Explore Korea’s pivotal role in international relations, where alliances, rivalries, intelligence, and soft power converge in one of the world’s most consequential geopolitical arenas.
16
None
Korean
English
Aug 31 – Dec 13
South Korea
Japan
Seoul
Required
Geopolitics & Power
This program puts you at the center of one of the world’s most dynamic strategic landscapes. From the program’s base in Seoul, you will engage directly with the people and institutions shaping contemporary Korean foreign policy, guided by faculty and local experts. You will build a portfolio of fieldwork, analysis, and an evidence-based final policy project, honing the analytical and communication skills that prepare you for an international career. A multi-day excursion to Japan and a visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) place Korea in comparative and geopolitical perspective, illuminating alliance politics, historical memory, and national division.
All students take a shared core course, Korea and the World, which builds the foundation for the program by tracing Korea’s transformation from a post-war state into a middle power navigating complex relationships with the United States, China, and Japan. You will design your own focus, choosing two of four electives that approach Korean security and diplomacy from distinct angles—regional security in the Indo-Pacific, intelligence and cybersecurity, Korean language, or soft power and cultural diplomacy. Whichever you choose, you will move well beyond the classroom through diplomatic simulations, stakeholder mapping, open-source analysis, and field visits to ministries, think tanks, embassies, and civil society organizations.
None.
Students studying on this SIT semester-length program can choose to simultaneously complete a minor, with no additional coursework or cost. At SIT, a minor is a minimum of 16 credits taken within a content area. This standout credential can help boost your future job or graduate school applications.
SIT's program in South Korea offers the choice to do a minor in International Relations or East Asian Studies. You'll develop critical perspectives on alliance politics, regional security, and the forces shaping order in the Indo-Pacific. Through coursework, field-based learning in Seoul, and your Independent Study Project or internship, you'll examine diplomacy, deterrence, and great-power competition firsthand - graduating with the analytical tools, on-the-ground experience, and global perspective to thrive in careers spanning international affairs, security and intelligence, policy, and beyond.
A guided excursion to the line dividing the two Koreas brings the program’s central themes into sharp focus. Visiting key sites along the world’s most heavily fortified frontier, students confront national division as a living reality rather than an abstraction. Standing where the peninsula has remained split since 1953, they connect classroom analysis of deterrence, the armistice, and the ROK–U.S. alliance to the geography that defines Korean security, gaining a visceral sense of how division shapes the region.
This multi-day excursion places Korea in a comparative perspective. Students examine Korea–Japan relations firsthand—alliance management, regional security, and the politics of historical memory (comfort women, forced labor, the politics of apology)—through meetings with Japanese policymakers, academics, and civil society organizations. Using the same analytical lenses developed across the semester, students compare how the two neighbors approach shared challenges, turning abstract questions of strategy and reconciliation into a lived, comparative field experience.
Please note that SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, however, SIT may have to change or cancel programs.
By the end of the program, you will be able to:
The following syllabi are representative of this program. Because courses develop and change over time to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, actual course content will vary from term to term.
The syllabi can be useful for students, faculty, and study abroad offices in assessing credit transfer. Read more about credit transfer.
Korea and the World – syllabus
(ASIA3000 / 3 credits)
This interdisciplinary core course introduces South Korea’s role in global and regional affairs, tracing its transformation from a divided post-war state into a major democratic and technological power. Students analyze Korea’s positioning as a middle power navigating relationships with the United States, China, and Japan while advancing its interests through economic diplomacy, development cooperation, and cultural influence. Drawing on international relations theory—middle-power diplomacy, hedging, and alliance politics—the course pairs seminars with field visits to ministries, think tanks, embassies, cultural institutions, and civil society organizations. A multi-day excursion to Japan lets students examine Korea–Japan relations firsthand and compare how the two neighbors approach regional security, historical reconciliation, and alliance management. Through lectures, discussions, simulations, and field experiences, students build skills in policy analysis, stakeholder mapping, diplomatic communication, and cross-cultural engagement, and consider often-overlooked dimensions, such as civil society’s role in shaping foreign policy.
Choose two electives from the list below:
Regional Security in the Indo-Pacific – syllabus
(ASIA3010 / 3 credits)
This course investigates the Indo-Pacific as a dynamic strategic arena and how South Korea engages regional institutions and partners to promote stability and growth. We will analyze multilateral frameworks—ASEAN Plus Three, the Quad, and AUKUS—alongside Korea’s own security initiatives, and weigh competing visions for regional order, including the U.S. Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy, ASEAN’s Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, and China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The course examines major-power strategies, ASEAN’s contested centrality, maritime and economic security, and how middle powers such as India, Australia, Indonesia, and Vietnam navigate great-power competition through hedging. Field visits to think tanks, embassies, and policy institutes ground the analysis, culminating in a strategic simulation and student policy briefs on Korea’s Indo-Pacific options.
