The paper describes the main stages of Korean philology development in the Republic of Korea with the focus on Korean literature studies. It traces specifics and factors of its development with reference to the circumstances of the earlier period (first decades of the 20th century), defines approaches characteristic for different stages. It also deals with such phenomena as activization of relations with western academia, as well as with Japanese colleagues, and a tendency of regarding works of North Korean scholars. Popularization activities of researchers is also considered.