Ed. by Frank, Rudiger; Kim, Heung Chong; Park, Sung-Hoon (2012): Korea and East Asia in a Changing Regional and Global Environment. Seoul: KIEP

This conference volume captures and analyzes the role of Korea and East Asia in a changing economic and security environment. (editors: Heung Ching Kim, Sung-Hoon Park, and Rudiger Frank).

East Asia has obviously become a focal point of international politics as well as one of the major engines of the world economy. In cultural terms the East Asian region is experiencing its own renaissance. Due to the geographically and culturally central position of Korea and the two different systems that have been established on the peninsula, looking at Korea is among the best ways to understand the East Asian region and its economic, political and social developments. Conference website.

Ed. by Frank, Rüdiger; Getreuer-Kargl, Ingrid; Pokorny, Lukas and Schick-Chen, Agnes (2012): Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies Vol. 3. Vienna: Praesens

The Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies is a joint project of the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna aiming to give our graduates the opportunity to show their results to a wider audience. Even more importantly, we want to provide their peers and the international academic community with access to the work of our young and hopeful researchers. The Journal also shows the diversity of research topics covered in East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna. Literature, society, culture, economy – all these fields are represented in our multidisciplinary approach to East Asia. The Vienna Journal of East Asian Studies can soon be ordered from the publisher's website!

Ed. by Frank, Rüdiger and Swenson-Wright, John (2012), Korea and East Asia: The Stony Road to Collective Security

Will the twenty-first century be the Asian century? Will the People's Republic of China overtake the United States as the leading global superpower? Will an armed conflict break out on the Korean peninsula, and can it be contained? While opinions differ strongly, there seems to be a certain consensus that the East Asian region, roughly defined as Northeast Asia (China, the two Koreas, Japan and the Russian Far East) plus Southeast Asia (ASEAN), will be ever more globally significant in the years to come. This book, which is part of a new series, critically addresses the potential of the liberal concept of collective security to provide a solution, with a focus on the Korean peninsula (more...).

Frank, Rüdiger et al. (2012), Korea 2012: Politics, Economy and Society, Leiden: Brill

Korea 2012: Politics, Economy and Society contains concise overview articles covering domestic developments and the economy in both South and North Korea as well as inter-Korean relations and foreign relations of the two Koreas in 2011. Additional papers deal with topics such as South Korea’s foreign trade drive, the death of Kim Jong Il, South Korea as a middle power, the portrayal of North Koreans in ROK cinema, graphic novel representations of food issues in post-famine North Korea, and North Korean views of foreigners. A detailed chronology complements the articles. Korea 2012: Politics, Economy and Society can be ordered at publisher's website.

Ed. by Frank, Rüdiger; Getreuer-Kargl, Ingrid; Pokorny, Lukas and Schick-Chen, Agnes (2011): Vienna Graduate Journal of East Asian Studies Vol. 2. Vienna: Praesens

The Vienna Graduate Journal of East Asian Studies is a joint project of the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna aiming to give our graduates the opportunity to show their results to a wider audience. Even more importantly, we want to provide their peers and the international academic community with access to the work of our young and hopeful researchers. The Journal also shows the diversity of research topics covered in East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna. Literature, society, culture, economy – all these fields are represented in our multidisciplinary approach to East Asia. Click here to purchase @Praesens.

Frank, Rüdiger et al. (2011), Korea 2011: Politics, Economy and Society, Leiden: Brill

Korea 2011: Politics, Economy and Society, edited by Rudiger Frank, James E. Hoare, Patrick Köllner and Susan Pares, contains concise overview articles covering domestic developments and the economy in both South and North Korea as well as inter-Korean relations and foreign relations of the two Koreas in 2010. A detailed chronology complements these articles. South Korea-related refereed articles in the 2011 volume deal with concerted efforts at ‘nation branding’, political relations with India, overseas resource acquisition, labour migration policies and problems, the US Armed Forces and entertainment districts in and near Seoul, return migration, and the impact of Korean popular culture on East Asian identity in Europe. Additional refereed articles provide analyses of North Korea’s cultural discourse on Russia and Russians, economic relations between China and North Korea, and international attempts at dealing with North Korea’s nuclear weapons programmes.
For more information, see the flyer and order form and the publisher's website.

Ed. by Frank, Rüdiger (2011), Exploring North Korean Arts. Nürnberg: Verlag für moderne Kunst

In an attempt to investigate contemporary North Korean society through art, twelve academic experts from eight countries came together in Vienna in September 2010 for the international symposium “Exploring North Korean Arts”, designed and organized by Prof. Frank of the Chair of East Asian Economy and Society at the University of Vienna in close cooperation with the MAK (Museum für Angewandte Kunst, museum of applied arts). The results of this symposium are now available as an edited book. Three core themes are addressed: (1) an introduction to North Korean art, including its function, its reception, and its connection to other spheres of society; (2) the question of exhibiting North Korean art; and (3)  examples of North Korean art ranging from traditional brush painting to music, stamps, mosaics and illustrations in children’s books. For the table of contents, the introductory chapter and ordering information, click here.  

Ed. by Frank, Rüdiger; Getreuer-Kargl, Ingrid; Pokorny, Lukas and Schick-Chen, Agnes (2011): Vienna Graduate Journal of East Asian Studies Vol. 1. Vienna: Praesens

The Vienna Graduate Journal of East Asian Studies is a joint project of the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna aiming to give our graduates the opportunity to show their results to a wider audience. Even more importantly, we want to provide their peers and the international academic community with access to the work of our young and hopeful researchers. The Journal also shows the diversity of research topics covered in East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna. Literature, society, culture, economy – all these fields are represented in our multidisciplinary approach to East Asia. Click here to purchase @Praesens.

