[KS] Korean Studies in Oxford

[Brother Anthony]

The Korea Times editorial on April 8 about Korean Studies Overseas included the sentence: "Last month,
Oxford University announced that it decided to close its Korean studies program from June 2007 due to a
lack of funding." The editorial goes on to deplore this and question how the Korean government could allow
such a thing to happen. This was the first I had heard of this decision, but it seems to me that we should
share that sense of outrage if indeed it is the case that a refusal from the Korean side to continue to
provide funding is to blame. Are there other programs which might equally be subject to similar cutbacks? I
think that this List might have some opinions about this. The editorial seemed to suggest that there might
still be hope of saving the program if funding were found . . .? But it would be good to know what the
Korean government thinks it is doing to support Korean studies when this kind of thing happens.

(Professor) An Sonjae (Brother Anthony)
Sogang University, Seoul, Korea