Conference on Korea

The objective of the conference was to unravel and explain the growing interactions between Korea and the principal countries in Asia, either at a bilateral level or at a multilateral, regional level. Asia included more narrowly the major economies of East Asia, South East Asia and South Asia. For greater manageability, West Asia and Oceania were excluded, acknowledging that they are important to South Korea. Interaction and integration were confined mainly to three broad areas. These were (1) region-based, geopolitical relationships, (2) economic, business and technological engagements with Asia, and (3) Korea’s responses to emergent challenges and opportunities associated with Korea’s on-going engagement with the region.

The keynote speaker was Dr. Sang-Woo Nam, Dean of the KDI School of Public Policy and Management, and the Executive Secretary of the OECD-Korea Policy Center, who gave the presentation ‘Quo Vadis? The Perils and Hopes of the Korean Economy’ and opened the conference. 15 Korea specialists from Asia, Australia, and Europe participated and presented their research papers in four different panels). After each panel there was time for a ‘Q&A’ session where the presenters could answer questions from their fellow-presenters and the audience. In addition to the presenters, representatives of Danish businesses, Danish Foreign Ministry, the Korean Embassy, and students were present at the conference.

As expected, the presenters’ papers framed good discussions and offered new ways of looking at Korea’s interactions and integration with Asia, and so there was a large intellectual payoff from the conference.

The conference was organized by Asia Research Centre, CBS, and co-sponsored by the Academy of Korean Studies, Seoul; Danish Society for Education and Business (DSEB); the Department of International Economics and Management, CBS, and Asia Research Centre, CBS.