Korean Studies in Macedonia in the Context of the Present State and Development of Korean Studies in Eastern and Southeastern Europe (2012)

Spas Rangelov

Korean Studies in Macedonia in the Context of the Present State and Development of Korean Studies in Eastern and Southeastern Europe[1]

Introduction

             Macedonia is a newcomer to Korean Studies. There are no Korea-related academics or specialists in the country. The first-ever Korean Studies-related academic course in the Republic of Macedonia – a four-hours-per-week Practical Korean language course for students – was opened in the autumn of 2008. It was organized with financial support from the Korea Foundation. The teacher is from Bulgaria. Since February 2010 five students have specialized in Korean language and other subjects for periods from four to nine months in the Republic of Korea. There is a lively interest among Macedonian professors and students for Korean studies. Both sides, the political, diplomatic and academic circles of the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Korea, express their will and desire to bring the bilateral relations to a higher, more developed level. However, there are several reasons for the late initiation and development of Korean Studies in Macedonia.

             Firstly, the Republic of Macedonia is geographically very distant from the Korean peninsula and historically the two countries have not interacted and have not been in each other’s scope of interest.

             Secondly, the Republic of Macedonia has been an independent state for about twenty-one years. Between the Second World War and 1991 it was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The centre of political and academic life in Yugoslavia was Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia and also the capital of Serbia. Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, was more like a provincial city, and consequently, Ss Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, although the national university of Macedonia, was not comparable to Seoul National University, for example, because it was not the main university of an independent sovereign state. Yugoslavia was a federation of six republics with the administrative capital in Belgrade and the University of Belgrade acting as the main university of the state.

             Thirdly, despite the good will declared and demonstrated by both the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Macedonia, the two states have not established full diplomatic relations. That is compensated by an active dialogue between the two countries at different levels. The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Sofia, Bulgaria, which is responsible for servicing the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, has been actively supporting the initiation and the development of Korean studies program at Ss Cyril and Methodius University, as well as the bilateral cooperation between Ss Cyril and Methodius University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, the largest higher education establishment in the Republic of Korea which is specialized in teaching and researching foreign languages, literatures and cultures. The cooperation between the two universities started after a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between them in the spring of 2010. However, the lack of established diplomatic relations is increasingly felt. For example, Macedonian students who have completed the Korean language course at the university and want to continue in the field of Korean studies, find it practically impossible to receive a Korean government scholarship for a degree course from NIIED, Korea’s National Institute for International Education, because Macedonia is not on the list of eligible countries. That is a big difference between students from Macedonia and students from other Eastern and Southeastern European countries, who receive such scholarships on a regular basis each year. They have to look for private ways to realize their aspirations but it is not an easy path.

             We believe that the eventual establishment of full diplomatic relations between the two countries will give an enormous impetus to the academic and educational exchange between the two countries. Also, that will facilitate the exchange of people: more Koreans will travel to Macedonia as tourists and potentially as students and researchers, and could settle there; Korean companies will have a direct and much more extended presence in Macedonia which will galvanize the economic ties; more Macedonians will travel to Korea for tourism and business and the mutually beneficial cooperation will expand to many new fields.

The Macedonian Home of Korean Studies

             After the proclamation of independence of Macedonia in 1991, Ss Cyril and Methodius University’s de facto status has become different. Now it is the oldest and largest state-owned university in the country. Its significance as the national university of Macedonia has risen. The “Blaže Koneski” Faculty of Philology is a leading institution in the country where Macedonian language and literature are studied and researched. It is also the main institution for teaching and researching foreign languages, literatures and didactics in all of Macedonia. It has eleven departments: Macedonian language and South Slavic languages; Macedonian literature and South Slavic literatures, Albanian language and literature, Turkish language and literature, Slavistics, Romance languages and literatures (with French, Romanian and Spanish), Italian language and literature, German language and literature, English language and literature, Translation and Interpretation, General and Comparative Literature. It also has a Centre for Testing and Certification in Macedonian language. Chinese is also offered as a Second Module and elective subjects. The China-related program has started in 2002. All subjects in it are taught by a guest lecturer from the People’s Republic of China. In 2011 a new Japanese language course was started taught by a volunteer lecturer from Japan but that course has not been accredited yet and students who audit it do not sit exams.

             Since 2008, the Faculty of Philology has been the natural home of Korean Studies in Macedonia. In 2008 Korean language 1 to 4 (for four semesters) began being offered as elective subjects. Korean language and literature subjects as a Second Module have been offered since the beginning of the 2011/2012 academic year.

