Korea Europe Review: an interdisciplinary journal of politics, society, and economics
type: channel
language: en
publication name: Korea Europe Review: an interdisciplinary journal of politics, society, and economics
issn: 2750-4832
items: 2025 BERLIN FORUM ON KOREA
items: Waving a Korean Flag
items: Translating the K-wave
items: Evolution of K-Content Production and Business Models in the Korean Broadcasting Industry
items: K-spice
items: Creativity in the Korean Studio System
items: Creative Dilemmas and New Global Aesthetics
items: Case Study: Wrongly Allocated Emission Permits in Korea
items: Dual Control of Energy Consumption in China
items: Nuclear vs. Renewable Energy and the Alternatives
items: Regulatory Cooperation under the Climate Club
items: Instrument Effectiveness in the International Climate Discourse
items: EU–Korea Cooperation in Climate Change Policies and Carbon Neutralization
items: Nationalism and Nation-Building as a Problem of Stable and Peaceful Relations in Europe
items: Korean CSO’s Peace and Humanitarian Movement
items: An Inquiry into the Limits of ‘Economic Diplomacy’
items: The European Commission and EU Inter-Institutional Dynamics in the Relationship with the Republic of Korea
items: Ordering East Asia, Discovering South Korea
items: The Emergence of Multipolarity and the Future of Alliances
items: German and Korean Approaches to the Indo-Pacific
items: Prospects for International Peace and Security Cooperation in East Asia and Korea’s Role
items: Building Bridges in Turbulent Times
items: Korea’s Role in Japan’s Ethnogenesis
items: A Close Reading of Alexander Slawik’s Kulturschichten in Altkorea (1936)
items: Wilhelm Schmidt and his East Asian Legacy
items: Korea in Proto-Japanese Migration Theories and their Political Implications
items: Korea, Japan, and the Vienna School
items: Against Over-Reliance on Military Power
items: Conference Report
items: Is it compressed modernity or colonial modernity? South Korea today

2025 BERLIN FORUM ON KOREA
type: item
description: The 2025 Berlin Forum on Korea: Korea at a Crossroads revisited two landmark moments in international history—the 1975 Helsinki Accords and the 1955 Bandung Conference—as analytical tools for reassessing the Korean Peninsula’s position within a rapidly transforming global order. Rather than treating these historical events as transferable models, the forum explored how they illuminate strategies of conflict management, norm-building, and sustained dialogue under conditions of deep geopolitical division. This approach situates the Korean Peninsula at the intersection of renewed great-power rivalry and shifting Global North–South dynamics, raising critical questions about how South Korea and the international community might engage North Korea amid accelerating technological change and strategic uncertainty.
subject: Expert Insights
  topic: section
subject: Berlin Forum on Korea 2025
  topic: keywords
subject: Helsinki Accords
  topic: keywords
subject: Bandung Conference
  topic: keywords
subject: multiplexity
  topic: keywords
subject: minilateralism
  topic: keywords
subject: security dilemma
  topic: keywords
creator: Seung Hwan Ryu
creator: Suhon Lee
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Suhon Lee, Seung Hwan Ryu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-12-23
publication date: 2025-12-23
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no9.70

Waving a Korean Flag
type: item
description: This paper suggests a rethinking of the empirical focus of Hallyu fandom studies on a geographical logic of “Hallyu in place X.” Rather than understanding non-Korean Hallyu fans as representatives of their respective nations, I ask: “How do fans themselves use nation and nationalism to rationalize their motivations and identification routes?” To answer this question, I look at the configuration between Hallyu, fandom, and nationalism, in what I call fan nationalism—that is, when fans choose to wave a Korean flag to act as ambassadors, patriots, or political activists for the sake of their local communities, global issues, or even Korea itself. Akin to other long-distance nationalisms, fans negotiate their social position vis-à-vis their fandom, being emotionally invested in building their social capital and constructing transnational imagined communities beyond their existing geographical and national belongings. Such attempts at theorizing fan nationalism strive to shed brighter light on fans’ engagement and fascination with Korea’s underdog status in the world.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Hallyu fandom
  topic: keywords
subject: fan nationalism
  topic: keywords
subject: long-distance nationalism
  topic: keywords
subject: social capital
  topic: keywords
subject: transnational fandom
  topic: keywords
creator: Irina Lyan
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Irina Lyan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-12-23
publication date: 2025-12-23
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no9.69

