Korea-Japan Millennium Forum Opens Presidents of four private universities that represent Korea and Japan gathered at the second floor of the main auditorium of the College of Pharmacy building in the Incheon International Campus on November 9th. They were there attending the Korea-Japan Millennium Forum held annually by either one of the four universities, Yonsei and Korea University ("Korea" from hereinafter) and Keio and Waseda University ("Japan" from hereinafter). This year's 10th Korea-Japan Millennium Forum was hosted by Yonsei University, sponsored by Asia Research Fund, and prepared by the Institute of East and West Studies (Director Park Young-ryeol, Yonsei University School of Business). The Korea-Japan Millennium Forum was founded in October 2002 at Waseda University under the common purpose of contributing to the international community and to Northeast Asia and universities. The topic of this year's forum was "Natural Disasters and the Role of Universities." Yonsei President Kim Han-joong said in his introductory speech, "This year, many big and small natural disasters took place including the earthquakes in Japan and Turkey and the floods in China and Thailand" and that "The forum will yield solutions to natural disasters and ways to a brighter future for the global community." As the main sessions unfolded, the four presidents shared their thoughts on the role of universities in preventing natural disasters. President of Keio University Atsushi Seike introduced the theme under the title "Reconstruction and After-The Great East Japan Earthquake." He emphasized the need for reconstruction, saying that "The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that took place last March caused a major catastrophe. He added that "local residents must gather their strengths to rebuild the damaged area and construct local infrastructure" and that “investment in human capital is necessary to solve various problems related to natural disasters, and this is where the role of universities becomes important." Waseda University President Kaoru Kamata said, "We opened a support office for victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and gave scholarships to students and held fundraising events." He added that "As a solution to the Great East Japan Earthquake, Waseda University created a research center for damage reconstruction and is engaged in interdisciplinary research activities including medical projects, crisis management systems, and city planning." Korea University President Kim Byung-chul said, "We need a transnational response between Korea and Japan to prepare for climate change, pollution, and nuclear crises." More specifically, he highlighted the need to establish early-alert systems and communication channels between Korea and Japan. In addition, he emphasized the need to discuss the problems from the level of humanitarianism and human security. Yonsei President Kim Han-joong said that “the destructive power of natural disasters is increasing as we have seen from the earthquake in Japan and the heavy rain in Korea" and that "we need to work from all angles in order to move from minimization to prevention of damage from natural disasters." For this to happen, President Kim said, "Yonsei University Emergency Management Research Center is maintaining programs to educate people on how to minimize damage from natural disasters and volunteers who can help victims of natural disasters." On the first day of the forum, about two hundred people attended including professors from the four universities and students of the International Campus. On November 10th, professors from the four universities who are experts in their fields of study attended the event to give presentations on climate change, energy, natural disasters and crisis management. In addition, student representatives from each school, shared their thoughts on the future of Asia. Prior to the forum's start, Yonsei University President Kim Han-joong explained in great detail the second phase of the building of the International Campus and its current and future plans to the presidents of the three universities. The three Presidents expressed high interest in the International Campus.