The University of Missouri has faculty members spread across the Columbia campus who study various aspects of the Korean peninsula. Until now, MU has lacked a central location where these scholars of Korea can discuss their work, collaborate on research projects, and find new research opportunities. The Institute for Korean Studies (IKS), which opens Feb. 9, will serve as a focal point for research about the Korean peninsula.

Harrison Kim, IKS co-director and an assistant professor of history, says the institute is more than just an expansion of the Korean Studies Program in the Department of German and Russian Studies.  “The Korean studies minor is an important teaching unit at the undergraduate level,” Kim says. “The IKS is primarily research focused, to support new research and highlight ongoing research that faculty members have done. Faculty are doing research in many aspects of Korea—economics, political science, history, management, and such across campus, and the IKS brings all of that together.”