1. Please introduce yourself for the readers of the Korean Studies Promotion Service (KSPS) Newsletter.

My name is María del Pilar Álvarez, and I am an assistant professor at Universidad del Salvador (USAL, Del Salvador University) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am in charge of the Korean studies program there, and I also serve as a researcher at the Argentinean National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).

I always wanted to learn about other cultures and different socio-political issues. Thanks to a Korean-Argentine friend, I became interested in Korea. At that time, in Argentina it was almost impossible to study about Korea, as there were no Korean language programs or Korea-related university courses. Therefore, I applied for a grant funded by the Korean National Institute for International Education Development of Korea (NIIED). My first trip to South Korea was in August 2004, when I got the scholarship to study Korean language at Kyung Hee University, and a Master's degree in Korean Studies at Yonsei University. Because I liked Korea so much I continued to live in Seoul until 2009.

In 2010, I returned to Argentina and did my PhD. After defending my doctoral dissertation on Korea-Japan relations, I began to work at USAL as a Professor of East Asian Studies and international politics. In 2016, the university supported our application for the AKS Seed Program for Korean Studies. Since receiving the grant, we have been working to consolidate Korean studies at USAL.

2. At the beginning of this year, the Argentinian press reported that the Korean Wave has been sweeping across Argentina. Could you please explain the perception of Korea in Argentina?

In the last decade, growth in consumption of Korean cultural products in Argentina has significantly increased. This increase has led to the opening of Korean restaurants in different neighborhoods, the growth in Korean language courses, and the rise of K-pop fan groups that have social networks and hold their own events. For example, Korean food had been little known before, but now many Korean chefs have been invited onto local TV programs.

Recently, a new phenomenon that emerged is the Korean-Argentine You-tubers. These young people are from the Korean community, and they have opened You-Tube channels dedicated to Korea, with thousands of followers and subscribers.

During the pandemic, a substantial rise in Korean drama series consumption has been observed through platforms such as Netflix, which covers a really wide audience. We also have observed that Korean calligraphy, taekweondo, and literature courses (especially web-toons) are very well received by the local people.

The rise of these cultural products has improved the perception of Korea in my country. In the past, news on Korea was only about the "Korean economic miracle." Now, Argentines want to know more about Korean culture, traditions, foods, and urban planning, among other sociocultural aspects.

I think there is a positive perception of Korea here, sometimes a bit "Orientalist", but it allows us to deepen the field of Korean studies.

3. Del Salvador University (USAL) is the largest private university in Argentina. It established the undergraduate degree in Oriental studies for the first time in Argentina, and opened the Korean studies center in 2018. How is the overall status of Korean studies, as well as the demand for Korean studies, in Argentina and Latin America?

Del Salvador University (USAL) is a pioneering university in the development of Asian studies in Latin America. The institutional origin of Asian studies in Latin America dates back to the 1960s when, in the framework of UNESCO's Major Project for the Mutual Understanding of Eastern and Western Cultures, several universities carried out seminars and activities on Asian related topics. However, at the end of the project, only two university study programs were institutionalized: an undergraduate program at USAL, and a master's degree program at COLMEX-Mexico.

In 1967, Priest Ismael Quiles, who actively participated in the UNESCO project, founded the School of Oriental Studies at USAL. Quiles was a great admirer of Asian cultures and, driven by UNESCO and mainly by the Second Vatican Council, he decided to create the first undergraduate degree in Asian studies. Moreover, he worked on the development of lines of research on different Asian countries, created an academic Journal for East-West dialogues, and met with professors from the Asian region who visited the university through different opportunities. In 1987, Quiles published a book on Korea titled The Soul of Korea: Education, Culture, and Philosophy.

For decades, USAL and COLMEX´s programs have been the only university degrees on Asian studies. Yet since the rise of the “Asian tigers” and the increase in Korean migration to Latin America, what appeared was a new wave of studies, dealing with Asia in general and Korea in particular. In this atmosphere, the Congress of Korean Studies of Latin America (EECAL) was established in 2003, new lines of research on Korea were created, and some publications on Korea began to appear in the Spanish language. Despite this advance, however, it was still difficult to create a strong Korean studies field because there were few qualified professors. Most of the researchers who participated in these activities were not trained in Korean studies, and their publications were based on secondary sources. That was the situation when I graduated from my undergraduate degree in Political Science and, therefore, I decided to go to Korea to study.

A turning point in Korean studies was Hallyu. The increased consumption of Korean cultural products drove many young local people to become interested in the Korean language, history, and culture. Due to this boom, new study programs on Korea appeared in universities of Mexico, Brazil, and Chile. Also, most of the universities in Latin America started to organize activities on Korea-related issues.

When I started working at USAL in 2014, there was only one Korean studies center in Argentina at the National University of La Plata that offered an E-School course (open courses without credit) sponsored by the Korea Foundation. La Plata is a city in the province of Buenos Aires, and USAL is located in the federal capital (the main city of the country). At that time in Argentina, there were only university degrees on Asian or East Asian studies, and none on Korean studies specifically. Although USAL has a recognized track record in the development of Asian studies, as of 2014, the area of Korean studies was yet to stand independent from other areas such as Chinese or Japanese studies. For this reason, in 2016, we applied for the Seed Program for Korean Studies sponsored by AKS and, thanks to the grant, we were able to set up the Center for Korean Studies in 2018, the Diploma in Korean Studies in 2020. open more levels of Korean language courses (now we have six), and broaden the lines of research on Korea, including North Korean studies which has been a pending area in Latin American Korean studies.