Translating the K-wave
type: item
description: The Korean Wave or K-wave is often examined as a globally dispersed yet rapidly growing field of cultural consumption. When studying this phenomenon, the question of how the audience is reached despite cultural distances, different languages, and foreign sensibilities is crucial, as the meanings that the audience receives explain why the K-wave “sticks,” sometimes even through immersive empathy and sustained self identification. To this end, studies have observed fan-driven community translation efforts and the meanings that K- wave content holds for core fans. I shift this familiar focus slightly by asking the question “What does translation do to K-wave content in reverse?” This approach takes the discursive process of localization and its actors into account. This article is a first step towards proposing that studying meanings before and after translation is an overlooked theoretical building block for explaining the spread of the K-wave. Doing so can provide a deeper understanding of the successes and failures of exported cultural content and yields a higher level of control over translation outcomes, which have been subject to more moral hazard than would be ideal.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Hallyu (K-wave)
  topic: keywords
subject: translation
  topic: keywords
subject: localization
  topic: keywords
subject: subtitling
  topic: keywords
subject: webtoon
  topic: keywords
subject: discursive institutionalism
  topic: keywords
creator: Oul Han
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Oul Han https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-12-23
publication date: 2025-12-23
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no9.68

Evolution of K-Content Production and Business Models in the Korean Broadcasting Industry
type: item
description: The study is framed within the context of platform capitalism theory and the C-P-N-D (Creation-Production-Network-Distribution) model. Korean broadcasting content has grown from regional popularity in Asia to a global cultural phenomenon, marked notably by the film Parasite winning the 2020 Academy Award for Best Picture, the monumental success of the series Squid Game in 2021, and the popularity of KPop Demon Hunters in 2025. This study examines the distinctive features of K-content production methods and their role in fueling the Korean Wave (Hallyu). It compares Korean and American drama production systems, highlighting differences in episode formats, script approval processes, and distribution strategies: Korean dramas commonly utilize a mini-series format that enables swift production and near-simultaneous online release, whereas American dramas typically follow a season-based model with syndication. Key characteristics defining K-content include a wholesome and feel-good appeal, deep emphasis on empathy, compelling storytelling, curiosity, the strength of Korean creative talent, glocalized storytelling, the influence of Netflix, and intense domestic competition. Following the advent of global OTT platforms, production practices have evolved significantly, reshaping distribution models, expanding narrative diversity, increasing blockbuster-level investments, enabling multi-season productions, decoupling content scheduling from traditional advertising seasons, shortening episode counts with flexible lengths, broadening global reach, and fostering greater engagement with Hollywood.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: K-Drama
  topic: keywords
subject: Korean Wave (Hallyu)
  topic: keywords
subject: OTT platforms
  topic: keywords
subject: Platform Capitalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Content Production
  topic: keywords
creator: Konshik Yu
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Konshik Yu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-12-23
publication date: 2025-12-23
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no9.67

K-spice
type: item
description: This article critically examines the cultural politics underlying the commodification and consumption of South Korean culture in the globalized cultural economy. Adapting bell hooks’ seminal essay “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance” to contemporary contexts, it argues that K-culture functions as “spice”—a consumable, palatable exoticism that adds a new flavor to the mainstream culture while remaining a niche phenomenon. Incorporating critiques of value aestheticization in contemporary capitalism, the analysis highlights that K-culture exemplifies a broader development: cultural difference is reduced to aesthetics, packaged as a sanitized surface-level novelty, whose complexities are flattened and cultural elements depoliticized. The article introduces a novel theoretical approach to understanding the globalization of South Korean popular culture, simultaneously expanding hooks’ analytical framework for today’s aestheticized global cultural marketplace and articulating a broader transformation in how cultural difference is produced, consumed, and valued.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Korean culture
  topic: keywords
subject: cultural difference
  topic: keywords
subject: aesthetic capitalism
  topic: keywords
subject: bell hooks
  topic: keywords
subject: cultural politics of globalization
  topic: keywords
subject: K-culture
  topic: keywords
creator: Olga Fedorenko
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Olga Fedorenko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-12-23
publication date: 2025-12-23
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no9.66

Creativity in the Korean Studio System
type: item
description: This study examines how the establishment of the “Korean-style studio system,” driven by the expansion of global OTT platforms, has reconfigured the creative environment for South Korean content creators. Through in depth interviews with veteran writers, directors, and producers, this research analyzes the paradoxical effects of this new industrial structure. While the studio system offers unprecedented financial opportunities and improved production conditions, it simultaneously constrains creative autonomy by shifting power from creators to platforms and capital. The study finds that creative decision-making is increasingly subordinated to the demands of the global market, particularly in casting, leading to the marginalization of writers and directors in the creative process. Despite these systemic pressures, creators maintain a core ethical commitment to telling universally resonant stories of ordinary people, identifying this as the essential value of their work. The paper concludes that this new system presents a structural dilemma where industrial success is achieved at the potential cost of creative control, threatening the long-term sustainability of the Korean content ecosystem´s unique strengths.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: creativity
  topic: keywords
subject: studio
  topic: keywords
subject: OTT platform
  topic: keywords
subject: production
  topic: keywords
subject: financialization
  topic: keywords
creator: Sookeung Jung
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Sookeung Jung https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-12-23
publication date: 2025-12-23
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no9.65

