There are many ways to learn about a foreign country such as Korea, and most people would first turn to the Internet for information. However, there is a century-old organization that has tirelessly dedicated itself to Korean studies offline, sharing its knowledge and experience with people from all over the world. Its goal is simply to help everyone understand Korea better.
The Korean branch of Royal Asiatic Society (RAS-KB) has been around in Korea since 1900 when it was founded by 17 members, mostly missionaries including Horace Allen, Horace G. Underwood, James Scarth Gale, Homer B. Hulbert, and Henry Appenzeller, all whom helped shape the history of Korea in the early 20th century.
The organization opened as a local branch of the Royal Asiatic Society in London, adopted a constitution based on that of the London RAS and received permission to use the name RAS on the same year.
Now, the RAS-KB(www.raskb.com/lectures) offers various activities to its 1,000 members. It provides the public with semi-monthly lectures, organizes excursions throughout the Korean Peninsula, and publishes annual journals, Transactions, among others.
The RAS-KB has published over 50 titles about Korea since 1965 and has 250 books about Korea on sale, which is the world’s largest collection of books about the country. It has a library of 1,500 titles in rare and diverse volumes on Korea.
Most recently on May 14, the RAS-KB invited Kenneth R. Robinson, a special visiting scholar at the Northeast Asian History Foundation, to talk about Korea-Japanese relations from the 14th to 16th century
He explained how the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) responded to piracy by gradually allowing heavily regulated official trade, even dividing Japanese traders into a hierarchy. The lecture outlined how several Japanese traders were able to take on imposter identities for trade purposes, even forging messages from the Japanese Shogun and manipulating the diplomacy between the two neighboring kingdoms in the years leading up to the Imjin War (1592-98).
The RAS-KB mission is “to study, stimulate interest in and enhance understanding in English of Korea’s culture and history for Korean and international communities in Korea and around the world” as it is stated in its brochure.
“For 130 years, we have been doing a lot of things,” said Brother Anthony, the president of the RAS-KB, adding that it is all about learning, teaching, and discovering and it has been this way for over a century.
Brother Anthony called the RAS-KB “the first Korean studies organization in the world,” saying, “We studied Korea when the world did not know anything about Korea.”
Brother Anthony, originally from Britain, became a member of the Taize Community, a monastic order in France, in 1969. He came to Korea at the invitation of late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan and became a naturalized Korean citizen in 1995. He is also known by his Korean name An Sonjae and is professor emeritus at Sogang University.
“When I came to Korea in 1980, most people outside the country did not know about Korea,” he said.
Tom Coyner, a member of the RAS-KB and a business consultant, said RAS-KB membership has added enjoyment to foreign members during their stay in Korea by better understanding their new environment as well as meeting interesting people -- again, both foreign and Korean.
“RAS participation often facilitates and motivates foreigners to step outside of the ‘waeguk-in ghetto’ and to explore the real Korea,” he said.
However, things have changed much from 130 years ago. Now there is an overflow of information on the Internet and many newcomers to Korea search for information online rather than relying on the community. In that regard, the RAS-KB as the primary source of books on Korea in English has faced stiff competition.
“It is easy to go to any places in Korea because of so much information on the Internet,” Brother Anthony said. “You don’t need to be taken anywhere. Signs are all in English.”
Now the RAS-KB has been looking for ways to reposition itself and take a new approach to access newcomers to the country.
“We help them understand Korea better and take it seriously,” he said. “Korea is not all about ‘Gangnam Style’… You can’t learn from the Internet. Knowledge on the Internet is very shallow.”
Helping people around the world take Korea more seriously and providing “in-depth knowledge” about the country has been a new mission for the RAS.
In April, a lecture about North Korea by Andrei Lankov, a professor of history at Kookmin University, gathered hundreds of spectators.
The subject of the lecture was the increasingly female face of capitalism in North Korea. He said that the daily economy of North Korea is increasingly dominated by a multitude of private businesses that are largely run by women. Unlike the case of many post-socialist countries, the arrival of a market economy in North Korea has resulted in a significant improvement of women's social standing.
These kinds of lectures are becoming the new face of the RAS-KB.
“The lectures provide new insights for both foreigners and often Koreans on topics often not covered by other means,” said Tom Coyner. “Having some unusual understanding about various aspects of Korean culture, history, and politics usually advances goodwill between the foreign manager and his/her staff and customers.”
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