Rüdiger Frank

Economist and East Asia specialist with a focus on Korea (North and South)

Rudiger Frank is currently tenured Professor of East Asian Economy and Society at the University of Vienna, and Deputy Head of the Department of East Asian Studies. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Korea University and at the University of North Korean Studies (Kyungnam University) in Seoul, as well as an Associate at the Modern East Asian Research Centre in Leiden and the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (OIIP).
He holds an M.A. in Korean Studies, Economics and International Relations and a Ph.D. in Economics. In 1991/1992, he spent one semester as a language student at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang and has been researching North Korea ever since. Visiting Professorships included Columbia University New York and Korea University Seoul.
In addition to memberships and associations with a number of Korea and East Asia related societies, he is a Council member and for the 2011-2013 period the Secretary of the Association for Korean Studies in Europe. He is also an Executive Board Member and for 2010-2012 a Steering Group member of the European research network “EastAsia Net”.
Prof. Frank is Deputy Chief Editor of the A-ranked European Journal of East Asian Studies, co-editor of the book “Korea: Politics, Economy and Society” published annually since 2007, Member of the Editorial Board for the book series “Brill’s Korean Studies Library”, an Associate at “The Asia Pacific Journal”, Member of the Editorial Board of “Korea Review of International Studies”, Co-Founder and Member of the Editorial Board, “Vienna Graduate Journal of East Asian Studies” and “Vienna Studies on East Asia”. He is also the founding editor of a new book series at Global Oriental titled “Security and International Relations in East Asia”.
In teaching, Prof. Frank focuses on the region of East Asia (roughly defined as Northeast Asia plus ASEAN) with a particular emphasis on the two Koreas. He has developed an MA program on East Asian Economy and Society at the University of Vienna, which since 2011 is offered in English.
His major research fields are socialist transformation in East Asia and Europe (with a focus on North Korea), state-business relations in East Asia, and regional integration in East Asia. His most recent books (as of Oct. 2011) are: (with S. Burghart, eds.): Driving Forces of Socialist Transformation: North Korea and the Experience of Europe and East Asia, Vienna: Praesens 2010; (ed., 2011): Exploring North Korean Arts, Nuremberg: Verlag fuer Moderne Kunst; and (with with James Hoare, Patrick Köllner and Susan Pares, eds., 2011): Korea 2011: Politics, Economy, and Society, Leiden and Boston: Brill.
Prof. Frank is regularly consulted by governments, media and businesses on North Korea and East Asia. Most recently, this included consultancy work and a background policy paper for The Elders in preparation for the visit by President Martti Ahtisaari, Prime Minister Gro Brundtland, President Jimmy Carter and President Mary Robinson to the Korean Peninsula and China. In June 2011, he joined the World Economic Forum, Global Agenda Council on Korea.

For more information, see: http://wirtschaft.ostasien.univie.ac.at/
For publications, see: http://univie.academia.edu/RuedigerFrank
Email:ruediger.frank(at)univie.ac.at