferences and study days; volume 8 has just appeared, and volume 9, which will include some of the papers from the December 2002 study day, should also be published this year. The Korea Foundation, the ROK Embassy in London and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office have all provided financial support for the publication of these papers. In addition, BAKS has a website at www.dur.ac.uk/BAKS, providing a round-up of information on the association¡¯s activities. BAKS is represented on the UK-Korea Forum; the BAKS president has for some years been invited to be a member of the Forum. The current president, Dr J E Hoare, will be a member of the British team to the Seoul meeting. BAKS has close links with the British Association for Chinese Studies and the British Association for Korean Studies. These three organisations have a small overlap in membership, and since the mid-1990s, they have held a joint seminar once every three years. At the last one, held in April 2001 at the University of Edinburgh, Korean studies were very well represented. In addition, most of those in Britain who are professionally interested in Korean studies are also members of the Association for Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE) and British scholars are well represented at AKSE¡¯s conferences.

Korean studies in Britain may never rival those in countries such as the United States. But they are now a well-established part of the British academic scene, with a steadily growing clientele.