Our M.A. Programs in International Studies
M.A. – Korea Studies
This program information is for M.A. students who started this program in Autumn 2024 or before.
*This M.A. degree program will be discontinued at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year and will be updated into a new degree program: M.A., East Asia Studies. The degree will combine China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan Studies programs.
The University of Washington is one of the few places in the United States that offers an M.A. program in Korean Studies. Courses are offered in Korean language, history, society, politics, literature and law. The language program offers four full years of instruction in modern Korean language as well as courses in advanced reading. The history courses cover the full range of the Korean experience, from the origins of the Korean people in the archaeological record to contemporary times. Graduate seminars provide opportunities for research in Korean and other non-Western languages on a variety of topics in the political, social, economic and intellectual history of the country. Courses on Korean society focus on the 20th and 21st centuries, and the political, economic and social development of both South Korea and North Korea.
The objective of the program is to provide students with a broad background which will be of use to them in a variety of professions. Over the past decade, graduates from this program have gone on to successful careers in business, banking, government, social work and education. Others have used this degree as a step toward earning a doctorate in history, political science, anthropology or comparative literature at this and other universities. One result of this process has been the creation of a community of students at the University with interests in the Korean area, a valuable asset to the program.
The program emphasizes the study of Korea in the context of East Asian civilization and the modern world economy, not simply as a single country in isolation from its neighbors. Students are encouraged to take related courses on China, on Japan and in international studies, so that they will emerge from their experience at the University with comprehensive training.
– Hajin Jun, Chair
HOW TO APPLY
Applications must be submitted by January 31 for admittance to the autumn quarter cohort. We only accept students into the M.A. program during autumn quarter.
You can find information about the application requirements and process on our website.
2025-2026 HANDBOOK
Our handbook serves as a compilation of UW and Jackson School resources for students and a reference guide containing the school’s academic requirements, deadlines, policies, and procedures. You are responsible for knowing and adhering to the contents of this handbook. Any questions about this handbook can be directed to the appropriate adviser as listed in the general advising section.
We encourage you to seek out and take full advantage of the opportunities all over the UW campus as well.
Information about advising, M.A. degree requirements, curriculum requirements, language requirement, capstone research paper(s), and a timeline to finish the degree in 1 or 2 years is included below.
- General Advising
- M.A. Degree Requirements
- Course of Study
- Capstone Research Paper(s) and Oral Exam
- Prerequisites and Language Proficiency
- Model Timeline for Completing the Degree
In addition, you will find more information about policies, procedures and other resources related to the program on the following webpages:
- Concurrent Degrees
- Graduate Certificates
- Tuition & Funding
- UW Academic Policies
- Graduation Processes
- Other Resources
GENERAL ADVISING
The Jackson School staff and faculty offer a variety of support and guidance to prospective and current students.
Professor Hajin Jun is the Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC) for our M.A. in Korea Studies. As the GPC, Dr. Jun serves as the academic adviser for the program. Please meet with her at least once per year to review your course of study and request any necessary approvals required. After you have formed your supervisory committee in your second year, your committee chair also advises you. Please see the section titled supervisory committee for more information on your committee’s role, duties, and your responsibility to it.
Jesús Hidalgo is the Graduate Program Adviser (GPA) for all our graduate programs. He will advise you regarding degree requirements, academic planning, policies and procedures, and graduation. Please meet with him at least once per year to ensure you are on track to graduate. >
The adviser-student relationship implies mutual responsibility. Faculty and staff advisers have office hours over Zoom and in person, where you can drop by to talk, and they may also be available by appointment at other times. Students are responsible for seeking out faculty and staff either during office hours or by making appointments. Please be proactive about your advising and ask early for the assistance that you need.
If you find yourself struggling academically, meet with the GPC or GPA to discuss your options.
Other advisers
- Rita Bashaw (FLAS Manager): rbasha@uw.edu; THO 124. Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships
- Paul Carrington (Associate Director, Division 1 East Asia): pauldc@uw.edu; THO 406. Language Programs, Fellowships Opportunities
- Ellen Eskenazi (Program and Operations Specialist): esky@uw.edu; THO 302-A. Language Programs; Fellowships; Community Outreach
- Hyokyoung Yi (Korea Studies Librarian): Suzzallo Library. Korea Studies collections; Research
- TBD (Assistant Director of Student Services): jsisjobs@uw.edu or jsisalum@uw.edu; THO 111A. Career Services; JSIS 497 Internship Course; Alumni Relations
- Office of Academic Services: jsisoas@uw.edu for Course Registration & General Inquiries; & Additional Advising contact: jsisadv@uw.edu (THO 111)
M.A. DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Students receive the M.A. degree when they have fulfilled the following requirements:
- Complete curriculum requirements, including thirty-six credits of graduate level work (400-level classes and above,of which eighteen credits must be 500-level and above), not including language classes;
- Maintain a GPA of 3.0 or above;
- Achieve third-year level proficiency in Korean;
- Complete either an essay of distinction or two article-length papers under faculty supervision;
- Pass the oral exam; and
- Comply with the rules and regulations of the UW Graduate School.
