Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology and Modern Korea, University of Leeds
Aidan Foster-Carter came to Korea in the 1970s, via development studies and juvenile Kimilsungism. In the 1980s he set up Leeds University Korea Project, with Dr Judith Nordby; taught a course on modern Korean societies, and co-organized seminars and other events. Since 1983 he has written on Korea for business and policy audiences, including the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Oxford Analytica, IDEAglobal, NewNations etc. Recently launched a new monthly Korea Focus, published by Menas Associates.
He retired from Leeds University in 1997, to work full-time and
freelance on Korea, and has visited Korea over 20 times since 1982,
including twice to North Korea. He is an invited lecturer on Korea in
not only Seoul but the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, France,
Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway,
Belgium and Latvia, as well as over 20 UK universities and think-tanks.
He is consulted on Korea by major global companies et al, including
AIG, Allianz, BAE, BG, BHP, Caltex, Coca-Cola, EBRD, GIC, KLM, Rio
Tinto, Shell, Unilever, etc, and is also a regular broadcaster (radio
and TV) for the BBC and many other stations worldwide.
He met Kim Dae-jung 4 times, including 2 full days discussing
unification in 1993. He has written hundreds of articles on Korea for
EIU, Oxford Analytica, and others. Op-eds for the Financial Times, Wall
St Journal, New York Times, Int. Herald Tribune, Guardian, Telegraph,
Prospect, Asiaweek, Far Eastern Economic Review etc, as well as two
quasi-books for EIU: Korea’s Coming Reunification (1992); North Korea
after Kim Il-sung (1994), and also two dozen academic papers, book
chapters etc on Korea, some translated into Korean. He is also an
examiner of PhD/DPhil theses on Korea at Oxford, Cambridge, et al; also
overseas.