뉴스레터

Editor's Note: This is a summary of the life and academic career of Li Jin-mieung, a professor emeritus at University Lyon III (Université de Lyon III) in France who was awarded with the Order of Academic Palms (Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes académiques) on June 11, 2015 in recognition of his lifetime services to education by his research and teaching of Korean Studies in France.

The Order of Academic Palms (Chevalier) is awarded by the French government to those who contributed to the development of the arts, literature, and education or the dissemination of culture. The late professor Lee Ok (1928~2001), an expert in ancient Korean history and pioneer of Korean Studies in France and the French-speaking countries, was an early recipient of this Order (awarded in 1996). Years later, Professor Li Jin-mieung became the second Korean to have the honor of receiving this Order.

Professor Li was born in 1946 in Goseong, South Gyeongsang Province, in Korea. He graduated from Kyung Hee High School and the Department of French Language & Literature at Seoul National University. After graduation from university, he won a scholarship from the French government and went on to complete bachelor's and master's programs in history at the University of Caen Lower Normandy in France. In 1977, he earned his Ph.D. from Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) for his thesis on 'The History of Economic Exchange between France and Japan (Les relations économiques et financières entre la France et le Japon, de 1859 à 1914).'

Professor Li served Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University for 29 years, from 1983 until his retirement in 2012, as instructor for five years (1983~1988), as associate professor for thirteen years (1988~2001), and as professor for eleven years (2001~2012). In 2000, he earned an HDR (Habilitation à diriger des recherches: qualification for professorship and for supervising doctoral dissertations), the highest national degree in France.

The Second Korean Recipient of the Ordre des Palmes académiques (Chevalier)

From 1985 to 2012, Professor Li also taught at Université Paris-Diderot (Paris 7), where he has supervised Korean Studies doctoral dissertations since 2000. So far, nine students at Paris 7 have graduated under his supervision. And he has participated in reviewing doctoral dissertations numerous times, a total of about forty times for Korea-related ones alone. Professor Li is known as a leading expert on Korean Studies in France who has taught Korean Studies, the Korean language, Korean culture, and Korean history all his life. Those who studied under his supervision are now active far and wide in Korea and France.

Professor Li's prominent research extends to the areas of Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo and the name of the East Sea as well. His major works on Dokdo include Dokdo, a Geographical Rediscovery (1998) and Dokdo, A Korean Island (2010), A participating author of Encyclopedia of National Culture, New Korean-French Dictionary, and Dokdo Dictionary, he recently participated in the writing of Let's Learn Korean (2013, 2014), the publication of which was supported by the NAHF, and various other books including Dictionary of Chinese Characters in the Korean Language.

In 2015, he and Professor Maurice Coyaud) published Why Seawater is Salty (Pourquoi l'eau de mer est salée et autres contes de Corée), the first collection of Korean folk tales in France, It was published by Gallimard, one of the most prestigious publishers in France, in its pocketbook series, a famous collection of short writings by philosophers and authors worldwide, currently with 6,050 volumes in print.

Devoted to Research on Dokdo and the East Sea and Fostering Next-Generation Researchers of Korean Studies in France

The Order of Academic Palms of France recently awarded to Professor Li Jin-mieung is not the only recognition of his contribution to the research and education of Korean studies in France; he was also awarded with the Presidential Award of the Republic of Korea (1995) and the Order of Civil Merit (Pomegranate) of the Republic of Korea. For his book Dokdo, a Geographical Rediscovery published in 1998, he won the Baeksang Publication Culture Award in the historiography category. The 2005 expanded edition of this book made the top of the '100 Most Beautiful Korean Books' list in the humanities category, was exhibited at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and then donated to the Early Printing Museum in Frankfurt.

Professor Li has also contributed to organizing various conferences on Korea-related topics that were held in France. In 2006, for example, he supported the Conference on the 120th Anniversary of the Korea-China Relations hosted by the National Institute of Korean History and Association Francaise Pour l'Etude de la Corée. In addition, as an advisor overseas for the NAHF's Dokdo Research Institute, he played a major role in organizing the conference on 'Situations in East Asia and Territorial Issues' and the conference on 'Korea and France Looking Back on 130 Years of Exchange' to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and France, both co-hosted by the Northeast Asian History Foundation and AFELACC (Association Française des Enseignants de Langue et Culture Coréennes) in 2013 and in May 2015, respectively. AFELACC is an organization founded in 2009 and headed by Professor Li as President that is enthusiastically engaged in teaching Korean culture and the Korean language to secondary school students in France.