This study focuses on the implications of the enactment of the Act on the Promotion of Education of Critical Foreign Languages in Korea. This act is a legal institutionalization of the state’s responsibilities for and roles of teaching less commonly taught foreign languages. Foreign language education policy in the country has focused on English and a few major foreign languages. However, the Korean government came to realize the importance of teaching numerous languages that had been considered minor ones to cope with “glocalization”. With the enactment of this Act, the Korean government officially recognized the importance of education related to various foreign languages within its legal framework for public education. The objective of this study is to review the background and outline of the Act and examine the implementation of the projects associated with it. This paper also discusses the expected effectiveness of the Act for teaching diverse foreign languages and issues in the implementation process.

This paper focuses on relations between Japan and the two Koreas, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Relations between Japan and the two Koreas can be simultaneously examined in three related contexts: the history of the national entities which is still subject to divergent interpretations, the post-Cold War East Asian security environment, and international relations (IR) theory, particularly the contrasts between neorealism, neoliberalism and neoclassical realism. In addition to traditional relations, the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910–1945) still serves as a relevant area of sensitivity between all three nations. The post-Cold War East Asian security environment is a complex mixture of vestiges of the Cold War and new regional paradigms and shifts of power, particularly against the backdrop of competing big-power interests converging on the region. Both the relations between these three nations and as well as the regional concerns of other state-actors have often been focused in recent years by North Korea’s developing nuclear weapons and missile technologies. Japanese-Korean relations present a contentious subject for IR scholars to debate the respective merits of various theoretical approaches. It is the opinion of the author that on balance, at least for the time being, neoclassical realism is a better lens through which to view these relations.

Polish education and research in Korea has become systematic since the establishment of the Department of Polish Studies at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS). The Department of Polish Studies at HUFS is the only academic department in Korea which teaches and studies the politics, economy, history, and culture of Poland, as well as the Polish language and literature. Since its establishment in 1987, the department has produced more than 800 graduates. The Department of Polish Studies forms and maintains a close relationship with universities in Poland. It also makes continuous effort for more students to study the Polish language at universities in Poland.

For this study, an evaluation tool focusing on the Polish history was developed to measure the academic performance of college students who major in the Polish language in Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of the tool on students’ academic performance after applying it in a classroom setting. The tool consisted of three types of questions, which were administered before and after the application of the tool to 108 students taking a Polish history course. The results of the study serve as a foundation for revitalizing research on Poland and Polish language education, as well as for improving students’ academic performance.