Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand 
why the old poets of China went so far
and high 
into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

A lecture, "Trade and Development with Human Capital: A Century's Narrative in Korea," by Dr. Hak Kil Pyo will serve as the keynote address at Asia 4.0: The 2019 Graduate Students' Conference, which will be held on 23 November 2019, 8 am to 4 pm, at the UP Asian Center, QC. The keynote will start at 1:30 pm. The conference is free and open to the public, but seating is first-come, first-served, but participants are encouraged to sign up.

The Lecture

This lecture will discuss the five (5) stages of economic development in Korea: (1) The Port-opening and the Japanese Colonial Rule (1910-1945); (2) The Development in the Rhee Regime (1945-1961); (3) The Development under the Park Regime (1962-1980); (4) The Development in transition to Democracy (1981-1991); and (5) The Development under the Civilian Rule (1992-2018).

The Speaker

Hak K. Pyo is currently Visiting Scholar at Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) and Professor Emeritus, the Faculty of Economics and Asia Center, Seoul National University. He has served as a Professor of International Economics and Econometrics at Seoul National University since 1981 until February 2013. He earned BA from Seoul National University (1970) and Ph.D from Clark University (1977). He also served as Visiting Professor at International Monetary Fund (1989-1990), Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University (1997-1998), and the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo (1998-1999; 2005 June-August). He has lectured on Korean Economy as Visiting Professor at UCSD, School of International Relations and Pacific Studies during Winter Quarter in 2006-2011.

The Conference

The conference features 16 papers across four panels. View the titles and abstracts of the presentations. For inquiries, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.


The Asian Center offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D.  program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. The Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website. For other news and upcoming events at the Asian Center, click here