Though Canada established formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea in 1964, there was no embassy in Seoul until 1973. That year D. Gordon Longmuir was dispatched to Seoul to help open that embassy and serve as First Secretary and Consul, as well as Chargé d’Affaires until a resident ambassador arrived early in 1974. He stayed in Seoul until 1976. Among the more pressing duties of the embassy while he was stationed there was ensuring adequate safeguards for a nuclear reactor Korea was considering buying from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). At first Canada, somewhat distrustful of President Park Chung Hee, was uncertain whether or not to provide Park with such a nuclear power plant. However, after the ROK agreed to ratify the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the deal was signed and Korea eventually went on to purchase a total of four Canadian-designed CANDU nuclear reactors. As a representative of the Canadian government, Longmuir was in the audience on August 15, 1974, when a disgruntled Korean-Japanese attempted to assassinate Park but shot and killed Park’s wife instead. He also watched as, under Park’s leadership, the Korean economy began its rapid march to modernization while the government resisted pressure for democratization. The embassy occasionally had to intervene on behalf of some activist Canadian missionaries who felt that urban workers were being asked to pay too heavy a price for Korea’s economic progress.
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.