June 19 - July 5, 2008

Twenty American educators, led by Yong Jin Choi, senior director of Korean studies at The Korea Society, attended the 20th annual Summer Fellowship in Korean studies from June 19 to July 5 in Korea. The fellows participated in intensive morning workshops in Korean history, cinema, art, language, politics, culture, society and education at Korea University for the first week of the program. Following the morning sessions, afternoon field trips were held to points of interest around Seoul, including Daeil Foreign Language High School, the Insadong District, Ch'angdŏk Palace and the Samsung Museum of Art. From June 25 to June 30, the fellows traveled to southern Korea, visiting notable sites such as Heinsa near Taegu, Pulguksa and Sŏkkuram Grotto, and Andong-Haeho Folk Village. They also participated in a hands-on workshop in metal-type printing at the Ch'ŏngju Early Printing Museum.

March 19-29, 2008 

The spring 2008 fellowship study tour program was implemented from March 19 through 29 in Korea for a group of ten American teachers, academics and education policymakers. Arriving in Seoul, the group's first stop was the Academy of Korean Studies. The academy, which houses the fellows in its sisupje (guest house), serves as a springboard both for the group's exploration of Seoul as well as its understanding of Korean culture. During the first two days of the trip, the participants alternated between on-campus lectures in Korean music, architecture and history with field trips to downtown Seoul, Leeum Museum and Kyongbok Palace. On Saturday, March 23, the group went where no fellowship program has gone before: North Korea. Boarding buses in the morning for a day trip across the DMZ, the group visited historical sites such as the Confucian Academy and its shrine dedicated to scholar Chong Mong-ju, as well as the Sungkyunkwan and the National Museum of Art in Kaesong, the capital city during the Koryo kingdom. The Pakyon Falls as well as a Buddhist temple near Kaesong were also included in the North Korean itinerary. Returning to South Korea, the fellows spent another night in Seoul, then moved beyond the capital to visit historical, cultural and religious sites in the South of the country. Between visits to Haeinsa monastery, the Early Printing Museum in Chongju and Yangdong Village, where residents live out the agrarian traditions of their ancestors, the fellows toured the Wong Pyong Middle School, observing the methods of their Korean counterparts. Returning to Seoul for a farewell dinner on March 29, the fellows departed for America on March 30.

October 14-24, 2007

The 12th annual Fall Fellowship in Korean Studies visted Korea from October 14-24, 2007 with ten participants, including five textbook editors, one freelance textbook writer and four professors of literature, history and anthropology. Accompanied by Yong Jin Choi, senior director of Korean studies at The Korea Society, and Mark Peterson, professor of Korean studies at Brigham Young University, the fall fellows began their studies on the campus of the Academy of Korean Studies in Seoul, which also provided support for the fellowship.