CKS History
The Committee on Korean Studies was founded in 1968. Hesung Koh served as the first elected chair from 1968 to 1970. A survey of membership interest conducted by Dr. Koh indicated that there were three hundred members registered, including scholars, graduate students, government officials, and journalists. This survey helped to legitimize the existence of a separate committee within the Association for Asian Studies.
Since the early 1980s, the Committee has administered small grants for travel and research. Beginning in the late 1990s, it served as the award committee for the support of Korean studies at American universities including student aid, faculty grants, conferences, translation projects, and cultural activities with funds from the Korea Foundation.
Currently, the Committee has approximately one thousand members. Its membership is defined as those members of the Association for Asian Studies who identify Korea as their primary or secondary country of interest. There are no membership dues apart from those paid for AAS membership. CKS Executive Committee members are elected by the CKS membership and serve staggered three-year terms.
In cooperation with the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, the CKS publishes a semi-annual newsletter (free to members, and also available online), which contains news of the field, grant programs, conferences, and other news relating to the profession for the CKS membership. You can subscribe to the mailing list online and view back issues of the newsletter through the UH-Manoa Center for Korean Studies website.
