Lunch Forum

We would like to invite everyone who is interested to the East Asian Studies Lunch Forum during the summer semester of 2026.

The Lunch Forum will be held in hybrid form on Wednesdays from 12 to 1 pm (sharp). The lectures will take place on the campus of the Ruhr-University in building MB room 3/126 and will also be broadcast via Zoom. To receive a notification with the Zoom access link, please send a short email with the subject 'Anmeldung zum Mittagsforum', the text 'Teilnahme' and your name to ostasienwissenschaftliches-mittagsforum@ruhr-uni-bochum.de. As usual, food and drinks are allowed due to the lunch time.

Join Zoom-Meeting

https://ruhr-uni-bochum.zoom-x.de/j/63949675667?pwd=grdAh9gdxYMIKQvpSXGGjFmAfmDVjy.1

Lunch Forum programme

29. April

Thomas Kalinowski (Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul): The Political Economy of Korea’s Rise as an Arms Exporter

South Korea’s rapid emergence as a major global arms exporter (often dubbed “K-Defense” in Korea) is the latest success story of Korean industrial development. Korean arms exporters have been able to benefit substantially from the increase in defense spending since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While often framed as a triumph of private-sector competitiveness in a globalized market, this paper argues that the sector’s success can be more persuasively explained as part of a path dependency of the Korean developmental state. This paper situates the South Korean defense industry within broader debates on the evolution of the developmental state (Johnson, Amsden, Evans) and the continuity of the chaebol-state nexus. We contend that the institutional architectures forged during the Heavy and Chemical Industrialization (HCI) drive of the 1970s created institutions and practices that continue to shape industrial strategy today. Specifically, we identify three mechanisms of path dependence that define the K-Defense model, challenging the "disappearance" of the developmental state.

13. Mai

Jongwon Lee (History, Seoul): The Discourse of Ruling with Filial Piety (Hyoch’i) in the Chosŏn Dynasty

This presentation examines the discourse of ruling with filial piety (hyoch’i), in the Chosŏn dynasty. Focusing on the Xiaojing (Hyogyŏng) and the related term hyori, it asks how filial piety was connected to loyalty, rulership, ritual, and dynastic legitimacy. While previous studies have often interpreted hyoch’i as a non-Neo-Confucian discourse aimed at strengthening royal authority, this presentation reconsiders that view. Drawing on official records such as the Annals of the Chosŏn Dynasty and the Sŭngjŏngwŏn ilgi, it shows how hyoch’i was repeatedly reinterpreted within Chosŏn’s Neo-Confucian political and ritual order.

3. Juni

Yun Xie (History, Ghent): tba

10. Juni

In Young Min (Zentrum für Ostasienwissenschaften, Heidelberg): New Southern Policy vs. Indo-Pacific Strategy: South Korea’s Competing Visions of Regional Order

26. Juni

Kevin Bockholt (Geschichte Chinas, Bochum): China’s First Foreign Correspondent: Hu Lin’s Reporting on the Paris Peace Conference in 1919

1. Juli

Lena Wassermann (Chair for China Bussiness and Economics, Würzburg): Governed by Scores? The Impact of China's Social Credit System on German Firms

8. Juli 

Jing Hu (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Berlin): Linguistic Landscapes and the Development of Interpreters after the Imjin War

22. Juli (in cooperation with AREA RUHR)

Ludovica Fonsato (INEAST, Duisburg-Essen): Rethinking Interdependence: Vulnerability, Agency, and Foreign Brand Responses to Chinese Economic Coercion