While Japan’s perceptions of a security threat was the paramount reason for its takeover of Korea, a second reason surfaced that linked Korean emigration to Hawaii with a threat to Japan’s prestige as a leading nation in the world. Needing to prevent enactment of a Japanese Exclusion Act by the United States, the Japanese Foreign Office undertook to bring that emigration to a halt. Skillfully using missteps by the Korean government, Japan was able both to hide their ulterior motives from the United States and make it easier to absorb Korea’s diplomatic functions abroad, resulting in the establishment of the Protectorate in 1905.While Japan’s perceptions of a security threat was the aramount reason for its takeover of Korea, a second reason surfaced that linked Korean emigration to Hawaii with a threat to Japan’s prestige as a leading nation in the world. Needing to prevent enactment of a Japanese Exclusion Act by the United States, the Japanese Foreign Office undertook to bring that emigration to a halt. Skillfully using missteps by the Korean government, Japan was able both to hide their ulterior motives from the United States and make it easier to absorb Korea’s diplomatic functions abroad, resulting in the establishment of the Protectorate in 1905.
한국연구원은 1970년 5월 한국 민속의 각 분야에 걸친 자료의 수집과 학술적 연구를 목적으로 '한국민속연구소'로 출발하였다. 그 후 1973년 5월 연구 분야를 확대하며 민속뿐만 아니라 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 위해 '한국학연구소'로 개편하였고, 다시 1989년 3월 한국의 국제적 위상의 부상과 함께 한국학 연구의 중요성이 높아짐에 따라 '한국학연구원'으로 확대, 개편하였다. 한국학연구원은 한국학 전반에 걸친 연구를 통해 지역과 민족문화 발전에 기여하며 한국학의 세계화를 위해서 학술활동을 강화하고 나아가 내·외국인에 대한 한국문화 교육을 담당하고자 한다.