[Citizen College] Future of Europe after the Brexit and Prospects for Korea-EU Relations

On July 6, 2018, the 12th lecture of “Citizen College: Citizens Between Life and Knowledge” was held by Seongbuk Village Citizenship Education Center and the Korea University Peace and Democracy Institute(PDI). The 12th speaker was Professor Nam-Kook Kim of Korea University.

The topic of the lecture was “Future of Europe after the Brexit and Prospects for Korea-EU Relations”. Professor Kim explained the causes of the Brexit and the effects of the Brexit on the world order, Europe, and even Korea. Before talking about the Brexit, He discussed the concepts and origins of EU, Europeanism and Orientalism. The reason why Britain withdrew from the European Union was that there was resistance from the social undermen who had fallen into globalization. Globalization may have brought benefits to Britain, but it has not benefited individuals. Anti-EU sentiments can be seen as a combination of anti-globalization and anti-immigration sentiment. In the UK, Brexit once again highlighted the possibility of creating a new flow of change in world politics. It is expected to pursue a more business-friendly system that will move away from the EU in the future. At the level of world politics, the neo-isolationism emerged. Korea needs to develop Korea-Europe relations in order to prepare for the emergence of the new order of the world and to diversify diplomacy to maximize our national interests. (Summary: Moon-Hyung Lee)