Creative Dilemmas and New Global Aesthetics
type: item
description: This special issue aims to illuminate the sustained Hallyu phenomenon within the structural context of a new global cultural landscape driven by digital platforms (platform capitalism) and the ways in which cultural difference is consumed as aesthetic value (aesthetic capitalism). The proliferation of K-content is intimately linked to the twenty-first-century digital media environment. Whereas past influxes of East Asian culture into the West reached European audiences through aristocratic intermediaries or intellectual elites, today’s K-content differs significantly in that it reaches mass audiences directly through digital platforms. This unmediated access, combined with the explosive speed of digital dissemination, is fundamentally transforming the character and terrain of contemporary global popular culture. While existing scholarship has largely focused on audience reception and consumption, this issue addresses a critical gap by foregrounding production dynamics, translation practices, platform governance, and fandom formations. Through interdisciplinary contributions, the issue examines how global platforms reconfigure creative labor and industry structures, how aesthetic and translational strategies mediate global sensibilities, and how transnational fandoms construct emotional attachments and forms of “global Koreanness.” Together, these perspectives offer new insights into the power relations, cultural meanings, and industrial logics shaping K-content in the twenty-first century.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Hallyu
  topic: keywords
subject: Platform capitalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Aesthetic capitalism
  topic: keywords
subject: Transnational fandom
  topic: keywords
subject: K-content production and consumption
  topic: keywords
creator: Sookeung Jung
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Sookeung Jung https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-12-23
publication date: 2025-12-23
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no9.64

Case Study: Wrongly Allocated Emission Permits in Korea
type: item
description: This paper analyzes an administrative litigation case concerning South Korea’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System (ETS). The Korean government operates the ETS to achieve its carbon neutrality goals, but legal disputes have arisen over the fairness and accuracy of emissions permit allocation. The case study focuses on the cement industry, where one manufacturer (Company A) intentionally inflated its past greenhouse gas emissions to receive a larger allocation of permits. This prompted the other six cement manufacturers to file a lawsuit, which has proceeded through three rounds of litigation. In the first lawsuit, the court held that Company A’s emissions calculation was unlawful. However, the government’s subsequent retroactive revision of its guidelines led to a second lawsuit, which the government also lost. The ongoing third lawsuit centers on the calculation method for “estimated emissions” when historical data is absent. This case illustrates how technical details in the allocation process can undermine the credibility of the entire system, highlighting that its success or failure ultimately hinges on such details.
subject: Expert Insights
  topic: section
subject: Carbon Neutrality
  topic: keywords
subject: Green Growth
  topic: keywords
subject: Climate Change
  topic: keywords
subject: Emissions Trading System
  topic: keywords
subject: Sustainable Development
  topic: keywords
creator: Seungjae Jeon
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Seungjae Jeon https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-08-30
publication date: 2025-08-30
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no8.63

Dual Control of Energy Consumption in China
type: item
description: This paper examines the evolution and optimizations of China’s dual control system for energy consumption, a pivotal policy framework implemented to address the country’s growing energy intensity and environmental challenges. As the world’s largest energy producer and consumer with a coal-reliant energy structure, China faced unprecedented energy consumption growth between 2002-2005, prompting a fundamental shift in energy policy from supply-focused strategies to demand-side management and efficiency measures. The dual control system, formally introduced during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), establishes binding targets for both energy intensity reduction (energy consumption per unit of GDP) and total energy consumption control across all provinces. The system operates through three core mechanisms: target allocation among regional governments, comprehensive assessment and evaluation procedures, and accountability measures integrated into the target responsibility system for government officials. The paper analyzes four key complementary systems that have emerged around dual control: (1) Energy efficiency standards with advanced, access, and limited values for different industries, updated in 2021 and 2023 editions; (2) Energy conservation review mechanisms for fixed asset investment projects, requiring mandatory approval before construction; (3) Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) ; and (4) Energy consumption rights trading pilots launched in four provinces in 2016, though recently phased out to avoid overlapping with carbon markets. The system has undergone significant reforms to enhance flexibility, including special treatment mechanisms for major national projects, exclusion of energy used as raw materials from total consumption caps, and exclusion of newly added renewable energy from consumption controls. Despite remarkable achievements, the system faces key challenges: difficulties in reasonable target allocation across diverse regions, mismatches betwee…
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: CO2 Emissions
  topic: keywords
subject: Coal Dependency
  topic: keywords
subject: Renewable Energy
  topic: keywords
subject: Energy Efficiency
  topic: keywords
subject: Energy Security
  topic: keywords
creator: Xiaoping Zhang
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Xiaoping Zhang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-08-30
publication date: 2025-08-30
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no8.62

