뉴스레터

On September 22. 2012, the Northeast Asian History Foundation marked the sixth anniversary of its foundation. At about the same time, the it passed three significant milestones: the publication of the white paper titled 'Beyond Conflict Toward Reconciliation - Six Years of the NAHF's Activities and the Road Ahead'; the opening of the Dokdo Experience Hall, the first Dokdo museum in Seoul and the Metropolitan area, on September 14, 2002; and the inauguration of President Kim Hak-joon on September 17, 2012.

The Dokdo Experience Hall represents the NAHF's response to the 'hottest' historical challenge facing both the NAHF and Korean society, which is to present Dokdo's history, nature, and ecology as they are to help the visitors see and understand the truths about Dokdo for themselves. And the inauguration of the 3rd President Kim Hak-joon points to the direction in which the NAHF is moving past its 6th-year mark toward a decade from its foundation.

If these two milestones represented the present and the future of the NAHF, the white paper summarized the past of the NAHF. When explaining what history is and why we need to learn it, they often say, as trite as it may sound, that the purpose of reflection on history is to make the present better and plan for the future.

Going back to the time when the NAHF was about to launch its activities and recounting the background of establishing the NAHF and all the expectations and hopes that the Korean people had for the NAHF at that time was not just to reminisce about the past or brag about the accomplishments made over the last six years. We went back there because that's the reference point from which the present of the NAHF can be judged. That's where, six years ago, the first footstep was taken in the direction that has led the NAHF where it stands today and will continue to guide its future journey.

Objectives

This does not mean, however, that the white paper concerned self-evaluation only. A more important and stricter evaluation is the one that comes from the people. As is well known, the launch of the NAHF was supported in large part by the expectations of the Korean people for its role in setting out a logical argument about the ancient history of Korea, sovereignty over Dokdo, and past affairs between Korea and Japan, and presenting solutions that will allow Northeast Asian countries to overcome historical strife wisely. The white paper Beyond Conflict Toward Reconciliation - Six Years of the NAHF's Activities and the Road Ahead is also a report that shows the people how the NAHF's activities have turned out.

Whatever the results of evaluation may be, whether by self-evaluation or the people's grim evaluation, there is no doubt that the Northeast Asian History Foundation has been working incessantly to fulfill its missions over the last six years. Since the launch of the NAHF, all the members of its research and administrative staff have been committed to addressing historical challenges at hand. While there had been microscopic and limited reviews, there hadn't been many chances to review and summarize the NAHF's overall projects from a big picture. The white paper was designed to confirm once again that the NAHF's research into historical issues, pursuit of policy options to deal with them, and projects conducted in various ways were interconnected, and summarize them in a systematic way that allows anyone to get a glance into the NAHFs activities. To this end, the white paper was comprised largely of five chapters.

Contents and Limitations

Chapter 1 detailed the series of events that led up to the establishment of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, including the backgrounds, the legislation of the act on the establishment of the NAHF and the controversies, support from NGOs and the academic circles, and the interest of the media and the people. Chapter 1 also reviewed the historical issues between Korea and Japan in parallel with the historical issues between Korea and China, and explained the missions assigned to the NAHF.

Chapter 2 described the NAHF's operations divided into Period 1 (Sep. 2006 - Aug. 2009), during which the NAHF made efforts for innovation following its establishment, and Period 2 (Sep. 2009 - Present), during which the NAHF has been coping with changes in the external environment by forging partnership with relevant institutions. In addition, Chapter 2 presented the NAHF's visions of achieving historical reconciliation and laying a foundation for the East Asian community, and the strategies of the NAHF as the think tank dedicated to trustworthy historical studies and policy development.

Chapter 3 'The Results of Activities to Deal With Historical and Territorial Issues: Research, Survey, and Promotion' provides a complete list of the specific projects that the NAHF has carried out over the last six years. Section 1 described issues related to the ancient history of Korea, including the Northeast Project, Koguryo, and Balhae, and activities to cope with the distorted textbooks of China and Japan. Section 2 described the research into sovereignty over Dokdo and the projects to spread the naming East Sea. Section 3 made an introduction to the NAHF's publication of books on Northeast Asian history, building of the database, and operations of the information center, activities to accumulate research results and make them available.

If Chapter 3 was about the NAHF's activities designed to cope with the pending issues, Chapter 4 detailed its project to build collaborative networks with researchers in East Asian countries, America, and Europe, and activities for East Asian history education for the NAHF's ultimate goal, namely 'achieving historical reconciliation and peace and co-prosperity in East Asia.' At the end of this chapter is presented a thought on resolving historical strife, the pursuit of peace and co-prosperity, and vision in East Asian history, which concludes the white paper and aims to present the direction of the NAHF's future projects. Finally, the Appendix includes the tables and graphs summarizing all the projects undertaken by the NAHF over the last six years.

For the writing of the white paper, the White Paper Committee was organized in late April this year, led by Director of the Office of Policy Planning Kim Yong-ho, and participated by Leader of the Planning Team Kim Hyun-chul; Leader of the History Research Team 1 Yeon Min-soo; Leader of the History Research Team 2 Lim Sang-sun; Leader of the PR Team Chang Sei-yun; Research Fellow Kim Hyun-sook; Research Fellow Nam Sang-gu; Research Fellow Park Chang-bae, and I. The Committee held two internal workshops. The writing of the white paper, summarizing the projects that spanned six years in two months, was not easy, of course, and aided in large part by the activity reports that had been published annually, the newsletters, and the press releases. However, there was not enough time available to review those resources thoroughly, absolutely insufficient for the committee members to coordinate and discuss opinions with another to make a rough sketch of the white paper. Given these inherent limitations, the white paper in its current form has much to be desired. For instance, it has failed to specify what to do and how to do it in the future. This remains a challenge for the NAHF to tackle some day by collecting all of its strength, if it was to prepare for 20 and 30 years ahead down the road while moving toward its 10th years. I look forward to that day.