뉴스레터

Background

"It doesn't seem right that the professors of Harvard University are using the Japanese textbooks in studying Korea"

This is the title of the recent interview of the Shindonga magazine with Professor Emanuel Pastreich of Humaitas College of Kyung Hee University, a Ph. D in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University.
It's been already 4 years since NAHF forged a close relationship with Harvard University. NAHF's support for Harvard University in studying early Korean history began in 2007 in an effort to prevent the results of China's Northeast Project from spreading overseas and to correct the distorted image of Korean history held by the Western academic world resulting from the Japanese colonial view of history. The results include the first early Korean history program, the website introducing early Korean history and Korean studies and the first early Korean history class in Harvard University. Another result is 'Early Korea,' the early Korean history series that Dr. Mark Byington from Harvard University, an expert in this field, has been publishing in the language and format familiar to Western scholars, complementing the limited English translation of the existing results of studies on Korean history and archeology.
The agenda of my visit to Harvard University was the interim evaluation of the project and the special lecture by NAHF President Chung Jae-jeong requested by Harvard University.

Schedule

My visit to Harvard University last year spanned six days, from December 1 to 6. On the day of arrival, December 1, I was invited to the dinner hosted by the Korean Consulate General in Boston, where I had a good conversation with the Consul General about NAHF's activities. He already had a deep understanding of the Early Korea project of Harvard University. In particular, when the topic of our conversation was on the naming of East Sea, one of the areas of NAHF's primary interest, I felt like NAHF had found a reliable supporter.

The next day, December 2, I busied myself from early in the morning without the time to recover from jet lag, out of a grave (?) sense of duty to keep the busy schedule ahead for both the President's special lecture and the project's interim evaluation conference. Apparently Harvard University had also worked hard on preparing for the first interim evaluation in four years. The entire staff of the Korea Institute of Harvard University was in attendance, including the former directors, deputy directors, advisors, project managers, administrators, and researchers on the project, participated in the briefing and discussion of the project's progress, results, and significance.

The conference was taking longer than I expected, and I had to leave to make it to the President's special lecture at the Center for European Studies conference room. I hadn't expected to see many students because it was the finals week, but the conference room was packed with over 50 professors and students.
In his special lecture, the NAHF President pointed out that Korea, Japan, and China were in potential conflict and confrontation with another due to their conflicting views of history based on nationalism and that this posed a challenge for the three countries to reach historical reconciliation despite the common tripartite efforts. Then he emphasized the NAHF's position that to ensure the co-prosperity of Asia, it would be necessary to avoid national supremacy and extreme nationalism and to seek historical reconciliation through the understanding and the sharing of the diversity of historical views. The lecture was followed by many questions from the audience. One of the most impressive questions was from an American professor who asked about the roles that the U.S. should play in resolving the historical conflicts of East Asia. The President's answer was that although the U.S. may not speak for any of the three countries, he expected active participation, cooperation, and interest from the U. S. in academic conferences based on scientific and logical evidence. And the audience nodded in agreement. On fishing the lecture, the President was asked for an unexpected interview by a journalist from Boston Korea.

In the process, through the questions about the roles of Korean residents overseas in resolving conflicts among Korea, China, and Japan, it seemed that a valuable partnership with NAHF had been found. It occurred to me that it would be a good idea to ask the journalist to find examples of distorted descriptions about Korean history in various sites including universities and museums across the U.S.
Once the schedule of the day was over, including the interim evaluation and the special lecture, the interviews, and the dinner with the Advisory Committee, the Director of the Korea Institute spoke on the project's future late into the night. Only then did I began to feel relaxed and tired.

Field Trips around Harvard University

On the third and the final days, I went on field trips to the libraries and the museums within Harvard University, and the museums around the school among other historical sites related to Korean history.
My first destination was the Korean Collection hall within the Harvard-Yenching Library. Most importantly, I found 'East Sea' written in English on a Korean map as I was about to leave the Korean Collection hall. I was excited as if I had hit the jackpot. Although I wanted to stay a little longer to visit more sites within Harvard University, I hurried to go a long way to visit the exhibition room of Yu Gil-jun, the enlightened activist from the late Joseon period known to be the first Korean ever to study in the U.S. at state expense. It was located in The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, the oldest museum in the U.S. established in 1799. The museum's exhibits included precious artworks from the East, including pottery, ivory artifacts, silver products, and silk. The 'Korea Exhibition Hall' was located across the entrance to the first floor inside the museum. In 2003, a separate space had been designated for the 'Yu Gil-jun Exhibition Room,' the first exhibition room named after a Korean in the American history. A thought that all the articles on exhibition were the traces of Korea's enlightenment and modernization that I came to see in a remote country mad them look all the more precious to me. Reminding myself of the significance of Yu Gil-Jun's Observations of the West and resolving to write good observations of Boston myself, I headed to the next exhibition room, where I could see at a glance the life of the first settlers in the American continent. There was even a miniature model of the vessel by which they had come from England.

What caught my attention there was ancient Western maps. In the Maritime Hall, I confirmed the naming of East Sea written on the 17th-century Dutch map on exhibition. This finding made the President, myself, and the Harvard University visiting scholar serving as our guide feel like our field trip had more than paid off. By the time we left the museum feeling satisfied, dusk was already falling. With a hunch that visiting any museum now would be worth the trip, we headed to the 'Salem Witch Museum' I had only heard about. The museum's atmosphere was rather spooky, but the storytelling-based experience hall was effective for both adults and children alike in learning history and culture. I was entertaining the idea of benchmarking it for planning our own Koguryo/Balhae/Gojoseon experience halls, when I noticed an interesting note on the exhibition panel: the Americans are afraid of the Japanese, among others, because of their attack on Pearl Harbor, the only preemptive attack against the U.S. It crossed my mind that this might be a clue to the American attitude toward Korea-Japan relations. In the car back to the hotel in the late evening, I hurried to take a note of the idea lest I forget. Looking back on the past day, I found myself setting high hopes for the next day as well.

On the last day, we left early in the morning to move out of Massachusetts into New Hampshire to our destination Portsmouth, 100 kilometers north of Boston. This is where the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed as a result of the Russo-Japanese War, leading to the 1905 Protectorate Treaty by which Japan would take over the sovereignty of Korea. This place allowed me the fresh experience of briefly reflecting on the modern history of Korea in the land of America. It also made me feel like opening a field history course for Korean tourists and residents visiting Harvard University. Concluding on my own that coming all the way here was definitely worth it, I returned to Massachusetts to move on to Plymouth where the Mayflower had anchored as we had learned from the world history textbooks.
The panel introducing the roles and the service of the American forces in the Korean War featured a map of Korea on which the name East Asia was written. This suddenly made me wonder further about how Korea and the Korean map were presented in the Korean War memorials and monuments in other parts of the U.S.

Dreaming of the Common Dreams of Co-Prosperity and Peaceful Development

Wrapping up my brief yet fulfilling visit to Harvard University, I boarded the plane back home. There was so much on my mind to review that I didn't feel bored at all during the 15-hour flight. Remembering Yu Gil-jun who planned on enlightenment right for Joseon's situations at that time, I wonder what our dreams might be that are right for our situations today in East Asia. Even though they say that Korea, China, and Japan, faced with historical and territorial conflicts in East Asia, have 'different dreams,' I envision the 'common dreams' of co-prosperity and peaceful development that will come true someday if we join forces, whether in Korea or the U.S., to find and advertise historical truths......