Nuclear vs. Renewable Energy and the Alternatives
type: item
description: This paper deals with energy policy for carbon neutrality and stable energy supply from 2017 to the present. In the case of the Republic of Korea, there is a tendency for major energy policy to swing sharply between nuclear power and renewable energy whenever the ruling party changes. This study will examine South Korea’s chronic energy policy dilemma and explore policy alternatives to overcome it.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: ROK energy policy
  topic: keywords
subject: nuclear phase-out
  topic: keywords
subject: renewable energy
  topic: keywords
subject: crowd-out
  topic: keywords
subject: green hydrogen
  topic: keywords
creator: Lyong Choi
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Lyong Choi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-08-30
publication date: 2025-08-30
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no8.61

Regulatory Cooperation under the Climate Club
type: item
description: This article argues that regulatory cooperation is emerging as a new frontier in climate governance, becoming a useful tool for aligning approaches to the implementation of carbon-related measures. It examines the newly established Climate Club as a novel form of minilateral cooperative arrangement, focusing on its potential to serve as a central platform for regulatory cooperation on sectoral emissions accounting methodologies and monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems used in implementing trade-related carbon restrictions. However, unlike a typical club from Buchanan’s club theory, the Climate Club extends an invitation to all countries committed to ambitious climate action, encouraging them to help shape its evolving concept and structure. How this will function in practice remains unclear, as preventing free-riding in the provision of public goods (such as a safe climate) typically requires a degree of exclusivity. In this context, the article addresses the following questions: Can an open climate club with low entry barriers and minimal member commitments still be effective for regulatory cooperation? How might such cooperation within the Climate Club evolve, and what challenges could it face? What could countries such as South Korea gain from participating in the club, and how might they contribute to its success?
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: climate club
  topic: keywords
subject: decarbonization
  topic: keywords
subject: regulatory cooperation
  topic: keywords
subject: EU
  topic: keywords
subject: South Korea
  topic: keywords
creator: Kateryna Holzer
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Kateryna Holzer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-08-30
publication date: 2025-08-30
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no8.60

Instrument Effectiveness in the International Climate Discourse
type: item
description: Climate change is one of the most pressing challenges for mankind. The window of opportunity to attain the Paris Agreement goals that aim to limit the global rise of temperatures is closing, despite all national and international efforts. In terms of policy instruments employed by governments to address climate change, in many countries we observe the proliferation of carbon pricing, while fossil fuel subsidies remain an integral part of the policy mix. This paper analyses the effectiveness of carbon pricing instruments and fossil fuel subsidies within the context of the international climate discourse. The paper employs insights from the instrument choice perspective and examines the rationale, the evolution and effectiveness of both carbon pricing and fossil fuel subsidies. In conclusion it offers a critical appraisal and policy suggestions.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Climate change
  topic: keywords
subject: Carbon pricing
  topic: keywords
subject: Fossil Fuel Subsidies
  topic: keywords
subject: Instrument choice
  topic: keywords
creator: Stefan E. Weishaar
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Stefan E. Weishaar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-08-30
publication date: 2025-08-30
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no8.59

EU–Korea Cooperation in Climate Change Policies and Carbon Neutralization
type: item
description: This special issue brings together contributions that examine the economic, legal, and political dimensions of EU–Korea climate cooperation. The articles address the interplay between climate policy and trade governance, the prevention of carbon leakage through regulatory convergence, sectoral decarbonization challenges, and the role of middle powers in bridging divides between developed and developing countries. Collectively, they illustrate how cooperation can generate mutual gains while advancing the shared objective of carbon neutrality.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: European Union (EU)
  topic: keywords
subject: Republic of Korea (South Korea)
  topic: keywords
subject: EU–Korea cooperation
  topic: keywords
subject: climate change policy
  topic: keywords
subject: carbon neutrality
  topic: keywords
subject: sustainable development
  topic: keywords
creator: Sunkung Choi
creator: Stefan E. Weishaar
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Sunkung Choi, Stefan E. Weishaar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-08-30
publication date: 2025-08-30
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no8.58

Nationalism and Nation-Building as a Problem of Stable and Peaceful Relations in Europe
type: item
description: Norbert Mappes-Niediek, born in 1953, has been a freelance correspondent covering Southeast Europe since 1991. Over the years, he has written for prominent publications, including Die Zeit, Frankfurter Rundschau, Berliner Zeitung, and Der Standard, and continues to contribute to Deutschlandfunk, among others. His latest book, Krieg in Europa: Der Zerfall Jugoslawiens und der überforderte Kontinent (War in Europe: The Collapse of Yugoslavia and the Overwhelmed Continent), examines the dissolution of Yugoslavia and its far-reaching impact on Europe.
subject: Expert Insights
  topic: section
creator: Norbert Mappes-Niediek
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Norbert Mappes-Niediek https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.57

