Courtesy of Seoul National University

Yale is looking to expand its academic partnerships in South Korea, prompting a visit from University President Peter Salovey and a delegation of staff members to the country over spring break.

Salovey and his delegation arrived in Seoul on March 22 before he delivered a lecture at Seoul National University on March 24 on “Emotional Intelligence in the Lab, Workplace, and Classroom.” Salovey and members of the delegation spent the rest of the trip meeting with officials at Korean institutions and alumni in the region.

In an email to the News, Salovey wrote that his trip to South Korea served as a continuation of the University’s efforts to foster its research and educational partnerships in the country and the broader region.

“Overall, my trip served to support faculty-led partnerships and to enhance connections with alumni and colleagues in the region,” Salovey wrote. “Yale has built up a tremendous group of faculty members specializing in South and East Asia. It was wonderful to discuss the scholarship, research and teaching Yale faculty members are contributing to the world and to learn about the work being done at universities in Korea.” 

Over the course of the trip, Jieun Pyun, director for Asia at the Office of International Affairs, met with institutional officials at Yonsei University’s College of Medicine to discuss potential collaboration in faculty research and student exchange programs. With leaders of the Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology, she then explored possible partnerships between the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science and KIAT.

Pyun also met with officials at the Korean Council for University Education, Korea University and the U.S. embassy in Seoul.

“My role in this trip was to help bring Yale to the Korean community through public and press engagement, as well as to have conversations about ongoing and new collaborations, ” Pyun told the News.

Mitchell Kim ’25, co-president of Korean American Students at Yale, said that he is excited about the prospect of Yale developing a relationship with the country where his family is from.

He said that when he hears of Yale students going to South Korea, it is typically for language study through a program such as the Richard U. Light Fellowship — a fully-funded program for Yale students of “exceptional promise” to study Chinese, Japanese or Korean in China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Kim said that after hearing of Salovey’s visit, he looks forward to when he can read about students from Yale and from South Korean institutions like Yonsei University collaborating on a research project.

“When I heard about President Salovey’s visit to Korea, I [got] really excited about a lot of the research opportunities and the overall collaborative opportunities that Yale will have with South Korean universities in the future, ” Kim said. “As far as I know, it’s been a lot of language study, but I’m so excited to see how this can be further developed in partnerships ”

Jake Tae ’24, co-president of the Korean international undergraduate student organization Hanppuri, said that he is also excited about the University’s growing attention to Korea.

Tae added that Hanppuri, whose members are mainly Korean international students, is willing to assist with the University’s process of learning more about Korea and its culture and language.

“It’s great that there’s an increase of attention about Korea and Korean culture, ” he said. “And if we can do our part in contributing to that process, we’re happy to do that.”

During the recent trip to Korea, Salovey met with Yale Club of Korea president Charles Lho SOM ’85 for an alumni event in Seoul.

According to Salovey, the number of Korean students enrolled at the University has grown steadily and now comprises the fifth-largest international student group at Yale. 

“I very much enjoyed meeting with Charles Lho and other alumni at the Yale Club of Korea event,” Salovey wrote. “We have over 600 alumni from Korea. Quite a few become faculty members at top Korean universities such as Seoul National University, including former Prime Minister Hong-Koo Lee who we honored at the reception.”

Salovey has served as president of Yale University since 2013.