You can find their archive experiment here:

http://interlocal.skhu.ac.kr/home/

And the closest thing to a new blog they have is the ARENA online blog (ARENA is now located at SKHU).

http://www.arenaonline.org/

Of course, you can also follow up on Korean social movements news on the blog that I do.

http://twokoreas.blogspot.com

There are many links there to other social movements news sources.

Thank you for reading 

Master of Arts in Inter-Asia NGO Studies (MAINS)at the Inter-Asia Graduate School of NGO Studies (IGSONS)

Jointly offered by SungKongHoe University & Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA),in Seoul, Korea

Inviting applications

Inter-Asia Graduate School of NGO Studies (IGSONS)

Master of Arts in Inter-Asia NGO Studies (MAINS) Programme

———————————————————————————————————-

A graduate degree course offered by

Inter-Asia Graduate School of NGO Studies, SungKongHoe University , and Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA)

The Master of Arts in Inter-Asia NGO Studies (MAINS)

About MAINS

The programme of Master of Arts in Inter-Asia NGO Studies starts in March 2007, jointly offered by the Graduate School of Asian NGO Studies of SungKongHoe University and the Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA). Its multidisciplinary curriculum, integrating academic and practitioners’ training with dynamic changes occurring in Asia and the globe, is unique in the field of studies on social changes, non-governmental organizations and civil society. The curriculum covers a wide range of current issues of international relations from both regional and global perspectives as a major field of studies, placing a special focus on the development of solidarity among civil society constituents.

MAINS is intended for the people who have been contributing or have the potential to contribute to a better understanding of or leading social changes in Asia. Benefiting from both academic and practical resources offered by two distinct host institutions, MAINS offers both intense and flexible preparation for either those seeking leadership and skills for more just and equitable social changes in Asia, or those seeking further studies in the field.

Admission

- Eligibility

We welcome applicants with an undergraduate degree, preferably in social science, and with experiences generally in the non-profit or non-governmental sectors in Asia. We are looking for individuals with sensitivity to and involvement in issues such as the promotion of social change, human rights, democratization, local community development, solidarity across borders, and humanitarian aid in Asia.

- Documents Required

Completed application form (download)

Official transcript from the college or university previously attended

One paper/report/article in English previously written by the applicant

2 letters of recommendation

2 photographs (passport photo size)

Research proposal (in English, 1,000-word length)

l Deadline for submission: 18 January 2007, by post or email

Curriculum

- Course nature

The Master of Arts in Asian NGO Studies (MAINS) is an alternative international and social studies programme taught in English with professional and practical focus in Asia. The programme particularly encourages applications from international students and Korean citizens with experiences of non-governmental activities in Asia. MAINS offers an advanced and intensive programme, with teaching methods based on individual self-research, mutual learning by students and thematic approaches. Reading and writing as well as debating and interacting with field groups are strongly emphasized.

- Course structure

MAINS is a 12-month, 4-quarter programme consisting of four required courses, four elective courses, and a thesis, totalling 30 credits. There is a particular theme given to each quarter as a synthesizing structure. Class schedules run from one quarter to the next with a 10-day break in between. Quarters have a varied number of sessions. Some courses are taught intensively by visiting lecturers. Courses combine lectures and student-led seminars.

Core Courses

- Globalization and Social Movements in Action

- Democracy and Democratization in Asia

- International Relations and Peace Issues in Asia

- Methodology and Thesis Writing

Elective Courses

(Not all elective courses are available each year.)

- Development and Social Changes in Asia

- Local Community and Asia

- Gender in Asia

- Globalization and Ecology in Asia

- Globalization and Migration in Asia

- Democracy and Social Movements in Korea

- Leadership and Strategies in NGOs

- International Conflict and Policy Studies

- Transnational Social Movements for Alternatives

- Emerging Inter-national Relations in Northeast Asia

- Emerging Inter-national Relations in Southeast Asia

- Religious Dialogue in Asian Context

- Workshop: Life and Issues in Asia – an Interactive workshop

- Field Study: Social Movements in Korea

Special Programmes (non-credit courses)

- Language Support Programmes, Korean and English

- Study Tour on Democratization and Civil Society Formation in South Korea

- Colloquium on Inter-Asia and Inter-national

- Simulated Conflict Resolution

Thesis

All students are required to write a thesis or an equivalent research report on a topic related to social changes and non-profit/governmental sectors in Asia. Applicants are strongly encouraged to define their research interests prior to the beginning of the programme. Students are expected to start working on their thesis/report proposal from the first quarter, with the support of supervisors. In the third quarter, students should be able to defend their thesis/report proposal. The fourth quarter is devoted mostly to the thesis/report, including field work, data collecting, write-up and defence.

