Thanks to world-wide trends of deregulation and economic liberalization on the part of most governments in recent years, and also due to technological innovation, especially in computers and information science, the world is getting smaller and the economic distance between nations is becoming shorter. The national border, in economic terms, will become less and less meaningful. In this age of globalization, we can say the success of individuals and nations is largely dependent on how they cope with new challenges of globalization. In this sense, the energetic support of the Korean community for the Korean Studies Program at the University of Michigan has special meaning for both Korea and Michigan, not only for better cultural understanding, but also for strengthening our respective competitive positions in what is becoming a borderless economy. The borderless economy, however, does not imply a lack of identity.
Effective globalization depends on correctly recognizing one's identity.