뉴스레터

Happy New Year of 2014 to all of you who are giving unstinting support and love to the Northeast Asian History Foundation! This year marks exactly the 120th year since 1894 that saw the Sino-Japanese War and the 1894 Reform, and its significance is immense. One hundred and twenty years ago, Korea failed to achieve reform by its own will due to the invasion of the imperial powers. Sixty years later, in 1954, Korea was left in the ruins and dreaming of reconstruction in the immediate aftermath of the Korean War. Another sixty years later, in the present, the Republic of Korea, having overcome challenges and hardships and achieved both democracy and industrialization, is a leader of the international community. Unfortunately, however, a certain country is trying to glorify and justify its history of aggression and invasion by promoting a nationalism that is far from being healthy in terms of the method and interpretation of historical perception, and this is posing a serious threat to Northeast Asia's peaceful prosperity.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Yasukuni Shrine made on December 26, 2013 is the indicator of the rough road ahead in the future of East Asia. He explained that "the purpose of his visit was to express his respect and honor for those who lost their lives in the service of Japan" and insisted unconvincingly that "he had no intention of hurting the feelings of the Chinese or Korean people." As is well known, in the shrine in question, not only the Class A war criminals, but also about 21,000 Koreans who were conscripted and killed in the war of aggression are enshrined. Needless to say, this is against the will of those Koreans themselves as well as their families and all the Korean people.
Moreover, as we vividly remember, he has repeatedly stated himself that he would follow the so-called Murayama Statement where the Prime Minister "expressed his feelings of deep remorse and stated his heartfelt apology" for the "tremendous damage and suffering Japan's colonial rule and aggression caused to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations." By visiting Yasukuni Shrine, however, he demonstrated himself by his actions, not his words, that he had no intention after all of repenting for Japan's colonial rule and aggression. It is really unfortunate for us to have for a neighbor on the same planet a country headed by the man who is keen to amend the "Peace Constitution" of his country while saying he wants peace in Northeast Asia, a man who thinks he can cover the sky with his hand.
However, we should never regard this misfortune as our destiny and give up. When historical issues become political and generate tensions at home and abroad, as they do now, we at the Northeast Asian History Foundation are all the more committed to establishing historical views that face the cold reality and aim for peace.

Any attempt to glorify the tragic past of invasion and pillage will be flatly denied and criticized with a pen of peace. Any action intended to violate our historical and territorial sovereignty will be also stopped with weapons of intelligible and elaborate theory.
The missions of the Northeast Asian History Foundation are largely divided into four categories. The first is to conduct investigations and research to establish healthy historical views in Northeast Asia. The second is to conduct investigations and research related to Dokdo and the naming of East Sea. The third is to develop policies related to these two and suggest them to the government. And the fourth is to promote these projects at home and abroad, carry out education in East Asian history and Dokdo, and compile the results into databases and publish them into books.
Within this basic framework, we at the NAHF will work toward achieving the following goals.
We will commit ourselves to basic research for developing theory and logic, in the belief that logic without the support of theory and accumulated academic achievements is like a house built on the sand. We will carry on with what we have done till now, building digital archives with databases of new as well as existing historical materials and making them available to researchers around the country and the world who need them. In addition, we will do our best to lay a solid research foundation to address the needs of the nation and society immediately, and focus on developing closely related research topics that will produce more results.
While conducting investigations and research related to Dokdo, we will respond actively and effectively to the Abe administration of Japan which, with its regressive perceptions of history and territory, is continuing to provoke and challenge, by further refining the logic to counter its move and adopting international PR strategies. The Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies, launched earlier this year in addition to the existing English journal (The Journal of Northeast Asian History), is a "prelude" to many projects that we will carry out this year.
To develop and suggest policies on urgent matters, although the details may not be revealed here, we will continue to organize small seminars or in-depth international colloquia with great scholars overseas as well as Korean experts in the related fields for the accumulation of advanced knowledge and information that will be shared and swiftly analyzed for immediate action.
The NAHF publishes research results into books and builds databases to raise awareness of historical issues. We also occasionally use visual media, such as movies and videos, to connect with the public in an effort to promote and encourage healthy perceptions of history. This year, we will also further upgrade the videos about historical issues, as part of our devotion to promotion overseas.
Education is also one of the NAHF's important programs. This year, we will officially launch the Northeast Asia Dokdo Education and Training Institute to offer many training programs for teachers, with focus on East Asian history, a subject that teachers find difficult to teach, particularly Japanese history, Mongolian history, and Vietnamese history as viewed from East Asian perspectives.
Meanwhile, we will also devote ourselves to research in "ancient history," which has been relatively insufficient. We will review and analyze the result of every research, taking it seriously even if it was done by "an amateur historian" or "an outside historian." We will actively organize conferences and events in relation to 'comfort women' issues and on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, while further strengthening ties with a number of conscientious civil-society organizations at home and abroad. Northeast Asia's political and diplomatic landscape will be rough, but we at the Northeast Asian History Foundation, tightening the reins on ourselves in this new year of horse, are determined to remain active and creative in our research, and leap forward with full commitment and an extraordinary mind in order to defend Korea's historical and territorial sovereignty. I sincerely wish you health and happiness. Thank you.