Academic Schedule

- Application period
28 December 2006 – 18 January 2007

- Notification of admission
20 January 2007

- Spring Quarter: 15 weeks, 26 February to 7 June

- two-week holidays: 11-22 June

- Summer Quarter: 6weeks, intensive modules, 25 June – 3 August

- three-week holidays: 6-24 August

- Autumn Quarter: 15 weeks, 27 August to 7 December

- three-week holidays: 10-30 December

- Winter Quarter: 6 weeks, 1 January to 10 February 2008

- Thesis submission: by the first week of February 2008

Countries of origin of expected students for 2007

Bangladesh , China , India, Japan , Myanmar, Nepal, South Korea , Taiwan, Vietnam

Tuition, Scholarship and Other Expenses

(The approximate exchange rate of US$1 = 930 Korean Won)

Application fee: 70,000 KRW (75 USD)
* Application fee waived for those who are getting scholarships from SungKongHoe University

Full scholarship is given to students from developing countries, which covers;

Registration fee: 600,000 KRW (645 USD)

Tuition: 4,600,000 KRW (4,950 USD) per quarter

Minimum living cost: 700,000 KRW (753 USD) per month for 12 months

(including housing, meals, transportation, books, utilities, etc.)

A return airfare from and to home country

* An initial 3-month, paid home-stay is arranged for those who wish to stay so.

Faculty

Dean of IGSONS

Prof. Oh Jae-shik

MAINS Programme Faculty

- Honorary Chair : Dr. Kinhide Mushakoji

- Co-Directors : Dr. Hur Song-woo and an invited ARENA fellow

- Board of Teaching and Resource Persons

Park Gyung-tae (sociology, director of IGSONS)

Cho Hee-yeon (sociology, SKHU)

Hur Song-woo (feminism, SKHU)

Johan Saravamuttu (Research dean for social transformation, Universiti Sains Malaysia )

Vinod Raina (physics, People’s Science Movement, India )

Lee Jung-ok (sociology, Daegu Catholic Univeristy)

Mohuiddin Ahmad (economics, Community Development Library, Bangladesh )

Nimalka Ferdinand (lawyer, Democratic People’s Movement, Sri Lanka)

Francis Loh (political studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia )

Kaoru Aoyama (gender studies, People’s Plan Study Group, Japan)

Lau Kin Chi (cultural studies, Lingnan Univ. Hong Kong)

Kim Min-woong (international relations, SKHU)

Lee Gi-ho (political studies, SKHU)

Francis Daehoon Lee (peace studies, ARENA)

Contacts

Ms. Janice Han, MAINS Programme staff, SKHU

tel. +82-2-2610-4753 (office)
+82-10-5850-8083 (mobile)

fax. +82-2-2610-4752

Mr. Francis Daehoon Lee, executive director, ARENA

tel. +82-2-2610-4751 (office)
+82-11-9256-5134 (mobile)

fax. +82-2-2610-4752

email: dlee@pspd.org

Of course there are many debates over the nature and development of the Korean state going on here, and this article should not be taken as the only voice on the matter.  In the future I’ll try to post more perspectives. However, in some ways we are limited by the number of materials that are translated. None the less, I’ll try to link to as much as I can here.

The following are some links for those interested in examining how some of these lines of thought have played out. The first is short presentation by Paik Nak-Chung called How to Think about the Park Jung Hee era, Paik argues that any account of the pros or cons of that era has to take into account the voices of its victims. For a more systematic account of social regimentation and developmental regimes, Cho Hee Yeon’s Listian Warfare State formulation is also a good place to start, you can find it on his english paper’s page here, or in an re-worked format in the Journal Inter-Asia Cultural Studies. Finally, more recently a group of scholars, including Sungkonghoe’s Han Hong Goo and Yoo Chul Gyue, have used the term ‘developmental dictatorship’ to understand the Park Jung Hee period, a term that is used to get at both the ‘shadows and light’ of that period. There is translation of an edited collection of this material by Lee Byeong-cheon that was recently put out on the America-based Homa and Sekey books. The edition, Developmental Dictatorship and the Park Chung-Hee Era: The Shaping of Modernity in the Republic of Korea, was originally put out in Korea on Changbi, one of the larger academic publishers here.

Chen was here as part of the Asian Civil Society Education Forum conference that took place over the weekend. The forum focused on building stronger ties between civil society groups involved in critical educational issues. You can read more about ACEF here.

Opposing war and violence on the Korean Peninsula and around the world, in the name of all people who wish for peace and democracy, we assert the following:

1. We condemn the hypocrisy of the United Nations’ sanctions against North Korea and the real threat posed by the United States’ nuclear hegemony.

The majority of UN Security Council members including the U.S. have carried out fearful and deadly nuclear tests and have thousands of nuclear weapons. To present, the U.S. has carried out 1,127 nuclear tests, of which 217 were ground tests. The USSR carried out 969 tests, France 210, the U.K and China, 45 each.

The sanctions imposed by UN resolution 1718 are based on a double standard which holds that the actions of the “great powers” are legitimate while those of other countries are not. Moreover, while Israel, which is under the U.S.’s protection, carried out a nuclear test in 1979 and has hundreds of nuclear missiles, the U.S. has never insisted on sanctions against it.