Intelligence and Cybersecurity – syllabus
(SECU3000 / 3 credits)
This course examines how intelligence and information shape security and diplomacy. Centered on South Korea’s regional context, it explores how states gather, interpret, and share information to anticipate threats and build trust. We will study intelligence cooperation, open-source analysis, and disinformation alongside cybersecurity policy and digital governance, working through comparative cases that range from North Korean cyber operations to U.S.–ROK intelligence sharing and regional technology competition. The course introduces open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques and the ethical, legal, and oversight frameworks governing intelligence activity. Field visits and briefings with security professionals, technology firms, and civil society organizations connect classroom frameworks to practice, building toward a threat assessment, an OSINT analysis project, and a cybersecurity policy proposal.
Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy – syllabus
(DIPL3000 / 3 credits)
This course explores how South Korea projects influence through culture, media, and education as instruments of diplomacy and foreign policy. We will examine the global reach of K-pop, K-drama, film, and digital content, analyzing how creative industries operate as tools of soft power alongside government cultural- diplomacy strategies. The course weighs both the successes and the limits of cultural diplomacy—how Korean culture is received, translated, and localized across diverse contexts, and how cultural strategies intersect with economic, political, and security interests. Case studies span the Korean Wave (Hallyu), beauty and fashion, food diplomacy, and digital platforms. Field visits to cultural agencies, production studios, exchange programs, and cultural centers show how culture functions as a diplomatic resource, building toward a Cultural Diplomacy Strategy Proposal.
Beginning Korean – syllabus
(KORE1003-1503 / 3 credits)
This course includes an introduction to Korean, both spoken language and the written Hangul script. You will learn grammatical rules, vocabulary, structure, and methods of forming sentences. Students You will use Korean to express yourself in daily life, and to develop a deeper understanding of Korean culture through different applications of the language.
Intermediate Korean – syllabus
(KORE2003-2503 / 3 credits)
This course helps you improve intermediate skills in speaking, reading, writing, and listening. You will continue to learn grammatical rules, vocabulary, structure, and methods of forming sentences. You will use Korean to express yourself in daily life, and to develop a deeper understanding of Korean culture through different applications of the language.
Choose one of the following two courses:
Social Science Methods and Ethics in Global Contexts – syllabus
(RSCH3500 / 3 credits)
This course is designed to introduce you to the methodological tools deployed by social scientists to conduct empirically grounded and theoretically engaged research. The course will cover the basic elements of research design, the role of theory in empirical research, and the ethics for social scientific research, with particular attention to the complex ethical considerations that arise when conducting research in international and cross-cultural contexts. You will gain hands-on experience with both basic quantitative and qualitative methods, with the flexibility to emphasize your preferred methodological approach in your final work. Using this project-based approach, the course will prepare you to design and execute social science research projects while developing competency across methodological traditions.
OR
Global Organizational Culture and Ethics – syllabus
(GOCE3500 / 3 credits)
This course will equip you to engage meaningfully and ethically in internship experiences across diverse sociopolitical, cultural, environmental, and global contexts. Using a critical, practice-based approach, we will examine the nature and purpose of internships as transformative experiential learning opportunities that connect to the program’s theme. Emphasis is placed on navigating workplace and organizational cultures, reflecting on identity and positionality in professional settings, and applying ethical principles to working globally with communities, individuals, and environments—particularly in collaboration with vulnerable populations and in sensitive ecological or habitat settings.
In addition to taking the above courses, students will also need to enroll in one of the following two courses:
Independent Study Project – syllabus
(ISPR300 / 4 credits)
The Independent Study Project (ISP) offers you the opportunity to undertake an in-depth, analytical, and individualized approach to the independent study of an aspect of culture and socio-economic development or human-environment interaction that you find of academic interest. The ISP provides you with a hands-on research experience and the chance to interact with local experts and investigate a topic in which you are interested. The ISP process challenges you to take responsibility for developing learning goals and outcomes, remain focused to attention to details, analyze pre-conceptions and methodological approaches towards interacting with people and the environment, exercise critical thinking and caution in the interpretation of results, and learn from successes as well as their setbacks.
OR
Internship and Seminar – syllabus
(ITRN3000 / 4 credits
This seminar consists of a four-week internship with a local community organization, research organization, local or international NGO. This internship enables you to gain valuable work experience and to enhance your skills in an international work environment. You will complete an internship and submit a paper in which you process your learning experience on the job, analyze an issue important to the organization, and/or design a socially responsible solution to a problem identified by the organization.
You will live in a student residence or apartment in Seoul. Residences typically include kitchen facilities, a washing machine, and Wi-Fi. Rooms may be shared, depending on availability.
Please note that specific housing locations and amenities are subject to change.
SIT Study Abroad is committed to ensuring that international education is within reach for all students. We believe in the transformative power of immersive, intercultural experiences and are dedicated to supporting students in their educational journey.
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A critical step in preparing for your study abroad program is planning how you will maintain your health and wellbeing. Please review the following information carefully and contact [email protected] with any questions or concerns.
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Students are required to obtain a visa for this program. Your admissions officer will provide you further guidance on the process and support documents. Please do not apply without instructions from your admissions officer.