All degree requirements must be met within six years of the start of your program. This time limit includes leaves of absence. Under extraordinary circumstances, your GPC and GPA may agree to extend this limit.
COURSE OF STUDY
The required core courses are introductory graduate-level courses focusing on the interdisciplinary study of modern Korea through readings drawn from several academic disciplines.
HSTAS 482 History of Modern Korea (5 credits) Korean History from 1860 to the present. Topics covered are traditional institutions and society, Japanese colonial rule, liberation and the Korean War, early Korean communist movement, and North and South Korea since 1945.
JSIS A 566 Comparative Politics and Korea Studies (5 credits) Approaches Korean politics, political economy, and society from a comparative perspective. Examples of major comparative questions based on the Korean case include democratization, strong state dynamics, civil society, and impact of globalization.
JSIS A 584 Survey of Korean Society (5 credits) Social organization and values of 20th century Korea. Changes in family and kinship, gender relations, rural society, urban life, education, and industrial organization since 1900. Differences between North and South Korea since 1945.
JSIS A 585 Research Seminar: Modern Korea (5 credits) Advanced instruction in problems and method of research in Korean history.
The Korea Studies program may accept coursework at other universities as equivalent to a required class with written permission from the GPC, but it is uncommon.
JSIS A 584 should be taken your first year in autumn quarter as a foundational course for developing an initial, graduate-level research project. During JSIS A 585, you will produce a major research paper which you will use as one of the papers you present for your oral exam. The work produced in JSIS A 585 may build upon your work from JSIS A 584, or it may be an entirely different project. The paper produced during JSIS A 585 may be one of the two capstone research papers you must complete during your degree, or it may be a work-in-progress version of your Essay of Distinction.
You must take sixteen additional credits to complete your degree, but you are encouraged to take more. It is possible to apply JSIS 600: Graduate Independent Study to these credits. Three of these credits must be at the 500-level or above.
As this program emphasizes the study of Korea in the context of East Asian civilization and the modern world economy, not simply as a single country in isolation from its neighbors, course work in this area does not have to focus solely on Korea. Courses on China, Japan or Russia are relevant to understanding Korea as are courses offered by the general International Studies program, so you are encouraged to take them to fulfill this requirement.
This is an interdisciplinary program and you are encouraged to take courses from a variety of disciplines such asHistory, Political Science, and Economics. Language training classes cannot be utilized to fulfill this requirement, but courses in literature are allowed.
Students are welcome to find UW faculty members across campus teaching courses on Korea through the Korea Studies Program website and the East Asia Center website.
CAPSTONE RESEARCH PAPER(S) AND ORAL EXAM
Students can complete either a thesis or two separate research papers. Each student must form a supervisory committee to advise them during their work and assess their completed work. You should consult what option you would like to select with the GPC initially and then regularly with your supervisory committee members for guidance in research and writing.
Essay of distinction
This option is designed for students who wish to undertake a major research project that involves extensive use of primary sources. Generally, work on the essay begins in a graduate seminar, such as JSIS A 585.
An essay of distinction is typically about 15,000 words long.
Two research papers
Alternatively, students may choose to write two research papers expanding on papers written for their seminar classes.
Each research paper is typically about 8,000 words long and must be revised to incorporate comments from the instructor on the original versions.
Concurrent degree students may submit the written paper required through their professional degree program as their second paper. These papers must have sufficient international substance to qualify; as determined by the GPC.
ORAL EXAM
The final oral exam is based on the thesis or two research papers, any implications of your topic(s), and its relevance to global trends. All exams are different and you should ask your committee about your exam specifically. Below is an example of how the exam may be structured.
The oral exam is to be scheduled no earlier than one week after the research paper(s) have been submitted to the committee members. The discussion in the oral exam will be based on your research paper(s). All exams are different and you should ask your committee about your exam specifically. Below is an example of how the exam may be structured.
