Courses

The course Korean Politics and Foreign Policy aims to advance knowledge of Korea’s politics and foreign policy, with emphasis on that of South Korea, but with additional focus on North Korea. This course covers relevant political theory, contemporary history and issues of particular significance to Korean politics, including the growth of civil society and the contest for legitimacy internally and internationally. The course addresses the Peninsula’s unique geopolitics, democratic and economic development in South Korea, and the politics and economics of the communist and Confucian North. Given today’s tremendous global concern over North Korea’s security challenges, the course examines in detail the ideological and political background behind the North’s rapidly developing missile and nuclear capabilities and human rights violations. The course posits the aims and objectives of South Korea’s international relations and success in the regional and global arena--which contrast starkly with that of North Korea. It assesses South Korea’s relations with the United States and near neighbors China and Japan. Finally, it weighs prospects for inter-Korean cooperation, integration and unification.