Bringing Egyptology to Korea: An Interview with Egyptologist Min-soo Kwak

Egyptologist Min-soo Kwak (left)

For many in Korea, Egyptology remains a distant and unfamiliar field, largely confined to academic specialists. For the general public, encounters with ancient Egypt are often limited to films or museum exhibitions. Min-soo Kwak—one of only two Egyptologists in Korea and the Director of the Korean Institute of Egyptology—is working to change that.

Driven by a commitment to establishing Egyptology as a legitimate academic discipline in Korea, Kwak also seeks to make Egyptian history more accessible through media appearances and public exhibitions. In this interview, he reflects on his path to becoming an Egyptologist, discusses his current work, offers advice to students interested in similar fields, and shares his vision for the future of Egyptology in Korea.

Q: Could you briefly introduce the work you do?

A: Currently, I work as an Egyptology expert for various programs, including television and exhibitions. The core purpose of this work is to spark public interest in Egyptology. I believe this is essential if Egyptology is to become a broadly recognized field of research and study in Korea. In that sense, much of what I do is focused on amplifying public engagement with the subject in order to build a foundation for its academic growth.

Q: You’ve mentioned that spending your childhood in Egypt influenced your decision to study Egyptology. What about Egypt captivated you the most?

A: There wasn’t a single defining moment that sparked my interest. As a child, I simply enjoyed visiting museums and exhibitions. At the time, I didn’t even know Egyptology existed as a formal field of study, but I felt a strong desire to study Egypt nonetheless.

I also think Egypt is remarkable as a civilization. Many thriving societies expanded aggressively and formed empires, but Egypt followed a different path. Its long-term stability, rather than territorial expansion, is what I find particularly fascinating.

Q: How do you think ancient Egypt was able to achieve such stability?

A: Egyptian civilization was deeply dependent on the Nile River. In agricultural societies, soil nutrients are often depleted through repeated farming. However, despite Egypt’s lack of rainfall, the Nile’s annual flooding replenished the soil with nutrients, allowing agriculture to flourish consistently. A stable food supply is fundamental for any civilization to endure.

Additionally, Egyptians placed great value on continuity. They believed in maintaining their environment and way of life rather than constantly changing it. Even when iron technology spread during the Iron Age, Egyptians continued to use bronze for as long as possible. This insistence on continuity played a major role in sustaining their civilization’s stability.

Q: You studied cultural anthropology and archaeology at university. What led you to pursue these fields, and what do they involve?

A: Although many adults advised me to pursue other majors, I chose these fields because I had been determined from a young age. I always planned to study abroad, since Egyptian archaeology was not a widely established major in Korea at the time. I chose Cultural Anthropology for my undergraduate degree because it was the closest discipline available to archaeology.

Anthropology and archaeology are distinct fields, though their definitions vary by country. In the United States, anthropology is considered a holistic discipline encompassing the study of humans, with archaeology and cultural anthropology as subfields. In the United Kingdom, cultural anthropology is often referred to as social anthropology. At its core, anthropology focuses on cultural aspects of human history, while archaeology primarily examines material remains—objects people used—and interprets what those objects reveal about past societies.

Q: What qualities are most important for students aspiring to study anthropology, archaeology, or history?

A: First, students need to understand how to study. These fields require researchers to independently gather, organize, and analyze evidence and materials. That process demands strong self-directed learning skills.

Tenacity is also essential. Research takes time, and recognition does not come quickly. Students must be able to persist through long periods of uncertainty without becoming discouraged. Resilience is equally important, as financial stability may not come easily or immediately during one’s academic training.

Q: Although these fields focus on the past, they are often said to help us understand the present. What value do you think they offer today?

A: I don’t believe the primary purpose of studying these fields is to directly serve the present. Rather, it is for people in the present to learn from the past and apply that knowledge where it is needed. There is a quote from The Go-Between that says, “The past is a foreign country.” People in the past lived by values and customs fundamentally different from ours, much like people from another culture.

We often assume a sense of continuity with historical figures by calling them our ancestors, but I don’t think that connection is inherent. Instead, people in the present construct those connections because they find them necessary. Making the past relevant to the present, however, is not the historian’s or archaeologist’s responsibility.

Q: What is your vision for the future of Egyptology in Korea?

A: My goal is to establish Egyptology as a well-established academic discipline in Korea. At present, Korean society tends to value education primarily as a means to a career, rather than as an intellectual pursuit in its own right. Because it is difficult to address this issue solely within universities, I hope to transform the Korean Institute of Egyptology into a research foundation that can support scholarly work through public funding.

This is precisely why I actively promote Egyptian history through media and public engagement—to build public interest that can ultimately sustain long-term academic research.