Korean CSO’s Peace and Humanitarian Movement
type: item
description: As an extension of constructivist discussion, this paper aims to explore the theoretical debate to examine how Good Neighbors, as one of the South Korean Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), contributed to the creation of a peace foundation on the Korean Peninsula. Using the framework of humanitarian diplomacy introduced by Larry Minear and Hazel Smith, this paper aims to reinterpret the role of humanitarian operations and campaigns for North Korea by Good Neighbors in the areas of information gathering, mediating, and foreign policy implementation. The findings of this paper suggest that Good Neighbors created an opportunity to recognize North Korea as a partner of support and cooperation rather than an adversary by informing domestic civil society of the reality of North Korea’s food crisis. It also played a role in supporting the Sunshine Policy by framing North Korea as part of the movement for the peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula and spreading this message through various campaigns. As a result, the inter-Korean summit in 2000 was possible despite North Korea’s continuous military provocations from 1998 until the summit meeting.
subject: Expert Insights
  topic: section
subject: Humanitarian Diplomacy
  topic: keywords
subject: CSOs
  topic: keywords
subject: Good Neighbors
  topic: keywords
subject: North Korea
  topic: keywords
subject: Peace Building
  topic: keywords
subject: Korean Peninsula
  topic: keywords
creator: Kyungyon Moon
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Kyungyon Moon https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.56

An Inquiry into the Limits of ‘Economic Diplomacy’
type: item
description: In this contribution, the limits of economic diplomacy take centre stage. Notwithstanding the initial reluctance of South Korea and Japan to conclude Strategic Partnership agreements with the EU (in addition to a Free Trade Agreement), both kinds of agreements are now in operation. The successful spill-over from trade relations to political and even security relations is due to the changing geopolitical climate in East Asia. Although the EU is trying to become strategically more autonomous, many small and concrete steps will be needed before economic diplomacy may be used in politically and securitywise sensitive issues.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Economic diplomacy between South Korea, Japan and the EU
  topic: keywords
subject: Limits of economic diplomacy
  topic: keywords
creator: Herman Voogsgeerd
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Herman Voogsgeerd https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.55

The European Commission and EU Inter-Institutional Dynamics in the Relationship with the Republic of Korea
type: item
description: This contribution looks at EU-Korea relations from an EU institutional perspective. It investigates whether the traditionally leading role of the European Commission in the diplomacy with the Republic of Korea has been affected since the implementation of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement of 2011. We argue that the Commission’s position vis-à-vis other institutions, most notably the Council and the European Parliament, continues to be dominant. This mainly has to do with the predominance of technical-economic issues and the lack of politicization in the relations with Korea. Given that there are no fundamental disputes on core values, the Commission—with its information asymmetry advantage—remains in the driver’s seat, even though its position is not as unassailable as it has been before.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: European Union
  topic: keywords
subject: Republic of Korea
  topic: keywords
subject: EU institutions
  topic: keywords
subject: European Commission
  topic: keywords
subject: economic and political diplomacy
  topic: keywords
subject: politicization
  topic: keywords
creator: Jan van der Harst
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Jan van der Harst https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.54

Ordering East Asia, Discovering South Korea
type: item
description: While much has been published on the negotiations and development of EU-South Korea relations over the past decade and a half, the sudden upgrading of bilateral relations in the late 2000s has hardly been explored. This article contributes to closing this gap by proposing an interpretation of the EU’s approach to South Korea against the backdrop of its engagement with East Asia at large. To do so, it develops a framework of discursive spatial ordering, which is then used to analyse the discourse on East Asia in documents of the European Commission and the Council of the EU since the end of the Cold War. The focus is on the extent to which the EU identifies with Easy Asia, or differentiates between itself and this region, whether and how it differentiates amongst players within East Asia, and to what extent it perceives hierarchical asymmetries in these relationships. The article argues that the comparatively low level of priority for South Korea in the EU’s engagement with East Asia up to the mid-2000s can be related to a general perception in Brussels that all of East Asia displayed important deficiencies in terms of economic governance and to a focus on Japan and especially China as main players in the region. In the second half of the 2000s then South Korea quickly moved centre-stage in EU policy towards East Asia for several reasons: firstly, as it became clear that China would not follow EU expectations in terms of economic and political reforms, both South Korea and Japan gained in weight due to their status as “like-minded countries;” secondly South Korea was identified as a commercial partner that could help the EU to outperform major competitors (in particular the US), while Japan was seen as an important competitor itself; lastly, and outside the economic sphere, the EU was also interested in showing its new (postenlargement) weight in international affairs by contributing to the management and mitigation of the security challenges emanating from North Kor…
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: European Union
  topic: keywords
subject: discursive spatial ordering
  topic: keywords
subject: economic cooperation
  topic: keywords
subject: East Asia
  topic: keywords
subject: Republic of Korea (ROK)
  topic: keywords
creator: Frank Gaenssmantel
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Frank Gaenssmantel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.53

