[KS] M.Y. Cho

David McCann dmccann at fas.harvard.edu
Mon Mar 20 18:49:10 EST 2006


A Thanks to Frank for his moving note on M.Y. Cho.  I for one will be 
checking those commentaries, while also thinking how remiss I have been 
not to have encountered his work before.

Vielen Dank!

David McCann




On 3/20/06 3:35 PM, Frank Hoffmann wrote:

> Dear All:
>
> I wanted to let you know that Dr. Myunghun Y. Cho, better known to the 
> Asian studies community and his friends as M.Y. Cho, passed away on 
> Sunday, March 12, in Hamburg. There will be a memorial on what would 
> have been his 75th birthday, Thursday, March 23, 3 PM, at Ohlsdorfer 
> Friedhof, Halle B., Hamburg.
>
> For many years M.Y. Cho had been the North Korea specialist at the 
> Institute of Asian Affairs in Hamburg. He had received his M.A. in the 
> United States before continuing his academic career at Bonn 
> University, Germany, where he received his PhD in 1965. Many of you 
> will know his works about diplomatic relations between East Asian 
> nations, especially the North Korea related publications. And you will 
> likely know him through his really enlightening commentaries in the 
> (English language) publication >>North Korea Quarterly<< which he 
> published for the Institute of Asian Affairs from 1974 on until his 
> retirement. I should also mention that he wrote very many long feature 
> articles on East Asia for the leading German liberal intellectual 
> weekly >>Die ZEIT.<<
>
> On one of these rainy days that the City of Hamburg offers more than 
> plenty of, I was sitting in his office, asking him for copies of his 
> >>Die ZEIT<< articles. He did not quite take me serious then. I 
> remember spending all weekend to read through them with growing 
> enthusiasm. That was 25 years ago. In all the time since I have hardly 
> seen any publications on current Korean affairs written in such well 
> crafted German prose, being so entertaining, vivid, and intellectually 
> challenging than these articles. As all his friends are aware of, M.Y. 
> Cho knew how to enjoy every minute of his life, and his warm humor and 
> intellectualism allowed anyone in his presence to share this joy of 
> life while sharing his company. He truly was a wonderful man and we 
> are saddened by his death.
>
> Frank Hoffmann
>
>
>




More information about the Koreanstudies mailing list