The demand for Korean studies is very high; higher than we had ever imagined. When we started the Diploma in Korean Studies in July 2020, we weren't sure how many students would enroll. It exceeded our expectations. We opened Cohort 1 in July 2020 with 28 students, Cohort 2 in September 2020 with 33 students, Cohort 3 in March 2021 with 52 students, Cohort 4 in May 2021 with 29 students, and Cohort 5 in August 2021 with 27 students. The interests and academic profiles of our students are very varied. We have students interested in Korean language and translation, urbanism and feminism, but there are also many students who want to learn about North Korea or the international politics of the Korean Peninsula. For this reason, the Diploma has subjects that feature a great thematic diversity.

Finally, I would like to highlight another achievement made in recent years, which could be called a considerable improvement in the regional Korean studies network. For example, we have good relations with the Central University of Chile that has a master's degree program in Korean studies, as well as other institutions that work on Korea. In addition, young professors who have completed graduate degrees and language programs in South Korea have joined this network, greatly enriching Korean studies in Latin America.

4. Please introduce the education programs and other research activities on Korean studies at Del Salvador University.

Since 2016, we have been working on three axes: education, research, and publication-dissemination of Korean studies. In the area of education, we started with activities such as seminars conducted by visiting professors, conferences with local specialists, and incorporated courses (with credit) on Korea-related issues for our undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, in 2019, we organized the Diploma in Korean Studies that was officially approved in 2020. As I mentioned earlier, we have five cohorts and more than 160 students studying in the diploma program. We have students from all over the Spanish-speaking region, as it is an online program. The students have different ages and show diverse professional background, which reflects the transversal nature of interest in Korean studies. This program is structured with five subjects that cover pre-modern history, contemporary politics of both Koreas, social and cultural changes, the Korean language, and international relations and business.

These educational activities were planned in parallel with the development of research projects on Korea. Within the framework of the Institute for Social Sciences Research (IDICSO-CONICET), between 2016 and 2019, we carried out an exhaustive investigation on Korean cultural diplomacy in Argentina. The results of this research were published in scientific journals. In addition, we have deepened the line of research on post-colonialism and women, specifically, the case of "comfort women." Since 2019, we have been developing a new line of research on North Korea, emphasizing the role of civil society in inter-Korean relations.

Furthermore, we have not only worked in academic publications but have also been engaged in dissemination activities such as annual Essay contests on Korea, open talks on Korea-related issues, and participation in relevant conferences. We disseminate our activities on social networks, especially on our YouTube channel. The positive impact of these outreaching activities has been reflected in the high demand for our Diploma in Korean Studies program.

5. Del Salvador University has been carrying out the seed program for Korean studies since 2016 and is now doing the project “Consolidation of Korean Studies at Del Salvador University: The Creation of Argentina’s First Degree in Korean Studies.” What was the most remarkable achievement and the most challenging part during the project?

I believe that the major achievements of the Seed Program for Korean Studies have been: the creation of the Diploma in Korean Studies; the high number of students requesting admission to the Diploma; the publications on Korea in the Spanish language; the opening and consolidation of the Center for Korean Studies; the opening of Korean language courses (before there were only two levels of Korean language, and now there are 7); and the opening of new lines of investigation on Korea.

The biggest challenge will be to maintain the achievements once the Seed Program ends in May 2022. We are confident that thanks to the support of USAL, we will be able to deepen the field of Korean studies.

Another challenge will be to ensure that our students and professors continue to study and/or carry out research activities in Korea. This is a key policy to maintain the good academic quality of our Korean Studies Program. For this reason, we want to strengthen ties with AKS and other scientific institutions in South Korea, to spread scholarships and fellows among our students and members of the Korea Center.

6. What goals or hopes do you have for the rest of the seed program period?

We hope for the next year that the high demand for the Diploma in Korean Studies to continue. We would like to open one in-person cohort of the Diploma in Korean Studies in 2022, in addition to keeping the online program.

We will also hold the Korean Studies Congress-USAL and the Korea Essay Contest.

In addition, we hope to finish the publication of a book on inter-Korean relations from a Latin American perspective, which will feature the participation of prestigious academics from the region.

7. Thank you for taking your time to answer our questions. As a final question, is there anything that Korea and Argentina can do together for the study of Korean studies in both countries?

As I mentioned before, given the geographic distance and the scarce material resources that we have in our educational system, the challenge is to reinforce the educational and research cooperation between Argentina and Korea to achieve a fluid exchange of professors and students. For example, our scholars need to do more research stays in Korea and to take Korean language courses to improve or keep their level of Korean, and we need to promote scholarships among our students in order to develop the Korean studies field. The challenge is to maintain the academic quality of our Korea Center and the excellence in publications about Korea in the Spanish language.