The Emergence of Multipolarity and the Future of Alliances
type: item
description: This article examines the evolving dynamics of the South Korea-U.S.-Japan relations against the backdrop of an increasingly volatile global order. It reflects on two major ongoing wars—Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas—and discusses how these events compel nations to reassess their geopolitical strategies. It explores the trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States, and Japan, emphasizing shared concerns such as North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, cybersecurity threats, and the competition with China in technological innovation. The study acknowledges the advantages of this cooperation—particularly in the areas of security, technology, and energy—but also points out challenges that could threaten its sustainability. These challenges include balancing relations with China, managing domestic political dynamics, and navigating nationalistic tendencies. The article concludes that while the South Korea-U.S.-Japan security cooperation is essential in a multipolar world, its future depends on internal political stability and the ability of leaders to maintain public support for sustained collaboration.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Multipolarity
  topic: keywords
subject: alliances
  topic: keywords
subject: South Korea-U.S.-Japan
  topic: keywords
subject: geopolitical tensions
  topic: keywords
subject: North Korean nuclear threat
  topic: keywords
creator: Eunjung Lim
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Eunjung Lim https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.52

German and Korean Approaches to the Indo-Pacific
type: item
description: This article analyses and compares the Indo-Pacific strategy papers of Germany (2020) and South Korea (2022). Both are democratic industrial, trading, and welfare nations as well as middle powers that have recently adjusted their foreign policies. There are also numerous parallels in their turn towards the Indo-Pacific. China is their largest trading partner, which comes with numerous useful but also critical dependencies and interdependencies. At the same time, both Seoul and Berlin are heavily dependent on the US in terms of security policy and are linked to it politically, economically, and socially in many ways. Their Indo-Pacific concepts reflect this balancing act, the current geopoliticisation, and the desire to reduce existing dependencies, diversify, and have a mitigating effect on the regional and global rivalry between the US and China. South Korea and Germany would be ideal partners who could coordinate their goals for the region and cooperate in many ways.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Indo-Pacific
  topic: keywords
subject: Indo-Pacific Strategies
  topic: keywords
subject: Germany
  topic: keywords
subject: South Korea
  topic: keywords
subject: German Foreign Policy
  topic: keywords
subject: Korean Foreign Policy
  topic: keywords
subject: ROK
  topic: keywords
subject: Middle Powers
  topic: keywords
subject: Geopolitics
  topic: keywords
creator: Dan Krause
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Dan Krause https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.51

Prospects for International Peace and Security Cooperation in East Asia and Korea’s Role
type: item
description: East Asia is a region deeply affected by conflict. Colonial, ideological, and national wars have left their scars and legacies, including disputed borders and divided loyalties. This article focuses on the challenges facing traditional multilateral security cooperation in East Asia. It also, however, considers the evolution of security and governance conceptualisations, assesses and proposes new structures for international cooperation, and addresses the rise of new actors, especially the Republic of Korea (ROK), all of which offer a degree of hope for the future provision of peace and security in the region. The first analytical section considers global shifts in security and governance conceptualisations, from conflict management and resolution to transformation of conflictual relationships, noting the rise of non-traditional security (NTS) issues, and the extent to which the region has been able to adapt. This is followed by a critique of the existing security architectures, whether middlepower led multilateralism, or great power dominated minilateralism. The third section identifies new potential security architectures (NTS minilaterals and regional international commissions) led by an emerging new categorisation of second-tier powers, of which South Korea is one of the most notable.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: Peacebuilding
  topic: keywords
subject: security cooperation
  topic: keywords
subject: multilateralism
  topic: keywords
subject: minilateralism
  topic: keywords
subject: East Asia
  topic: keywords
creator: Brendan M. Howe
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Brendan M. Howe https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.50

Building Bridges in Turbulent Times
type: item
description: This issue of the Korea Europe Review arrives amid global uncertainty, emphasizing the urgent need for diplomacy and strategic partnerships. Featured articles explore South Korea’s growing role in EU relations and its influence among middle powers. The issue also delves into East Asian security dynamics, including trilateral efforts with the U.S. and Japan, while proposing innovative frameworks for regional stability. Additionally, it highlights the impact of civil society and humanitarian diplomacy in promoting peace.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: security cooperation
  topic: keywords
subject: minilateralism
  topic: keywords
subject: East Asia
  topic: keywords
subject: South Korea-U.S.-Japan
  topic: keywords
subject: economic diplomacy
  topic: keywords
subject: humanitarian diplomacy
  topic: keywords
subject: Indo-Pacific strategies
  topic: keywords
creator: Eun-Jeung Lee
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 Eun-Jeung Lee https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2025-02-04
publication date: 2025-02-04
doi: 10.48770/ker.2025.no7.48

