뉴스레터

Honorary Research Fellow Lee Hoon
addressing at the international conference
celebrating the 2nd anniversary
of the Dokdo Research Institute
Honorary Research Fellow Lee Hoon
receiving flowers from President
Kim Hakjoon at the retirement ceremony
on December 31, 2014

In eight years since I started working for the Northeast Asian History Foundation, I became 'the first to retire.' Actually I wasn't too thrilled to be 'the first,' fearing it as a potential excuse for them to ask me to contribute an essay or something. And my fear was confirmed. They insisted. What could I do about it?

The eight years of my service at the NAHF was a relatively short time for me, less than half of the time I served in my previous employment at the National Institute of Korean History, and it was also quite a departure in terms of working environment or job description. Even though I joined the NAHF at an old age, I personally had a good, dynamic time there, enjoying the opportunity to meet many people, and think and talk about a number of topics related to Northeast Asian history.

On the other hand, however, I couldn't relax a bit the whole time. What made me so nervous? I think that it was the anxiety in the back of my mind that stemmed from the absence of safe distance in time from the issues that I needed to deal with. It was like the feeling of a soldier who was sent to war but forgot to bring ammunition with him.

Prior to joining the NAHF, I had a very easy time as a researcher, creating results by wrestling with musty old documents and writing papers with conviction and imagination. I would write about events that occurred hundreds of years ago, relying only on old historical records and my imagination and trying to sound plausible, knowing that even the most recent event would be hard to analyze accurately. It would sometimes make me think that historians had a better range of vision than that of fortune tellers And I was not afraid of challenging the researchers that came before me and presenting new and different theories and interpretation. How carefree I was in those days!

Fatigue Caused by Juggling Too Many Tasks

But things changed once I joined the NAHF that studied modern history, i.e. events that occurred not in a distant past. While serving in different posts at the NAHF, from Research Team 1, which dealt with issues of Japan and history, (renamed later as the Department of Historical Research) to the Dokdo Research Institute, I was exposed to handling such historical issues as controversial descriptions in the Japanese textbooks and 'comfort women,' all of which have turned into diplomatic issues. I found this world difficult to manage with my imagination alone because caution was required, even in choosing every word, given that those directly concerned were still alive in some cases and that there were many factors and customers to consider. I was constantly plagued by this stress and anxiety until I left the NAHF. As I realized later, this anxiety was rooted in my lack of expertise.

The NAHF is dealing with issues that have a relatively short history as subjects of study, such as the Japanese textbooks and 'comfort women.' As research subjects, they belong to a niche market. And at least it wasn't professional researchers who have addressed and handled these issues with interest. Therefore, not enough research results have been accumulated in each of these fields, although the NAHF should have been at least as knowledgeable as the other side was about us, if its response was not to end up as a far-fetched and one-sided argument. In relations with Japan, for example, there were potentially provocative events scheduled throughout the year. While I felt the urgent need for expertise more than anything, I ended up letting the time pass without doing anything to gain it.

Currently, the NAHF has about fifty experts in historical issues between Korea and China, or between Korea and Japan. It is an organization of about 100 people if we also count the research fellows in the histories and geographies of Korea, Japan, and China, and international law, and the administrative officers who support them. But as is evident to anyone with eyes, this small organization has too many tasks to handle, from dealing with pending issues to gaining expertise and even meeting the needs and tastes of customers who watch the NAHF. Although every one of these tasks is important, the NAHF is juggling all of them without prioritizing. That's why I feel, in hindsight, as though I only built up 'fatigue' instead of 'expertise' in the few years that I worked for the NAHF. I bet quite an amount of fatigue or stress of this kind has been also piled up on a majority of the members of the NAHF.

Start Preparing for a New Decade by Prioritizing Tasks

The year 2016 will mark exactly the 10th year since the NAHF was launched. As a person who has experienced working at every research department of the NAHF and lamented the lack of time to gain expertise, I would like to suggest at this point that the NAHF should reconsider continuing to juggle all these tasks in the same manner as before. Given that ROK-Japan relations have turned sour and ROK-China relations have changed, it would be necessary to get our priorities right in order to prepare for a new decade.

It is actually with expertise that one can determine which should come first and which may be put off. Needless to say, expertise is the basic requirement for every member of the NAHF. But to have the kind of expertise required in determining priorities would mean to be able to make predictions of the response of the other side for many years to come. And those who would need this expertise more than anyone are decision makers. In my view, building up expertise will be the best strategy for the NAHF depending on how the future of ROK-Japan relations and ROK-China relations will unfold.

Even though I kept complaining about a lack of time during my service at the NAHF, I think that working at a place where historical issues turned into diplomatic ones has helped me develop insight into history without realizing it. Now that I have the luxury of listening to any news on TV without getting nervous, I have a good time drawing on the insight that I gained from working at the NAHF in doing and writing things that I haven't had the time for. I applaud the NAHF staff and employees for their effort and wish them good luck.