Institute of Korean Studies Holds Joint Conference

with Yanbian University

 

 

 

On May 6, the Institute of Korean Studies and Yanbian University jointly organized an international conference at China’s Yanbian University. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Liaoning University also participated.

 

Yonsei Professor Young-seo Baek gave the keynote address at the first session of the conference. Titled “The Transboundary Movement of Han Ethnicity and East Asian Peace,” his talk focused on defining Korean identity in relation to such factors as South Korean society, North-South Korean relations, and the worldwide community of Koreans. After Professor Baek, Yanbian Professor Kyung-hoon Kim gave an overview of the works of key ethnically Korean Chinese poets from the Japanese colonial period to the present. This was followed by a presentation on “East Asian Community and Historical Reconciliation” by Yonsei Professor Dong-no Kim, who examined divergent historical memories in Korea and Japan through the concept of “justice”.

 

 

 

The conference’s second session was devoted to East Asian ideologies and communities. Here, Professor Sang-ryul Woo from Yanbian University argued that the contemporary world should strive to strike a balance between East and West, taking East Asian culture as an example. Yonsei Professor Yeonsik Choi, associate director of the Institute of Korean Studies, proposed the possibility of “Gunja”, meaning “noble man,” as the basis for a contemporary notion of citizenship that embodies the tradition of East Asian political thought. Lastly, Professor Myung-chul Huh from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Yanbian reviewed the history, necessity, and potential of the East Asian community.

 

In the third session, Yonsei Professor Key-sook Choi argued for the potential of a new approach to modern sensibility and affect in “The Contemporary Adaptation and Formation of East Asian Consensus as Seen through ‘Sang Ok Ru.’” Yanbian professor Mae-hwa Rhee presented research that traced the lives and community of ethnically Korean Chinese who have moved to Korea. Professor Ki-hoon Lee then analyzed the process of knowledge production about China in Korean media outlets like the Dong-A IlBo during Japanese colonial rule.