뉴스레터

Recently, the Chinese Central Television (CCTV) showed a ceremony celebrating the 10th anniversary of China's becoming a member of WTO. It has been stressed that the trade volume has increased and the customs tariff has been reduced from 15% to 9%. It has been said, however, that further studies are needed on trade disputes. They repeatedly mentioned 'change'. I have been in China for 4 months. Though I have been here only for a short time, I can actually feel the 'change'. Everything is 'changing' fast. It is seen in their material life among other things.

I have come here as a visiting fellow at Yanbian University for a period of one year. I am staying in Yanji, a city also very familiar to Koreans. Among 650,000 people living in Yanji, the proportion of those ethnic Koreans has been decreasing a lot as many of them have gone to Korea and other foreign countries after the establishment of a diplomatic relationship between Korea and China. Instead, the percentage of Chinese people has been gradually increasing. As people's propensity to consume is very high here, prices felt in the market are higher than in Changchun and Jilin. Yanbian University celebrated the 60th anniversary of its foundation in 2009. If you read the brief history of this university, you will be able to know the pathetically sincere efforts made by a lot of people who sacrificed their personal honors to educate talented ethnic Korean people. There were people who were even criticized for matters relating to ethnicity and unfairly sacrificed during the 'Cultural Revolution'.

I have attended three academic conferences since I came to China. I observed the 12th Academic Conference on Korean Studies in China which was held in Changchun in October. There were not many people studying the ancient history which I am studying too. But I met a young Chinese scholar studying the history of Koguryo whose excellent command of the Korean language impressed me. If more Korean scholars can speak Chinese and more Chinese scholars can speak Korean, both sides will be able to understand the studies of each other more deeply, I hope.

I had an impression from an academic conference on East Asia held at Peking University in November that the contents of the conference became much deeper as it entered into a 5th year. Scholars meeting each other every year exchanged greetings with gladness, and I thought that the academic conference sponsored by the Foundation was producing its results by degrees. In December, I observed a seminar-style academic conference held in Yanbian University. The academic conference discussed matters of Northeast Asia where I was impressed by their attempts to understand various topics from the viewpoint of Northeast Asia.

Examining matters on the Korean Peninsula from the viewpoint of Northeast Asia

After four months of staying in Yanji, I could feel that matters on the Korean Peninsula were inseparably related to this region. Ethnic Korean scholars here have perspectives and materials with which they can approach matters on the Korean Peninsula in a more objective way regardless of their field of study such as history or politics. To some extent, it appears that they have an advantage that they can view matters on the Korean Peninsula from the viewpoint of Northeast Asia.

The winter in this northern region is very cold. The coldness can be endured if wind does not blow as the air is drier than in Korea. However, winds blow every day. When a chill wind comes through clothes, it makes me feel that the flesh is being cut off. It makes me think of those who fought for our independence in 1920s and 1930s when the climate was probably much colder and their clothes were very bad. How many unknown people would have died fighting for the independence of our nation in such a cold weather?

The Korea-China diplomatic relationship will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2012. I am learning that while Korea and China are similar, they are different in many things. A lot of difference exists in communication structure as well. Exchange requires a counterpart and is based on trust. There have been a lot of exchanges in the past 20 years, but I think it is time to build deeper trust.