Bachelor 2024/2025

Korean Foreign Policy

Type: Elective course (HSE University and Kyung Hee University Double Degree Programme in Economics and Politics in Asia)

When: 3 year, 1, 2 module

Open to: students of one campus

Language: English

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This course is designed to explore the evolution of South Korea’s foreign policies since the establishment of the Republic of Korea in 1948. It will examine historical background, foreign relations with major powers, and new directions in South Korea’s foreign policy formation focusing on various factors influencing South Korean foreign policy. After the end of World War II and during most time of the Cold War period, South Korea, as a newly independent state, had been heavily dependent on its alliance with the United States to achieve its national objectives of security and prosperity. However, with the end of the Cold War and its successes in economic development and democratization, Seoul has attempted to expand the horizon of foreign policy through multilateralism and an active pursuit of peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula. In the changing context of contemporary world politics, this course will also examine the future direction of South Korea’s foreign policy and strategic choice in its relations to major powers and facing with the dynamic of changing security environment in East Asia. The complete syllabus will be presented on the KHU's territory.