Korea’s Role in Japan’s Ethnogenesis
type: item
description: Oka Masao (1898–1982), a pioneer of Japanese ethnology, studied in Vienna, where he encountered the diffusionist theory of culture circles. This inspired him to write a dissertation combining concepts of the culture circle theory with his knowledge of Japanese folklore studies and prehistory to create a model of Japanese ethnogenesis. The originality of this approach becomes apparent when contrasting Oka’s interpretation of the Tan’gun myth with politically inspired studies of his contemporaries. The framework of culture circles allowed Oka to emphasize the parity and interconnectedness of early Korean and Japanese cultures. During the war, Oka conducted “ethnic studies” to support colonial policies. However, after the war he returned to the ethnohistorical topics of his Viennese dissertation, which helped to overcome the emperor-centred wartime ideology and to correct chauvinist views of Korea in Japan. This article contextualizes this contradictory figure and his work with a special focus on his perception of Korea.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Oka Masao
  topic: keywords
subject: ethnology
  topic: keywords
subject: Tan’gun
  topic: keywords
subject: ethnogenesis
  topic: keywords
subject: theory of culture circles (Kulturkreislehre)
  topic: keywords
creator: David Weiss
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 David Weiss https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.43

A Close Reading of Alexander Slawik’s Kulturschichten in Altkorea (1936)
type: item
description: Alexander Slawik (1900-1998), head of the Japanese Studies department at Vienna University from 1965 on, modelled his PhD thesis, Kulturschichten in Altkorea (Cultural Strata in Ancient Korea, 1936), closely after that of his friend and colleague Oka Masao (1898-1982), who dealt with the same questions concerning Japan. This paper provides a close reading and analysis of Slawik’s unpublished thesis, analysing and contextualizing his sources, outlining issues of interpretation, and delineating how Korea became an academic tool to deconstruct and objectify Japan. Asking how Slawik positions himself in the academic discourse, the paper scrutinizes the political inclinations of Slawik and his stance on imperialism. Korea became a significant “other” in Slawik’s understanding of Japan and was key in his understanding of area studies in general. Finally, the paper traces Slawik’s legacy in Korea. Even though Slawik had educated a handful of Korean students in Vienna, his work never received translation into Korean. Still, traces of his research and teaching can be found.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Alexander Slawik
  topic: keywords
subject: cultural strata
  topic: keywords
subject: imperialism
  topic: keywords
subject: colonial knowledge
  topic: keywords
creator: Juljan Biontino
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Juljan Biontino https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.42

Wilhelm Schmidt and his East Asian Legacy
type: item
description: The Vienna School of Ethnology has left a dubious legacy in the field of cultural anthropological studies. After the initial successes of its “culture circles” theory in the 1920s and 1930s, the view prevailed that it was permeated by Catholic theological and missionary doctrines that did not stand up to scientific scrutiny. In post-war anthropology, and especially in Viennese cultural anthropology, the school and the writings of its founder and spiritual rector, Father Wilhelm Schmidt (1868–1954), soon became a no-go area. As a result, the school’s influence on neighbouring disciplines, such as Japanese prehistory and ethnogenesis, including prehistoric cultural relations between Japan and Korea, has been downplayed and neglected. This essay addresses these issues. After an outline of Schmidt’s life and work, it examines his influence on East Asian students of ethnology and prehistory who, attracted by Schmidt's academic charisma, studied in Vienna and spread his theories in Japan and Korea.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Vienna School of Ethnology
  topic: keywords
subject: Wilhelm Schmidt
  topic: keywords
subject: Oka Masao
  topic: keywords
subject: Ishida Eiichirō
  topic: keywords
subject: To Yu-ho
  topic: keywords
subject: Han Hung-su
  topic: keywords
subject: culture circles
  topic: keywords
subject: primeval monotheism
  topic: keywords
subject: prehistory
  topic: keywords
subject: nationalism
  topic: keywords
creator: Bernhard Scheid
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Bernhard Scheid https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.41

Korea in Proto-Japanese Migration Theories and their Political Implications
type: item
description: The “horse-rider theory” succeeded the theory of Kita Sadakichi, a proponent of the common ancestry between the Korean and Japanese peoples. His arguments had helped justify Japan’s colonial annexation and assimilation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. Egami Namio, who put forward the horse-rider theory, was reserved about publishing a theory that seemed influenced by imperialism. This paper examines how such considerations or reservations were reflected in Egami’s theory by comparing it with Kita’s. Both looked for the origin of the Wa, the rice farmers of ancient Japan, in the southern parts of China. Kita assumed that the Wa’s main route of migration to Japan was a land route that went north across the Shandong and Korean peninsulas, finally reaching Kyūshū. Egami argued that the Wa went directly from China to Kyūshū by sea. Moreover, Kita regarded the Wa and the Han, the rice farmers of ancient Korea, as almost the same ethnicity, while Egami distinguished them and interpreted the influence of the Han on the Wa as cultural diffusion rather than the result of ethnic migration. Both concurred in identifying the Tenson group, which ruled ancient Japan, as a branch of the Puyŏ ethnicity. Egami linked them directly to Central Asia, arguing that they reached the Korean peninsula as “horseriders.” In this way, he avoided the genealogical theorization of the relationship between the Koreans and the Japanese.
subject: Special Issue
  topic: section
subject: Egami Namio
  topic: keywords
subject: Kita Sadakichi
  topic: keywords
subject: ethnogenesis
  topic: keywords
subject: migration
  topic: keywords
subject: diffusion
  topic: keywords
creator: Sekine Hideyuki
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Sekine Hideyuki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.47

