뉴스레터

In the second half of 2015, the Northeast Asian History Foundation launched a mid-to-long term project on researching the diplomatic history of Korea. The motivation behind this project was the recognition of a dire need to establish a knowledge system that offers insightful presentations of historical experiences Korea has been through, especially at a time when turbulent order in East Asia has made it more necessary than ever to possess a thorough understanding of Korea's international relations.

History itself proves that the strategic and constructive roles played by the Korean peninsula have been a prerequisite to peace in East Asia. Yet, academia in China, Japan, Europe, and the United States are all very sparing when it comes to properly assessing the aforementioned roles Korea played throughout its history. Scholars have predominantly tended to look at East Asian history as a series of conflicts and competitions between China and Japan, which must have influenced the occurrence of distortions of Korean history in China and Japan.

What is unfortunate is that rather than teaching Korea's diplomatic history in a more synoptic scope, departments of political and diplomatic history at Korean universities remain focused on teaching about Korea's external relations with major East Asian countries since it opened its ports, covering a time when Korea's power as a nation had been at a low ebb. This academic limitation is perhaps why intellectuals as well as the general public in Korea tend not to picture Korean history in a more confident light.

China and Japan are each building theoretical frameworks to apply in explicating East Asian history from their own perspectives, and these frameworks are intricately being weaved into their actual national strategies. Korea, on the other hand, seems yet to construct a future-oriented historical point of view that is capable of surveying a historical landscape evolving in a direction very different from the past and comprehensively takes internal and external factors into consideration.

Being aware of the above issue became the reason why the Northeast Asian History Foundation embarked on the intellectual challenge of researching and compiling Korea's diplomatic history from the ancient times up to the days of the Republic of Korea, which would thus form an academic base for dealing with distortions of its history by neighboring countries.

The research project on Korea's diplomatic history is largely divided into two parts, one on periods prior to 1945 and the other on the period of the Republic of Korea. A summary of detailed goals for the project will be covered in the following section.

Major Goals of the Research Project on Korea's Diplomatic History

First, through a joint effort between scholars of history and political science, research outcomes on Korea's diplomatic history that have so far been individually produced by each academic discipline shall be collectively rearranged as progresses made throughout the study of Korean history. Academic re-examinations shall be performed on many issues involving Korean history that have been either misrepresented or distorted, for instance, the roles Korea played in the tributary system or in wars against foreign powers such as the 1592-1598 Japanese Invasions (Imjin waeran 壬辰倭亂). Particular attention shall be paid on objectively describing the part on contemporary history, which will encompass major diplomatic issues from each period through a systematic collaboration between experts and research organizations in Korea and overseas.

Second, the Korean diplomatic history project shall review Korea's international relations, the changes in Korea's diplomatic policies and ideas, and how they influenced Korea's understanding of circumstances during each period or how they affected the national strategies and responses Korea chose to employ. Such a review would be necessary in order to wholly reveal the circumstances Korea witnessed during each period as well as the strategic concerns Korea had or the responses Korea thereby assumed.

Third, the Korean diplomatic history project shall draw an outline of Korea's diplomatic history to create a research base for follow-up projects. Then, the project shall form connections with other projects the Foundation already completed or are currently conducting as part of a continuous effort to steadily build up academic research results based on historical sources and materials. The project could, for example, possibly be linked to the research project on Korea-China relations, or the project of organizing diplomatic documents of modern Korea, or the project of translating and annotating accounts of foreign countries in the official histories of China. Historical sources and research results collected through the project shall be compiled and published in order to take action against the "tendency to abridge Korean history" in countries surrounding Korea. Hopefully, this may also create opportunities for research outcomes from Korea to become more internationally accepted.

Fourth, the Korean diplomatic history project shall summarize developments that occurred between the two Koreas over the seven decades that followed their division. Studying the characteristics North Korea has displayed as well as the strategies it has adopted should be able to contribute to the two Koreas' future reunion. Issues impossible to disregard in establishing national strategies, such as the issue regarding overseas Koreans, shall also be considered. The project shall also be on the lookout for research subjects that may be worth reviewing in the context of today, such as the efforts by the Goryeo dynasty's first king Wang Geon (王建) to achieve national unification on the Korean peninsula or the early Joseon dynasty's strategic attempts to subsume Jurchen tribes under their government.

The Korean diplomatic history project is hence a statement of academic tenacity toward correcting distorted perceptions of Korean history in countries neighboring Korea and the international society with the ultimate purpose of creating a base for peace and prosperity in East Asia.

The Northeast Asian History Foundation is well aware of the fact that the task mentioned above is nowhere near easy nor can it be fulfilled within a short amount of time. However, rather than letting research on Korea's diplomatic history be dictated by foreign scholars, the Foundation chooses to take a preemptive measure against rapidly changing circumstances by responding to an urgent need to develop an original Korean scholarly framework through the project described above.

The Foundation is equally aware of how important it will be to gather insights from related academic circles and experts in the process of conducting such a project. The Foundation therefore hopes that the project shall become a chance to amass academic research efforts and secure academic assets that may contribute to establishing long-term plans for Korea.