All these facts demonstrate that the UN sanctions resolution against North Korea is explicitly hypocritical and is only a device for reinforcing the great powers’ nuclear hegemony. Indeed, it is these states who are the principal promoters of world-wide nuclear proliferation

2. We oppose all measures to strengthen sanctions against North Korea based on the UN resolution.

Economic sanctions might be called a ’silent air strike’. It is a fact that economic sanctions, which have become rapidly more prevalent after the Cold War, have caused more casualties than Weapons of Mass Destruction. For example, in Iraq, tens of thousands of people, most of whom were children, died from economic sanctions, which were imposed from 1991 to 2001.

It is clear that economic sanctions, which strike indiscriminately, are in fact an attack against civilians and use human suffering and starvation as weapons of war. We must oppose all economic sanctions that target everyday people. All economic sanctions imposed by imperialist countries, not only those targeting North Korea, but also those targeting the Middle East, Latin America and other countries around the world, should be stopped immediately.

3. We call for an immediate end to the exceedingly dangerous confrontation between the U.S. and North Korea and oppose nuclear armament throughout East Asia and the Pacific Rim, most especially the armament of U.S.

The possession of nuclear weapons, the ultimate goal of which is the indiscriminate extermination of life, is never justifiable. Further, the possession of nuclear weapons itself induces war and gives rise to cold war-like posturing and fanatical militarism.

Every attempt to further stimulate nuclear competition in East Asia on the ground of responding to North Korea’s nuclear test must be stopped. We must send a clear message that nuclear armament is not justified or acceptable to all the powers in East Asia who are currently raising their voices about militarization, including conservative forces in South Korea, militaristic powers in Japan and warlike powers in China and Taiwan.

4. We must eliminate all potential causes of war from South Korea.

In the face of rapidly rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula it is South Korea who should be first to eliminate the factors pointing to war. Currently, the policies of South Korea’s Roh administration are objectively increasing the risk of war.

The Roh administration actively supports the U.S.’s attempt to increase its capacity to carry out war by accepting the U.S. plan for Strategic Flexibility and allowing the repositioning of U.S forces in South Korea and the U.S. base expansion in Pyeong-Taek.

The Roh government is using the transfer of wartime operational control from the U.S. as grounds to increases weapons build-up tremendously.

It is therefore moving forward with the plan to introduce the AEGIS warship and PAC-3 missile as part of Missile Defense(MD) System.

We assert the necessity of arms reduction in Korea, the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the dissolution of Korea-U.S warlike military alliance. We not only oppose South Korea’s participation in the Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation Security Initiative(PSI), which is currently inducing armed conflict with North Korea, but the whole initiative in its entirety.

We must use our heartfelt desire for peace and collective strength to end the U.S. war- threat and nuclear armament in East Asia.

- End the nuclear confrontation on the Korean Peninsula!
- No to the U.S.’s imperialistic nuclear hegemony!
- No to UN sanctions against North Korea! No to PSI!
- Withdraw the U.S forces from Korea! Dissolve the Korea-U.S. war alliance!
- Abolish Strategic Flexibility! Stop the expansion of the U.S base in Pyeong-Taek!

October 25, 2006
PSSP (People’s Solidarity for Social Progress) South Korea

Prof. Alvares was in Korea as part of the larger Asia Culture Forum 2006, a fairly large event that happened over the weekend in Kwanju, South Korea. Their site is worth a look, especially for their program on Asian cinema, which has pdf documents for all their papers.

To start, here is the link to an interesting article, albeit a few years old now, from Joe Jeong Hwan, which appeared at Multitudes Web, a European Journal. The essay tackles the difficult question of economic crises and class composition/decomposition in South Korea, tracing a long arch of crisis originating both from effective working class militancy and the demands of newer citizen movements on the one hand, and from integration into transnational financial networks and economic forms of regulation on the other. Joe argues against viewing these crises strictly from the perspective of the national economy, which, Joe asserts, would run the risk of reduction.

The Korean Government wants, of course, to insist that South Korean society changed from a bad state to a good state. In order to make this argument, however, the Government has, we must notice, reduced South Korean society into a unified organism completely identical with a single national economy.

Rather, Joe argues that such changes must be seen from a "responsible perspective that sees how the struggles of labor and the proletariat, i.e., struggles from the bottom-up, are the main motors of social change."

To that end, I shall employ the concept of class composition to refer the self-organization process of this central force-that is, the ceaseless self-organizational process of the constituent power of the proletariat. Through this concept, we will see a reduction in the leadership of state power, asserted by government, to the subordinate and passive variables in the process of class composition. In addition, this perspective also provides a vantage point from which it may be possible to define the actual limits of the major left-wing currents in South Korea, which have largely argued that the economic crisis in Korea could have been superseded by compromise with capital. In this argument, which takes the form of social-corporatism, they consider the crisis as a product of the co mpetitive movement of individual capital ; hence, the working class struggle, in their analysis, was considered irrelevant to economic crisis.

The article, written in 2003, brings us roughly up to date with issues important at that time. For a quick look to see how the arch of crisis, liberalization, and resistance has continued please see Cho Hee-Yeon’s article posted seperatly below; here are some links to some more recent articles by myself and by Martin Hart-Landsberg that roughly track some of the social issues raised in Joe’s article up to date.