Dear colleagues and friends,

This is the 8th Annual Report of the Institute of Korean Studies (IKS) at Freie Universität Berlin. The first report was published in 2009. Preparing these reports helps us to reflect on our past and future activities. Due to the dedicated and sustained efforts of the members of our institute, there can be little doubt that the quality and the range of our work improved further during 2016.

During the last year, the research capacity and output of the IKS have increased significantly. The list of our publications has grown so long that only a selection of them could be included in this report. At the same time the number of students majoring in Korean Studies increased to more than 300, among them more than 50 graduate and doctoral students. [...]

Another remarkable achievement was the completion of the compilation of documents from archives of the German government on the German unification process. [...]

In an entirely different area, our contribution to the SFB 980 (Episteme in Motion) on the Sŏwŏn, Confucian private academies, was published in the form of a monograph. [...]

Turning to our students, we extended the range of our teaching activities to matters of gender studies and cultural anthropology. [...]

Regarding our cooperation with other institutions, the IKS initiated the establishment of the PBBP-KoreaNet as a platform of cooperation between the Korean Studies Departments in Paris, Bochum, Berlin and Prague. [...]

All of this would not have been possible without the enthusiasm and commitment of the members of the IKS. We are most grateful for the help and support of our trusted partners and friends at Freie Universität Berlin and at other institutions.