Korea, Japan, and the Vienna School
type: item
description: This issue of Korea Europe Review examines the complex interplay between Japanese colonialism, the Vienna School of Ethnology, and the development of East Asian ethnology. The guest editors present a series of original articles exploring how Japanese scholars, influenced by the Vienna School’s methodologies, navigated the political landscape to shape discourse on Japanese-Korean ethnic relations. Through the works of figures like Wilhelm Schmidt, Oka Masao, and Alexander Slawik, the issue highlights how academic frameworks were adapted, sometimes to justify colonial ideologies and at other times to foster new understandings of cultural origins and ethnic identity.
subject: Editorial
  topic: section
subject: Wilhelm Schmidt
  topic: keywords
subject: Oka Masao
  topic: keywords
subject: Alexander Slawik
  topic: keywords
subject: Vienna School of Ethnology
  topic: keywords
subject: culture circles
  topic: keywords
subject: ethnogenesis
  topic: keywords
creator: Juljan Biontino
creator: Bernhard Scheid
creator: David Weiss
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Juljan Biontino, Bernhard Scheid, David Weiss https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.44

Against Over-Reliance on Military Power
type: item
description: This article examines the shift in diplomatic strategies following the onset of the second Cold War, where military power has re-emerged as the primary means of ensuring security. It challenges the prevailing view that conflicts are primarily caused by malevolent actors and argues against the reliance on military might for conflict resolution. Instead, the article advocates for focusing on preventing bargaining failures and overconfidence in negotiation positions. Utilizing game theory, the article highlights the deficiencies in oversimplified conflict paradigms and suggests that allies of hegemonic powers should engage in independent dialogue with perceived threats. Through simplified game models and empirical evidence, the article challenges the logic of hegemonic enforcement and power-based norm negotiation, proposing alternative frameworks for achieving peace and security.
subject: Original articles
  topic: section
subject: conflict resolution
  topic: keywords
subject: game theory
  topic: keywords
subject: military power
  topic: keywords
subject: bargaining failures
  topic: keywords
subject: North Korea
  topic: keywords
subject: Peace Studies
  topic: keywords
creator: Timo Kivimäki
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Timo Kivimäki https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.45

Conference Report
type: item
description: The 7th Berlin Forum on Korea, held on November 11-12, 2023, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Graduate School of East Asian Studies. Titled "Diversity in Unity – Cultural Diplomacy in East Asia," the conference brought together scholars to explore cultural diplomacy and heritage preservation. Discussions focused on how countries without significant political power can influence cultural discourses and the challenge of reconciling claims of cultural uniqueness with shared traditions. The forum emphasized the negotiation of tradition, the interplay between cultural and heritage diplomacy, and the reception of cultural narratives by international audiences
subject: Conference Report
  topic: section
subject: 7th Berlin Forum on Korea
  topic: keywords
subject: Graduate School of East Asian Studies (GEAS)
  topic: keywords
subject: anniversary conference
  topic: keywords
creator: Dalila Hadzic
rights: Copyright (c) 2024 Dalila Hadzic https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2024-08-29
publication date: 2024-08-29
doi: 10.48770/ker.2024.no6.46

Is it compressed modernity or colonial modernity? South Korea today
type: item
description: There are three queries that organise the book, The Logic of Compressed Modernity: first it traces the particular attributes of South Korean modernity; second, it suggests theories/perspectives that can be used to comprehend this modernity; third, it suggests that South Korea’s transition process is comparable to other regions of the world and particularly generalisable to countries in East Asia. The canvas of the book is extremely wide and it covers almost all attributes of modernity that organise the discussions on this theme - be it the economic, the political and the cultural. It also brings together discussions made by every scholar of note on modernity in the last two to three decades.
subject: Book Symposium
  topic: section
subject: South Korea
  topic: keywords
subject: East Asia
  topic: keywords
subject: India
  topic: keywords
subject: post-colonial modernity
  topic: keywords
subject: social inequality
  topic: keywords
subject: compressed modernity
  topic: keywords
creator: Sujata Patel
rights: Copyright (c) 2023 Sujata Patel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
date: 2023-12-11
publication date: 2023-12-11
doi: 10.48770/ker.2023.no5.37