Dong-Eui University East Asia Research Institute Holds Online International Academic Symposium

Reexamining the Zainichi Korean Community under the Theme of 'Zainichi Korean Society and Its Historical Representation'

Online International Academic Symposium of the Dong-Eui University East Asia Research Institute.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Dong-Eui University (President Han Su-hwan) East Asia Research Institute (Director Lee Kyung-gyu) held an international academic symposium on the 17th under the theme of "Zainichi Korean Society and Its Epochal Representation," with East Asian experts from home and abroad participating online.

At this academic symposium, Professor Makino Eiji of Hosei University in Japan gave a presentation titled "Multicultural Symbiotic Society and Zainichi Korean Ethnic Minority."

He premised that in modern society pursuing diversity in the global era, there is absolutely no reason or basis for Japanese people to discriminate against Zainichi Koreans or other Asian ethnic groups from a superior standpoint. He argued that a true multicultural symbiotic society can be realized when they are also respected with the same rights as Japanese people.

Following this, Professor Izao Tomio of Yamaguchi Prefectural University spoke on the theme "Zainichi Koreans as Seen by Japanese," pointing out that the anti-Korean movement, which has emerged from the sense of crisis among Japanese right-wing groups regarding the Korean Wave boom in Japan, poses a considerable threat to Zainichi Koreans, and that the dissemination of false information and prejudice by these groups makes it difficult to resolve Korea-Japan relations issues.

Professor Kim Yeon-sik of Kyungpook National University introduced records about Sakhalin Koreans, who are in a historical blind spot receiving no help from their homeland, Japan, or Russia, in his presentation titled "The Tragic and Painful History of Sakhalin Korean Permanent Returnees."

Professor Kim emphasized the urgent need for everyone's active interest and fundamental solutions between the Korean and Japanese governments.

Professor Lim Sang-min of Dong-Eui University mentioned in his presentation titled "The Research Historical Significance of Zainichi Korean National Records" that the Japanese government announced a policy to cultivate diplomatic document experts to systematically respond to historical and territorial conflicts with neighboring Northeast Asian countries including Korea. He stressed that Korea should also restore national records related to Zainichi Koreans to verify the Japanese government's historical distortions and establish proactive response logic for the Korean government.

Director Lee Kyung-gyu of Dong-Eui University East Asia Research Institute emphasized, "Through this international academic symposium, we were able to understand the Zainichi Korean community, a product of Japanese imperialist expansion, more concretely, and it is essential to build a multicultural symbiotic society to solve various issues surrounding minorities in East Asia in the future."

Dong-Eui University East Asia Research Institute was selected for the "2020 Humanities and Social Science Research Institute Support Project" hosted by the Ministry of Education and the National Research Foundation of Korea this year, with the research project titled "Collection, Declassification, and Database Construction of Diplomatic Documents Related to Zainichi Koreans after Liberation."

They are conducting research to collect, analyze, and database diplomatic documents related to Zainichi Koreans that have been publicly released from liberation to the present. The project period is six years starting from September 1 of this year, with a total budget of 1.2 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.