[KS] 2nd Choi Statement released from Columbia

[Henry H. Em]

Hello everyone,

The "Second Joint Statement on the Controversy
Surrounding Professor Choi Jang-jip" was
released by Gary Ledyard and Charles Armstrong
of Columbia University on Nov. 25 (NY time).
The Statement was faxed to newspapers in
Seoul, and a number of papers will carry it -
probably on Friday, Nov. 27.

Please find below the text of the 2nd Statement,
along with list of signatories.  To make the point
that a new group of scholars felt compelled to
speak out on this issue, this 2nd Statement lists
the names of only those who did not sign the first
Statement (released on Oct. 30 from UCLA).

Henry H. Em

-----------------------
Second Joint Statement on the Controversy
Surrounding Professor Choi Jang-jip - signed by
49 scholars of Korean Studies in Europe, Japan,
New Zealand, and North America

1. Gari Ledyard, King Sejong Professor of Korean
Studies, Director of the Center for Korean
Research, Columbia University
2. Charles Armstrong, professor, Dept. of History,
Columbia University

3. Nancy Abelmann, professor, Dept. of
Anthropology, University of Illinois
4. J. Michael Allen, lecturer, University of Auckland
5. Don Baker, professor, Dept. of Asian Studies,
University of British Columbia
6. Marn J. Cha, graduate student, Dept of Political
Science, California State University
7. Yong-ho Choe, professor, Dept. of History,
University of Hawaii
8. Hyaeweol Choi, professor, Dept. of Languages
and Literatures, Arizona State University
9. Michael Chwe, professor, Economics Dept.,
University of Chicago
10. Bruce Cumings, professor, Dept. of History,
University of Chicago
11. Henry H. Em, professor, Dept. of East Asian
Languages & Cultures, University of California
Los Angeles (UCLA)
12. Stephen Epstein, professor, Board of Asian
Studies and Department of Classics, Victoria
University
13. Robert Fouser, professor, Dept. of
International Economics, Kumamoto Gakuen
University
14. James Freda, graduate student, Dept. of East
Asian Languages & Cultures, University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA)
15. Michael Goodwin, Independent Scholar,
Toronto
16. Martin Hart-Landsberg, professor & chairman,
Economics Dept., Lewis and Clark College
17. Milan G. Hejtmanek, professor, Dept. of East
Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard
University
18. Frank Hoffmann, graduate student, Dept. of
East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard
University
19. Hyong-taek Hong, graduate student, Dept.
of Political Science, Columbia University
20. Theodore Hughes, graduate student, Dept. of
East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA)
21. G. Cameron Hurst III, professor, & director,
Center for East Asian Studies, University of
Pennsylvania
22. Roger L. Janelli, professor, Depts. of Folklore
and East Asian Languages and Cultures, Indiana
University
23. Kelly Yoojeong Jeong, graduate student,
Dept. of Comparative Literatures, University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA)
24. Hugh H. W. Kang, professor, Dept. of History,
University of Hawaii
25. Laurel Kendall, Curator, Museum of Natural
History (New York City)
26. Elaine H. Kim, professor, Dept. of Ethnic
Studies, University of California, Berkeley
27. Eun Mee Kim, professor, Graduate School of
International Studies, Ewha Women's University,
& adjunct professor, Dept. of Sociology, University
of Southern California (USC)
28. Kyung Hyun Kim, professor, Dept. of East
Asian Languages and Literatures, University of
California, Irvine
29. Nan Kim, graduate student, Anthropology
Dept., University of California, Berkeley
30. Paul Hyoshin Kim, graduate student, Theology
Dept., Princeton Theological Seminary
31. Helen Koh, graduate student, Dept. of East
Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of
Chicago
32. Hagen Koo, professor, Dept. of Sociology,
University of Hawaii, Fellow-in-Residence,
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies
33. Jin-kyung Lee, instructor, Dept. of Classical,
Middle-Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures,
Queens College (New York City)
34. James B. Lewis, professor, Oriental Institute,
University of Oxford
35. Alyson A. McFarland, graduate student,
Dept. of Asian Studies, University of Hawaii
36. Sungjong Paik, professor, Korean Studies,
Tuebingen University
37. Philip Park, visiting fellow in Korean Studies,
Columbia University
38. Wesley Sasaki-Uemura, professor, Dept. of
History, University of Utah
39. Andre Schmid, professor, Dept. of East
Asian Studies, University of Toronto
40. Michael Shin, graduate student, Dept. of
History, University of Chicago
41. Edward J. Shultz, professor, Dept. of History,
director, Center for Korean Studies, University
of Hawaii
42. Miriam Silverberg, professor, Dept. of History,
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
43. Ho-min Sohn, professor, Dept. of East Asian
Languages and Literature, University of Hawaii
44. Changzoo Song, graduate student, Dept. of
Political Science, University of Hawaii
45. Alexandra S.H. Suh, graduate student, Dept.
of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia
University
46. Jae Jung Suh, SSRC-MacArthur Foundation
Fellow, Dept. of Political Science, U Pennsylvania
47. Jaehoon Yeon, professor, Dept. of East Asian
Studies, SOAS, University of London
48. Tae-Ryong Yoon, graduate student, Dept. of
Political Science, Columbia University
49. Ji-Yeon Yuh, graduate student, Dept. of History,
University of Pennsylvania