             Interestingly, the first Korean language course in Macedonia preceded by four years the first Japanese language course, which began in October 2011. This situation is unique at universities at world level. It shows how deep the mutual interest between the two countries is and how strong the ties between the two countries could be if the right conditions exist.

The Context of Korean Studies in Eastern and Southeastern Europe

             Korean Studies have a long tradition in some countries in Eastern Europe. Russian scholars have been interested in the Korean peninsular since the nineteenth century. In the second half of the twenties century some countries (USSR [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics], GDR [German Democratic Republic], Poland, Czechoslovakia) develop significant departments for Korean Studies studying mainly the language and the literature of North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea). Other countries, like Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, do not develop Korean Studies at the academic level actively.

             In the middle of the twentieth century the two Soviet academic centres in Moscow and St Petersburg expand their Korean Studies programs and start offering regular Korean Studies courses for students. The main figure of Russian and Soviet koreistika in that time is Aleksandr Kholodovich, a prominent linguist with significant contributions to theoretical general linguistics, Japanalogy and Korean studies. His daughter, Lyudmila Kholodovich continues his tradition at Sofia University’s Centre of Oriental Languages and Cultures in Bulgaria. Today Korean Studies programs are offered in numerous universities across the Russian Federation. The significance of the academic centres geographically closer to Korea, like Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, Yuzhnosakhalinsk, is growing.

             After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Taras Shevchenko University of Kiev (Kyiv), Ukraine, became the main centre of Korean Studies in Ukraine with numerous specialists who have graduated from Russian universities but also from the University of Kiev.

             The Korean studies departments in Eastern Europe have the typical profile of philological specialties: they put the accent on language and literature. Some of the books written by them are used in Western Europe as well. The most prominent authors are Vladimir Pucek from Prague (Czech Republic) and Halina Ogarek-Czoj from Poland. Their students are now among the leading Korean Studies specialists in Central Europe.

             Until the late 1980s Encyclopaedia Britannica claimed that the only full description of the grammar of the Korean language in a European language was Aleksandr Kholodovich’s Ocherk grammatiki korejskogo jazyka published in Russian in Moscow in the 1950s. It is true that A Korean Grammar by the Finnish scholar Ramstedt was published as early as 1939 but it was based mainly on research of Korean speakers living in Japan and not on the standard Korean language.

             In Western Europe Korean Studies are developed with the accent put on South Korea. In 1977 the Association of Korean Studies in Europe (AKSE) was founded. It holds its conferences every two years. The conferences are hosted by different universities each time. In the 1990s it expanded to the east (especially after the AKSE conference in Prague in 1995). Now scholars from all over Europe get together at the AKSE conferences and that contributes to the homogenization of the research problematic, approaches, and quality of research. The dialogue between scholars has intensified as well. However, when it comes to Korean Studies as academic discipline, it is still developed within the frameworks of particular educational traditions, as well as the concrete rules and requirements of particular universities and countries.

Institutions of Korean Studies in Eastern and Southeastern Europe

             Currently, there are eleven universities in six countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe (not counting the CIS countries and Turkey) that offer some sort of Korean Studies education systematically and on a regular basis (not just a sporadic language course). They are:

Country	University
Bulgaria	Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Czech Republic	Charles University in Prague
	Palacky University, Olomouc
Estonia	Tallinn University
Hungary	Budapest Business School
	Eotvos Lorand University: ELTE
Poland	Jagiellonian University
	Adam Mickiewicz University
	Warsaw University
Romania	Bucharest University
	Babes-Bolyai University

             In addition, there are two universities in Turkey:

Turkey	Ankara University
	Erciyes University

             In the CIS countries there are 35 university centres where Korean Studies is developed: 22 of them are in Russia, 5 – in Kazakhstan, 3 – in Uzbekistan, 2 – in Ukraine, and one each in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus.

            Almost all of them are traditional philologies where the accent is placed on language and literature. However, that is changing slowly: more and more students begin research work in the fields of art, study of religion, sociology, gender studies, economics.

             Another type of institution that contributes to the dissemination of Korean Studies is the so-called “Centre of Korean Studies”: such centres are usually within the structure of universities that already have a Korean Studies department or section. The centre’s role is broader that education: they unite all specialists at the university that are interested in Korea (not only from the Korean Studies department) and they provide a stimulating environment for research as well as popularization of Korean studies in the academic and wider community. There are 43 Korean studies centres in the world but only two of them are in Europe (excluding CIS): one of them is in London at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and the other one is at Sofia University (Bulgaria).