Frank, Rüdiger et al. (2010), Korea Yearbook 4: Politics, Economy and Society, Leiden: Brill

Korea 2010: Politics, Economy and Society contains concise overview articles covering domestic developments and the economy in both South and North Korea as well as inter-Korean relations and foreign relations of the two Koreas in 2009. A detailed chronology complements these articles. South Korea-related refereed articles in the 2010 edition of the yearbook deal with the restoration of the Ch'ōnggyech'ōn River in Seoul, the role of think tanks in the discourse on East Asia, the economic policy response to the global financial crisis, the 'green growth' policy of the Lee Myung-bak government, economic relations with India, and the 'Manchurian western' genre in South Korean cinema. Additional refereed articles provide a meta-analysis of North Korean migration to China and South Korea and illuminate representations of the Korean War in North and South Korean children's literature. Purchase @amazon or @brill.

Kyung-Ae Park (2010), New Challenges of North Korean Foreign Policy, New York: Palgrave Macmillan

North Korea’s foreign policy behavior has long intrigued scholars, puzzled laymen, frustrated negotiators, and aggravated policy-makers. This book brings together the work of ten of the world’s foremost scholars and leading experts on North Korea to critically analyze the key factors and issues that are shaping North Korea’s foreign policy behavior and its future direction. Witnessing the rapid changes in North Korea’s foreign policy environment, the contributors to this volume examine the implications for Pyongyang’s foreign policy of the domestic challenges posed by the changing national identity and ideology, people’s exiting of the country, economic stagnation, and the military-first politics. They also offer insight into the impact of various external challenges on North Korea’s foreign policy, such as China ‘rising,’ multilateralism, and leadership changes in the United States and South Korea, and asses Pyongyang’s strategies for coping with these challenges. Click here to download an excerpt from Rüdiger Frank's article 'Socialist Neoconservatism and North Korean Foreign Policy'. Purchase @amazon

Claudia Schmidhofer (2010), Fakt und Fantasie. Das Japanbild in deutschsprachigen Reiseberichten 1854-1900, Wien: Praesens Verlag

In der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jh. gewann Japan, die einstige terra incognita, eine ungeahnte Popularität als Reiseziel, wovon ein umfangreiches Schrifttum Berufs- und Vergnügungsreisender zeugt. Dieser heute weitgehend dem Vergessen preisgegebene Literaturkorpus bietet nicht nur Einblicke in die Diskrepanz zwischen europäischem Wunschbild und fernöstlicher Wirklichkeit, poetischem Ideal und prosaischer Realität, sondern auch erstaunliche Aufschlüsse über die Traditionslinien gegenwärtiger westlicher Japan-Stereotype. Neben einer chronologischen Einzeldarstellung der betreffenden Japanliteratur sowie einer Schilderung der Reiseumstände und Reisebedingungen im ersten Teil des Buches bietet der zweite Teil eine imagologische Analyse der Reiseberichte.  Im Zentrum der Analyse steht der Begriff des Idyllischen, der eine fundamentale Rolle für die Konstruktion Japans als exotisches und idealisiertes Märchenland spielte. Gleichzeitig wird zu zeigen versucht, welchem Wandel Japan selbst und damit auch das westliche Japanbild im Verlauf eines halben Jahrhunderts unterworfen war. Purchase @amazon

Frank, Rüdiger and Sabine Burghart (2009), Driving Forces of Socialist Transformation. North Korea and the Experience of Europe and East Asia, Wien: Praesens Verlag

The book contains eleven articles and two comments covering post-socialism as research categories, experiences of East European and East Asian transformation of state socialism and an analysis of the North Korean case. Click here to download the order form and an excerpt. Purchase @amazon

Frank, Rüdiger et al. (2009), Korea Yearbook 3: Politics, Economy and Society, Leiden: Brill

The 2009 edition of the Korea Yearbook contains concise overview articles covering domestic developments and the economy in both South and North Korea as well as inter-Korean relations and foreign relations of the two Koreas in 2008. A detailed chronology complements these articles. South Korea-related refereed articles in the 2009 edition deal with the internal politics of the Democratic Labour Party, the origins of the nuclear industry, industrial relations in the metals sector, Cheju island as a medical tourism hub, President Lee Myung-bak as seen through political cartoons, the comfort women movement's regionalisation process and perceptions of North Korean women. Additional refereed articles analyse the reliability of North Korean survey data, the migration experience of North Korean refugees, and sports related cooperation between the two Koreas. Purchase @amazon

Pokorny, Lukas (2008), Ontologische Parallelen in Neuplatonismus und Neokonfuzianismus: Salomon ibn Gabirol und Yi Yulgok, Wien: Praesens Verlag

Neuplatonismus und Neokonfuzianismus im Vergleich: die vorliegende Studie dokumentiert, dass sich trotz unterschiedlicher doktrineller Parameter und eines divergenten kulturell eingebetteten, zeitlichen und lokalen Settings, anhand einer abstrahierenden Analyse parallele funktionale Strukturschemata im ontologischen Diskurs zweier prominenter Exponenten von Neuplatonismus und Neokonfuzianismus - Salomon ibn Gabirol und Yi Yulgok - herauskristallisieren lassen. Die Analyse stützt sich hierbei auf die Funktionalität grundlegender systemischer Funktionsträger - deus, voluntas, forma universalis und materia universalis respektive t'aegŭk, to, i und ki - und ist als ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Philosophie bzw. Religionswissenschaft zu sehen.