Co-directors will be assistant history professor C. Harrison Kim and assistant political science professor Sheena Greitens, who is Gov. Eric Greitens' wife.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports the institute will foster research on South and North Korea. Kim says the university has a long history of academic research on Korea but faculty members hadn't come together to establish an institute.
Sheena Greitens says one of the institute's goals will be to raise the university's profile in Korean research. She has a personal interest because one of her adopted sisters is from Korea.
The institute will launch Thursday with a speech by Grace Jo, a North Korean refugee who became a U.S. citizen and advocate for human rights.