It is said that when Koreans from Wrocław do an ‘outing’, they often go first to a concert at the National Forum of Music or another classical music concert? Is this true?

As much as possible.Of course, not all Koreans, but indeed many go to concerts at the Philharmonic or the National Forum of Music (NFM). We, as the University of Wrocław, also organise wonderful concerts in the Oratorium Marianum, in the University’s Main Building. It is unusual that former rector professor Adam Jezierski often plays the organ and piano in person.

I also see an instrument in your office, is it an electronic organ?

Yes, but I only play in class. It’s a new university course, an elective: ‘Contemporary Korean history in music’. To make it easier and more enjoyable to introduce students to Korean culture, we sometimes play and sing together.

Korean k-pop and cinema are now breaking popularity records not only in Korea, but also in Poland.

Yes, but not only pop, classical music is also very popular among Koreans. It has always been said that the best arts in East Asia are three: Chinese painting, Japanese crafts and Korean music.

Do Koreans like Wrocław?

After studying at the Jagiellonian University, I first lived in Kraków for seven years. Wrocław is different, and compared to the Cracovians, the people of Wrocław are definitely more open. This is certainly due to the fact that different nations have lived here for a long time and this multicultural atmosphere can be felt at every turn. In the past, Wrocław was co-habited by Germans, Jews, Czechs and Poles. They all lived together. And it is the same in today’s Wrocław: Poles and Ukrainians live together. There are also Koreans, there are a lot of Indians, and recently there has also been a growing African community. It is a very open and pleasant city to live in.

Do you like all the neighbourhoods? The Korean Institute is located on ul. Komuny Paryska, which is in the former Bermuda Triangle, once a not-so-safe neighbourhood.

Yes, I have heard, but there has never been an incident. It’s safe here. And we also run classes at ul. Św Jadwigi, in the very beautiful former library building on Piasek.

You are from the first year of Polonist-Koreans ever.

I am, but interestingly enough, there is also a colleague of mine from that first year in Poland, Mr Shik Kim, who works at the Korean embassy. He worked in Poland, then in Portugal, in Korea and came back to Poland.

You studied at the Jagiellonian University and now you are head of Korean Studies at the University of Wrocław. A small field of study, but one that is breaking records in popularity….

We are already in second place, behind psychology. We started in 2013, together with sinology, as ‘Far Eastern philology’. We recruited 60 students together, but the programme was separate – there was a Chinese part and a Korean part. From 2019 onwards, we are recruiting directly for the undergraduate programme in Korean Studies. At the beginning there were 11 people per place, in 2022 there were already 32 people per place, similarly last year.

How many places are available?

Last time we didn’t have a reserve, so we could only take 13 people in the first year. But from October there will be more than 20 students again. Of these, always about 10 per cent of our students are foreigners, mainly from the Ukraine.

How did you come to Poland?

I was born in Seoul, but because there was strong industrialisation on the south-eastern part of the Korean peninsula in the late 1960s and early 1970s, my family moved to the city of Ulsan, where there is, incidentally, the largest car manufacturing plant in the world – Hyundai. In high school, I was supposed to choose a university course, but I didn’t get as good a grade in my high school graduation as I expected. However, I didn’t want to repeat my university preparation, I just thought I would try something new. And then, in 1987, just before the Seoul Olympics, two brand new majors were created – Polish Studies and Romance Studies. I chose the former on the grounds that Polish culture is highly valued in Korea and the country itself is larger than Romania. But I quickly realised that Polish is much more difficult than Romanian… In Poland, a bachelor’s degree lasts four years, while in Poland I first had a language course, and then I studied sociology at Jagiellonian University and chose doctoral studies in sociology.

The Wrocław meeting with the author of the book ‘Polka w Korei’ was attended by crowds of over 200 people. Interest in contemporary Korea, its culture and customs is extraordinary. Can you feel it at the university?

As much as possible. At the University we have a quite specific course in Korean Studies. In general, Korean philology consists of literature and linguistics, and here it is a bit different, we have literature, but we also have Korean cinema, for example. I am a sociologist, so I also teach the subject ‘contemporary Korean society’, and I also had a class on the conflict and the peace process between South and North Korea. We were the first in Poland and probably the first in Europe to introduce calligraphy classes. We also had an internship at the LG factory near Wrocław.

Exactly, the LG company is making a big Korean diaspora in Wrocław. How many Koreans live and work there?

Now a little less, as the company has slightly reduced its production plan in recent years.There was a maximum of 5,000 Koreans, now there are about three. And do you know how many Korean restaurants there are in and around Wrocław?

Ten?

Twenty six.

Are they run by Koreans?

These are already multicultural businesses. More often than not, the owner and also the cook is Korean, the manager is Polish and there are many Ukrainians working in the restaurant.

And who teaches calligraphy classes at the UWr?

Hyesung Lee, or my wife.

Mr Haesung and Mrs Hyesung, or am I getting something wrong?

We have similar names, but in Poland you know it: it’s like Dominik and Dominika, or Maria and Marian. Hyesung is a painter, she studied oriental painting in Korea and came to study for her master’s degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. That’s where we met.

