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The South Korean government is to pull funding from the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, forcing it to close next month and sparking a row over interference in academic affairs.

Robert Gallucci, the institute¡¯s chairman, ¡°said the move was a direct result of the managers¡¯ refusal to follow South Korean government instructions to fire the institute¡¯s director and assistant director,¡± the . ¡°It¡¯s utterly inappropriate for a foreign government, and an ally by the way, to threaten an American academic institution this way,¡± Dr Gallucci said.

Since its foundation in 2006, the thinktank, which runs the 38 North website specialising in North Korean affairs (which will continue to operate), has received 2 billion won (?1.3 million) from the South Korean government annually through the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), the?.

As its rationale for cutting off funding, the KIEP cited ¡°lax reporting on accounts and a lack of transparency in selecting visiting scholars and interns¡±.

¡°To reform the management of the organisation, the KIEP has reportedly requested the resignation of Jae H Ku, director of USKI,¡± seen as more conservative than the new liberal South Korean administration,?¡°and Jenny Town, vice-director of USKI, a request the thinktank dismissed,¡± the?Korea Times said.

However,?Dr Gallucci called the move an ¡°intervention on academic freedom¡± and has said he will send a letter to South Korea's president, Moon Jae-in, in protest.

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com