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An international conference was held at the auditorium of the National Palace Museum of Korea June 10-11 under the theme of "Cultural exchange and communications in Northeast Asia via ancient character data." The conference, hosted by Northeast Asia History Foundation, was divided into three sub panels which included paper presentation of 13 members and 9-memberr subpanel discussions.

Professor Lee Ki-dong (Dongkuk University) took the podium first. Under the theme of "Character and cultural exchanges in Northeast Asia" he stressed the efficiency of the non-document data. He also underlined the need to focus on the recently excavated wooden letters as a means of research on the lower class of the ancient society from detailed and emotional perspectives.

Lee's lecture was followed by the first panel presentation on the theme of "acceptance and spreading of the Chinese character and language." In a presentation titled "Character uses in Nakrang" Professor Kim Byung-joon of Hanlim University said documented administration in Nakranggun paved the way for uses of Chinese character and language on the Korean Peninsula. Citing the cases of '中', '之', '節', he underlined that Korea's Idu-type expression was a sort of transformation and selective acceptance of Chinese character to match our language habits. Professor Yeo Ho-kyu of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies also said in his presentation "Koguryeo's acceptance and transformation of Chinese character" that the nation's Chinese character culture was based on the occupation by Nakranggu and Daebanggun in early 4th century and the influx of refugees from China.

Idu - a result of selective acceptance and transformation of Chinese character

After luncheon, Professor Yun Sun-tae of Dongkuk University presented a paper titled "Acceptance and transformation of Chinese character and language in Baekje and Shilla." He emphasized the fact that Idu made a rapid progress in Shilla as the Shilla people were eager to see communications in written language at the same level as in verbal language. Professor Sato Mokoto of Tokyo University also submitted a paper titled "Acceptance and deployment of Chinese character in Japan" where he stressed that the spreading of Chinese character was made in an advanced culture that combined Buddhism, Confucianism and law & ordinance. Professor Sekio Shiro of Shinsa University attracted attentions with photos on unique verbal administrative system at Kochangguk in his paper entitled "Document history culture in East Asia and western move of characters."

The first panel discussion proceeded with questions and answers on the verbal administrative system and correlations between Shilla and Kochangguk among Professors Yun, Kim and Sekio. The session wrapped up by citing the need to make further in-depth research into the area in the future.

In the morning session next day, the second panel was held on the theme of "East Asia's character culture seen through writing style."

Professor Wang Won-keun of Sudo Education College analyzed Wanghiji, Guyangsun and Buddhist style in calligraphy in his paper "Ancient Korea's acceptance of writing style of Tang Dynasty." Professor Kim Su-cheon of Wonkwang University concluded that the writing style of Koguryeo was a revelation of artistic consciousness on lakes and plains on the basis of his analysis of various materials like the tomb stone for Great King Kwanggaeto and others in his paper "Characteristic of Koguryeo writing style and unique artistic consciousness." His presentation was followed by the paper of honorary professor of Hokkaido University Ishizuka Harumichi entitled "Characteristic of East Asia's Chinese character style and documents." He introduced his own data base (HNG) on Chinese character standards which he developed over the last 30 years. He raised the possibility that "大和寧國藏華嚴經" may be a copy of Balhae. (a nation which occupied Manchuria region after Koguryeo)

Three panelists ? Lee Wan-woo, Son Hwan-il and Lee Yong-hyun ? engaged in a debate during a second session presided by Dr. Ko Kwang-eui of Northeast Asian History Foundation. The participants could learn many lessons from the experiences of Ishizuka in setup of the HNG DB and, in particular, with regard to materials, intellectual property rights and budgets, all issues that must be addressed in case Korea attempts to establish similar DB.

The impact of early Buddhism via the uses of '之'

The afternoon session was focused on "Character culture of East Asia seen through wording" at the third panel of four presenters.

Professor Kim Young-wook of University of Seoul came with a paper "East Asia's linguistic culture and acceptance of Chinese language" where he proved Idu was a consequence of lingual contacts between Korea and China, citing the cases of words inscribed in bricks of Nakrang. He also described Chinese character as "an intellectual code common in East Asia."

Professor Mori Hiromich of Tokyo Industrial University presented his paper "The world of Chinese character in Korea and Japan" where he strictly analyzed the uses of '之' as used by Japanese and proved such uses were mainly concentrated in ß-type history materials, attracting the attention from the participants.

Professor Deng Xizhou (董志翹) of Nanjing Education University came with a paper entitled "Grammatical meaning function of '中"' where he analyzed various examples by dividing the meaning into two ? the first "middle, center" and the second "inside." Professor Jeong Jae-young of Korea University of Technology and Education presented his paper "About '之' as ending word as seen in Korea's ancient character data," claiming the Idu usage had been influenced by both Nakrang and the early Buddhism Chinese character.

In the following 3rd sub-panel discussion, Nam Pung-hyeon and Mori revealed new fact that '之' was not used for traditional folk songs of Korea and Japan because the word was not proper for poetries. Lastly the conference wrapped up with the writer summarizing the meaning of the symposium, citing the need to deepen research into the character-related areas.