The Korean Studies department also teaches…

…two more Koreans and two Poles: mgr Anna Kasiura, mgr Mijin Mok, dr Marlena Oleksiuk and dr Marzena Zgirska-Lee. I now teach ‘contemporary Korean society’, plus a seminar and Korean cinema. I don’t teach Korean because I have a non-standard accent – a different intonation – and I’d better not teach it to our students.

How do you live in Wrocław?

I travel a lot, sometimes crossing half of Europe, and when I return home to Wrocław, I always feel that this is my home town. I live in Krzyki, right by the Powstańców Śląskich roundabout.

And Korean Studies itself and the University? Would you like it to go up in the rankings…

Of course, but in Poland it is always said that number one and two is Warsaw or Kraków, and number three or four is Poznań or Wrocław. It depends on the majors. We, as philology, are moving up and developing. I started teaching in 2010, in the beginning it was Korean studies. I lectured on religion and philosophy.

Your specialisation is Confucianism.

I first chose sociology. But it’s not enough in Poland, I had to choose something to stand out, to show my scientific knowledge and skills. I chose Confucianism, the values of Confucianism and its relationship in Korean cultural and economic development. In this I became a specialist, for Polish sociologists it is more difficult.

And in everyday perception too. For that Korean pop culture – comics, rock and pop music…

The classes on Korean art and aesthetics are taught by Ms Anna Kasiura. She is a graduate in art history, then she studied Korean studies with us , and then on to her master’s degree in Poznan, because we teach classes for the bachelor’s degree. In order to teach master’s, there has to be a postdoctoral fellow on the team, I have already written a monograph, but because of the Polish system, I can’t be postdoctoral yet. Because my work on Confucianism is sometimes sociology, sometimes religious studies and sometimes philosophy. It is the humanities. I take my book and in it there are three, four sociological articles, three-four articles from cultural studies and a few from history. Too many of these disciplines – it has to be specific – each chapter from a different one. It used to be when there was oriental studies, then everything was ok, after the reform it’s different.

In the building on Sand is Corean Corner, a mini museum with artefacts and haandbok, donated by the Cultural Centre and the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, in which a traditional Korean wedding is performed. Have you walked around in such attire?

Yes, but it was a long time ago, in Usan. Admittedly, when we got married Hyesung was in a dress and I was in a suit, but then we changed into haandbooks. Speaking of Korean things, did you know that it was in Korea that metal fonts were invented? And when was that?

I didn’t know. When?

200 years before Gutenberg, in 1234, Then the first books were published in Korea, printed with steel fonts. And the oldest existing book printed with metal movable type in the world is Jikji, printed in Korea in 1377.

So we have that in common too. Because in the University Library there are the oldest prints in Polish, which were created in 1475 in Wrocław.

Do you frequent the so-called ‘Korean town’?

Yes, there is one in Bielany near Wrocław. Some shops there have signs in Polish and Korean, as does the hairdresser. There are as many as four Korean grocery shops.

Do Koreans, like you, bond with Wrocław and stay here for longer?

There are more and more Polish-Korean and recently also Korean-Ukrainian couples in Wrocław. They are getting to know each other at LG and the companies that work with the Korean concern. Some of our graduates have Korean husbands, and one of them, Ms Beata, has recently obtained Korean citizenship, which is extremely difficult. You have to pass an exam not only in language, but in the whole history and culture of my country. Interestingly, she met her Korean husband in the skies, on a plane – she worked as a stweardess. Our graduates often continue their master’s studies in Warsaw or Poznan, some get government scholarships and go to Korea. Many of them stay in Korea. But the love of Korea starts with us, at the University of Wroclaw.

You have two daughters, do they live in Wrocław?

One came to Poland when she was 8 months old. She studied in Korea and the UK and wants to live in Korea, the other was born in Kraków and is now finishing high school in Wrocław.

I understand that you drive the ‘Korean’.

And that’s right, after the collapse of the Deawoo company, many Koreans left Poland, they started to arrive en masse when LG Electronic invested here. Two years ago, with students, lecturers and the dean, we looked at the factory near Wrocław. There are no longer workers there in the traditional sense. Here there are operators – they operate machines and robots, everything is automatic.

You don’t drive a Deawoo, you probably drive a Kia or Hyundai, and you probably have an LG TV?

No, I have a Samsung, but not a Korean car. I had a German car for a long time, a sturdy one, but for a few years now Korean cars are no longer inferior to them.

How do you see the Poles from the point of view of a Korean sociologist?

In my opinion, most Koreans have a similar mentality to Poles. I, for example, feel bad in the Czech Republic, it’s like some Poles who have been to Korea, China and Japan feel best in Korea.

What do you like best about Wrocław?

I am very proud of the university’s museum. Especially of the main building, the beautiful baroque Tausch Building and the Oratorium Marianum where Johaness Brahms performed. I have a dream. When we have the Korean Studies Conference – and I am the president of the Korea Society of Central and Eastern Europe – I would like to invite scholars from all over the world to the Aula Leopoldina for the opening. Three years ago we hosted the conference, but because of the pandemic it was remote and I could not show the University. This year we will be in Budapest, but I am again looking forward to Wrocław….

Interviewed by Jacek Antczak