kdiplo: A One-Stop Public Repository for Datasets on Korean Diplomacy

Korea
Korean dataset
dataset
R
diplomacy
kdata
kdataviz
kdiplo
kdiploviz
Author

Kadir Jun Ayhan

Published

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

I love Korea, and I love data.

Combining my enthusiasm for Korean Studies and data, I am initiating an exciting project to make engaging and valuable Korean datasets publicly accessible… in an enjoyable manner!

I invite you to explore and interact with the data I will be sharing. Let’s craft stories together using these datasets and connect through the hashtags #kdiplo, #kdiploviz, #kdata, and #kdataviz.

Recently, I have created several novel datasets on Korean diplomacy for my research1, mainly focusing on high-level diplomatic visits (both outgoing and incoming), their formats (bilateral, multilateral, informal), nature (such as state visits), purposes (economic, security, etc.), timelines, and the conveners in multilateral contexts among others.

1 See these blog posts for now.

I will make these datasets available via a new R package, #kdiplo. Although this is a work in progress, the first version is already shaping up.

The current development version features a pivotal function (along with an accompanying dataset) designed to assist researchers in merging various Korean datasets by country names. Due to inconsistent naming conventions across Korean government datasets (for instance, Thailand might appear as 태국 [Taeguk] or 타이 [Tai]), the kdiplo::iso3c function creates iso3c country codes for Korean country names, simplifying the joining process (similar to countrycode::countrycode).

Next on the agenda is adding comprehensive Korean trade data spanning from 1948 to 2023, inclusive of multiple sources and estimations/ imputations for missing data.

More datasets are on the way, and I am open to data requests.

Stay tuned (follow hashtags #kdiplo, #kdiploviz #kdata, and #kdataviz) for more updates on (https://github.com/kjayhan/kdiplo) - a one-stop public repository for data insights on Korean diplomacy and foreign policy!

For now check this website out, which I will soon update as well.

Dataset Contents Status Uploaded
Korean presidents' high-level diplomatic visits Korean presidents' bilateral, multilateral, and informal diplomatic visits between 1948 and 2023, details about the visits including dates, reasons, type of visit etc. Complete Coming soon
Inward high-level diplomatic visits Foreign leaders’ bilateral, multilateral, and informal diplomatic visits to Korea between 2000 and 2023, details about the visits including dates, the visitor's office and status at home etc. Complete Coming soon
Other Korean high-level diplomatic visits Korean prime ministers and foreign ministers' bilateral, multilateral, and informal diplomatic visits between 2000 and 2023 Complete Coming soon
Diplomatic ties The status of South and North Korea’s diplomatic ties with other countries in panel data format Complete Coming soon
Korean diplomatic missions abroad Korean diplomatic missions' (embassies and consulates) geolocations Complete Coming soon
Overseas Koreans The numbers of overseas Koreans’ populations in other countries in panel data format Complete Coming soon
Trade and aid Korea’s trade with and aid to other countries Complete Coming soon
Korean presidents' diplomatic speeches Korean presidents’ speeches in diplomatic meetings in original language of the speech, official translations (if there is any), and make AI translation options based on user inquiry Pending funding Unavailable
News coverage about Korea News coverage about Korea in the United States before, during, and after diplomatic visits Pending funding Unavailable
Diplomatic white papers text Korean diplomatic white papers as searchable text corpus Pending funding Unavailable