             Apart from the centres of Korean studies, a major role in stimulating research is played by regional, national and international associations for Korean studies. Apart from the now enormous AKSE that was mentioned earlier, in Europe there are two strong national associations with long traditions and prestige: the British Association for Korean Studies (BAKS) and the Association Française pour l’Etude de la Coree (AFPEC).

             In 2007 an important association was founded: the European Association of Korean Language Education (EAKLE). It contributes immensely to the rising standards of Korean language teaching and learning across Western and Eastern Europe. EAKLE develops online resources that are potentially important for the future Korean language teachers in Macedonia, both Macedonian and native Korean speakers.

             Recently the regular conferences of scholars from Central and Southeastern European countries brought about the founding in Sofia in February 2009 of the Central and Eastern European Society of Koreanology (CEESOK). I was at the founding meeting and suggested the name and the abbreviation. It is an association on a smaller scale than the ones mentioned above and is inclined mainly towards language and literature research. Its meetings are generously supported by Korean institutions. For future Macedonian graduate students and teachers of Korean studies it could be a good platform for interaction with colleagues from the region and exchange of ideas.

Test of Proficiency in Korean

             Recently, the Test of Proficiency in Korean has become very popular in Europe. It is devised for anyone who studies Korean: it could be self-study, with a private teacher, at a private school, or at a university. Experience in Eastern and Southeastern Europe shows that university students of Korean studies are the main exam sitters of TOPIK.

             TOPIK has 26 test sites in 12 countries in Europe. 11 of them are in CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries: 9 in Russia, 1 in Belarus, 1 in Ukraine. The remaining 15 are in EU (European Union) countries. Germany has three sites; France has four; Italy has two; Spain, Portugal and the UK have one each. The other three EU sites are in former socialist countries: two of them are in Central Europe (Prague, Czech Republic, and Budapest, Hungary). The only testing site in Southeastern Europe is Sofia, Bulgaria (started in 2011). It is the closest testing site to Skopje: about four hours by car. Macedonian students increasingly express their desire to take the TOPIK test. There are concrete plans for Macedonian students to register to take the TOPIK test in Sofia in April 2013. I believe the Macedonian participation in TOPIK will become a tradition and a stimulus for Korean language learning all over Macedonia.

             Place and Role of Macedonia in the Korean Studies in Europe

             The field of Korean Studies in Macedonia can benefit from exploring the experience of the Korean studies field in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Since the profile of the “Blaže Koneski” Faculty of Philology is similar to the philology institutions in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, it can use their experience in devising syllabi and curricula for the Korean Studies program at different levels: as a bachelor’s degree, masters, second module, etc. I have already used extensively the experience of Sofia University’s Centre of Oriental Languages and Cultures in that field in order to create the curricula for the elective subjects and the second-module subjects at the university. In the specific conditions of the Republic of Macedonia, the format of the curricula depends on the requirements of the Commission of Accreditation with the Ministry of Education but there is still room for creativity and innovation even in that field.

             Recently, organizations like Korea Foundation and the Academy of Koreas Studies (AKS) are pioneering in the world impressive electronic resources, Internet lectures, online universities, etc. All these initiatives will be very useful for Korean studies specialists in Macedonia and could compensate the lack of a serious research library and experts in the country.

             The geographical proximity to Sofia, which has grown into a Korean studies hub for Southeastern Europe, is also a great advantage. Some students have already gone individually or in self-organized groups to attend Korea-related events, visit Korean restaurants, or explore the possibilities of taking the TOPIK exam in Sofia. The central geographical position of the Republic of Macedonia itself on the Balkan peninsula is also a potential asset for the future growth of Korea-related studies and research on a regional level (Macedonia is already well ahead of Greece, Albania and Kosovo in that field) and for the establishment of Skopje as a future regional hub for Korean studies.

References:

1. “Inception and Development of Korean Studies in the Republic of Macedonia” in Proceedings of the 1st International Conference for the Promoting Korean Studies in Macedonia. Skopje 2011.

2. “Development of Korean Studies in the Republic of Macedonia” in Iztochna Evropa i Iztochna Azija: istoricheski opit i sistemi. Sbornik dokladi. Sofia 2011.

3. http://www.kf.or.kr/ (the website of the Korea Foundation)

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[1] This research is supported by 2010-2012 research grants from The Academy of Korean Studies, Korea(AKS-2010-ANC-3102).