[KS] re: Korea symposium at ICU

[Kenneth R. Robinson]

Dear Colleagues (with apologies for cross-posting),

I am pleased to announce this upcoming symposium to be held Saturday, 
February 21, 2004, at International Christian University, in Tokyo. 
English-language interpretation will be provided.

Ken Robinson


ICU Peace Research Institute International Symposium
"Weaving Resistance: The Days of the 'Report from South Korea'"

Presenters:
Professor CHI Myong-Kwan
Director, Institute of Japanese Studies, Hallym University
"On the 'Report from South Korea'"

Professor SAKAMOTO Yoshikazu
Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University; Advisor, ICU Peace Research Institute
"Japan and South Korea: Two Democratizations"

Commentator:
Mr. Atsushi Okamoto
Editor, Sekai magazine

Date & Time: Saturday, February 21, 2004, 14:00-17:00
Location: Diffendorfer Memorial Hall Auditorium, International Christian 
University


Introduction:
For fifteen years, from 1973 to 1988, a series of articles entitled "Report 
from Korea" appeared in the Japanese monthly magazine "Sekai".  It was an 
underground report conveying the voices of the Korean citizens who were 
resisting military rule.  The author was anonymously known only by the 
initials "T.K.-sei".  Since the day it started, the series gave the readers 
of Sekai and the Japanese people in general much to think about.  It 
reported vividly the anguish and courage of the Korean people under the 
military rule.  Also, it gave Japanese citizens an opportunity to recognize 
that only by constructing solidarity with those resisting Koreans and by 
supporting the democratization movement would they be able to accomplish a 
genuine reconciliation between the two nations.  Last year, it was revealed 
that "T.K.-sei" was Professor Chi Myong-Kwan, now a professor at Hallym 
University, in Korea, who was then residing in Japan.

Upon reflection, we are seized with a strong feeling of the immense 
contribution of the series toward bringing the Japan-Korea relations into 
more maturity.  We cannot help but recall the courage and resistance of the
people, in both Japan and Korea, who secretly maintained the flow of 
documents despite the dangers, and thereby made the series possible.

When the series was being accomplished, not only was the democratization of 
Korea at issue, but so also was democracy in Japan and Japan-Korea 
relations.  Thus, in this symposium we will trace the history of the
resistance, review the intellectual situation of the time, and search for 
the conditions of democratization and reconciliation of the two countries 
and nations.

For further information, please contact:
International Christian University Peace Research Institute (ICUPRI)
3-10-2 Osawa, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo 181-8585, Japan
Tel: 0422-33-3187 (+81-422-33-3187)
Fax: 0422-34-6985 (+81-422-34-6985)
E-mail: icupri at icu.ac.jp
http://subsite.icu.ac.jp/pri/E/news.html