The Korea Times

North Korea vanishes from South Korean academia By Park Si-soo What an irony: North Korea is losing ground in South Korean academic circles in times of growing military tension between the two countries. Universities here have closed or downsized departments that have explored the communist country in recent years, citing relatively high unemployment rates of graduates and difficulty in attracting freshmen. Students and North Korea experts say the situation is a"short-sighted" policy that should be scrapped to ensure ongoing studies and research into the reclusive state and to nurture "human resources" to prepare for reunification. They warn that this trend will create another ironic situation in which South Korea falls behind countries such as the U.S. when it comes to North Korean studies. Despite the outcry, universities appear determined to keep the downsizing policy in place. Insiders recognize the importance of the department but say that keeping it afloat despite underperformance is all but impossible, especially in the face of the deteriorating financial health of universities. "This is a very realistic problem," says a university official. "We know that the department is important. At the same time, however, it's a headache for universities." Korean universities, whose operating costs depend largely on tuition fees, are struggling with deteriorating bottom lines. A major culprit is the reduced number of freshmen, which experts claim is a result of prolonged low birth rates. This trend has hit domestic universities, especially mediocre ones, putting them under increasing pressure to shut or downsize "underperforming" departments measured by employment rates of graduates and popularity among newcomers. Experts say the department's graduates find it hard to land a job at private companies or government bodies after the government turned hawkish toward the North in the early 2000s. This political shift has led to a drastic cut in demand for the department's graduates who are educated to deal with dialogue-centered soft strategies, not hard-line ones, they say. "It was a heyday for the department from the late 1990s to early 2000s because the two Koreas engaged in brisk dialogue," said a graduate working at a domestic think tank. "But it has gone since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in 2008 with a hawkish stance toward the North. The incumbent President Park Geun-hye is in the same position, pledging a tit-for-tat against North Korea's military provocations, rather than trying to address it through dialogue." The nation's first North Korean studies department was established at Dongguk University in 1994. Six other universities followed suit by the end of the 1990s. For now, however, only two universities are maintaining the department: Korea University and Dongguk University. Korea University recently put the department into a restructuring program in which the department will be shut or merged with another social science department. "Given the special situation facing South Korea, we have to carry out the study without interruption," says Kim Yong-Hyun, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University. "Otherwise we could be exposed to the risk of being unable to decide our own destiny at a critical moment by ourselves."