At the start of the exam, students are asked to step out of the exam room, while the committee members deliberate about the student’s candidacy and the line of questioning they will pursue. Students are expected to prepare a brief, ten to twenty minute, presentation about their research projects. Following these deliberations, committee members will ask the student questions for about forty-five to sixty minutes. The student will then leave the room while the committee deliberates on the results of the oral exam. Following their second deliberation, the chair will invite the student back to the exam room to inform them of the results of their exam.
You will take your oral exam with your supervisory committee during the quarter you intend to graduate.
Committee members may award distinction to students with outstanding performance in their written work (essay or two papers) as well as in their oral exam. The following two categories of distinction will be awarded to students for their overall body of work and with unanimous consent of all committee members.
- High Pass: A High Pass will be awarded to students who (1) showed overall mastery of material in their thesis or, whose two papers exhibit a close to publishable quality; and (2) delivered an impressive performance during their oral exam that showed substantial theoretical and empirical knowledge of their fields of study.
- Honors: Honors will be awarded to students who (1) showed excellent mastery of material in their thesis or, whose two papers are of publishable quality; and (2) delivered an outstanding performance during their oral exam that showed excellent and broadly situated theoretical as well as empirical knowledge of their respective fields of study in the context of international affairs.
PREREQUISITES & LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
Language proficiency is not required for admission.
Language study is an essential part of the program. Courses in Korean language and literature are offered by the Department of Asian Languages and Literature (AL&L). While you are required to complete third-year Korean, you are urged to take instruction beyond this level if your schedule permits.
Students with minimal background in Korean may wish to take first-year Korean in their first year, intensive second-year Korean during the summer term (available in Korea), then third-year Korean in the second year. If your class is already full, have your name placed on a waiting list in the AL&L department and identify yourself as a JSIS Korea Studies graduate student.
The AL&L department requires a placement exam before you register for Korean. Contact the department asianll@uw.edu.
If you believe you are at or beyond the required language level but do not have a transcript to show this, you should arrange to take a proficiency exam. Do this early before you start your program; if your exam results do not show the required proficiency, you will need time to take the appropriate course work. The exam is administered by the Office of Educational Assessment. You can take the KR100A to prove proficiency through the first year and KR200A to prove proficiency through the second year. You can retake both tests as many times as you would like. You will still need to take third-year Korean.
Those of you who are concerned about FLAS eligibility need to be taking either first-, second-, third-, or fourth-yearKorean to qualify for the semester FLAS. If you are completely fluent, you are ineligible for a FLAS in Korean; however, you are eligible to apply for a FLAS in another language and area of study.
MODEL TIMELINE FOR COMPLETING DEGREE IN TWO YEARS
This timeline is for students who have no prior training in a language. It is intended to be a guideline and model for courses taken as a full-time M.A. student, not a required path for all students. It is also different than the path concurrent students will take.
YEAR 1
- Autumn (15 credits: 10 graduate cr + 5 language cr):
- Korean Year 101 (5 cr)
- JSIS A 584 (5 cr)
- Relevant Seminar (5 cr)
- Winter (15 credits: 10 graduate cr + 5 language cr):
- Korean Year 102 (5 cr)
- JSIS A 566 (5 cr)
- HSTAS 482 (5 cr)
- Spring (15 credits: 10 graduate cr + 5 language cr):
- Korean Year 103 (5 cr)
- Relevant Seminar (5 cr)
- Relevant Seminar (5 cr)
- Summer (15 credits):
- Intensive Korean Year 2 (15 cr)
YEAR 2:
- Autumn (10 credits: 5 graduate cr + 5 language cr):
- Korean Year 301 (5 cr)
- Relevant Seminar (5 cr)
- Winter (10 credits: 5 graduate cr + 5 language cr):
- Korean Year 302 (5 cr)
- JSIS A 585 (5 cr)
- Spring (10 credits: 5 graduate cr + 5 language cr):
- Korean Year 303 (5 cr)
- Relevant Seminar (5 cr)
* If approved by the Graduate Program Coordinator, up to five (5) 400-level credits taken at the Jackson School as an undergraduate student can be counted towards the 39 graduate credits you have to accumulate for your M.A. degree.
HANDBOOKS
M.A. in Korea Studies Handbook 2023-24
M.A. in Korea Studies Handbook 2022-23
AFFILIATED CENTERS
The Jackson School houses 14 outreach centers. These centers provide opportunities for educators, students, and the community to learn about the world. Some of them have specific scholarship opportunities and other resources that may be useful. Here are those you might find particularly useful:
CENTER FOR KOREA STUDIES EAST ASIA CENTER CHINA STUDIES PROGRAM JAPAN STUDIES PROGRAM ELLISON CENTER FOR RUSSIAN, EAST EUROPEAN & CENTRAL ASIAN STUDIES