_Background Information_

  On October 30, 1998, a "Joint Statement" was
released at a press conference held at the University
of California Los Angeles (UCLA).  This "Joint
Statement," signed by twenty scholars of Korean
Studies in North America, Europe, Japan, and
Australia, was issued in response to the November
issue of Wolgan Chosun and Chosun Ilbo's
distortion of Professor Choi's academic writings.
This "Joint Statement" criticized the attempt to foist
on the public a very narrow interpretation of modern
Korean history.  Expressing dismay over Chosun
Ilbo's black-and-white Cold War mentality, the
signatories to the "Joint Statement" called for
broadening the spectrum of academic and public
discourse in Korea.

 With the Seoul District Court's Nov. 11 ruling,
which prohibits the Chosun Ilbo group from
commenting further on Professor Choi Jang-jip's
work, many scholars outside of Korea hoped that
the ideological campaign against Professor Choi
Jang-jip would cease.  These scholars felt that the
attack on Professor Choi's scholarship would have
grave consequences for intellectual freedom in the
Republic of Korea and the healthy development
of Korean Studies throughout the world.  After the
appearance of the December issue of Wolgan
Chosun, however, it has become apparent that the
attack on Professor Choi Jang-jip has indeed been
widened to an attack on all scholarship which contain
critical or progressive views. In light of this, a new
group of scholars in the field of Korean Studies have
now stepped forward to issue this "Second Joint
Statement."

"Second Joint Statement"
November 25, 1998

 We issue this "Second Joint Statement" in response
to the continuing controversy surrounding Professor
CHOI Jang-jip's academic writings on the Korean
War.  The views expressed in the November and
December issues of Wolgan Chosun, which paint
Professor Choi as a pro-communist sympathizer,
have cast a pall over the field of Korean Studies,
both in the Republic of Korea and abroad, and
threaten to set back the gains in democratic
openness that the Republic of Korea has achieved
in the past decade.

 As scholars who are deeply concerned about Korea,
we are encouraged by the November 11th ruling by
the Seoul District Court, which found that the
November issue of Wolgan Chosun distorted
Professor Choi's writings on the Korean War.
Freedom of the press does indeed include the right to
scrutinize and criticize public officials.  However,
because in the Republic of Korea anyone who gives
support to or praises North Korea can be prosecuted
for violation of the National Security Law, the unfair
and incorrect portrayal of Professor Choi as a pro-
North Korean leftist is a serious charge that cannot be
made by taking quotations out of context and distorting
Professor Choi's views.

 We sincerely hope that this ruling will provide an
important precedent for broadening the spectrum of
academic and public discourse in Korea.  It is our
hope that the divisiveness brought on by this
controversy will in the end result in a greater
commitment to move beyond outdated Cold War
anxieties and to embrace the openness necessary for
both academic research and genuine public discourse.
--------------------------------


_______________________
Henry H. Em
Assistant Professor,
UCLA - Dept. of East Asian Lang. & Cultures

mailing address until Dec. 31, 1998:
c/o Asiatic Research Center, Room 303
Korea University,
Anam-dong, Sungbuk-gu,
Seoul 136-701,  Korea

Tel:  82(country code)-2-780-6185 (ho)
Fax:  82-2-780-7014
Tel:  82-2-923-8702,  Ext. #126  (of)




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