Soongsil Peace and Unification Institute Holds Academic Conference on 'Korean Diaspora'

The Soongsil University Soongsil Institute for Peace and Unification Studies announced on the 2nd that it held the 3rd Joint Academic Conference of 2023 on the theme of Koryoin and North Korean migrants in collaboration with the World Education and Culture Institute, a non-profit organization, at 2 p.m. on the 28th of last month in the Kim Deok-yoon Chapel of the Hankyungjik Memorial Hall at Soongsil University.

Photo by Soongsil University

This joint academic conference was the final event in the 2023 joint academic conference series co-hosted by the Soongsil Institute for Peace and Unification Studies and the World Education and Culture Institute, held under the theme "Adaptation and Identity of the Korean Diaspora and North Korean Migrants." Diaspora refers to the formation of a group by a specific ethnic group moving to another region either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Im Chae-wan, director of the Overseas Koreans Research Institute, delivered the keynote speech. Presentations followed by various experts, including Professor Lee Byung-jo of the Korean Studies Department at Al-Farabi Kazakh National University in Kazakhstan, Dr. Ko Ga-young of the Asia Center at Seoul National University, Dr. Park Byung-ae of the Soongsil Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, and Dr. Ho Jeong-hwa, a humanities activist and unification education instructor, covered research findings on the adaptation, identity, and healing of Koryoin and North Korean defectors who migrated domestically, followed by discussions among experts from various fields.

The Soongsil Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, together with the World Education and Culture Institute, organized a total of three domestic and international academic conferences during the second half of this year to discuss the adaptation issues of North Korean defector youth and multicultural family youth in Korean society and directions for support. At the 3rd academic conference held on the 28th of last month, Seo Moon-gi, director of the Soongsil Institute for Peace and Unification Studies, presented a plaque of appreciation to Bang Jeong-hwan, chairman of the World Education and Culture Institute, in recognition of his contributions to research on unification and Korean diaspora migrants.

Meanwhile, Soongsil University, founded in 1897 in Pyongyang and martyrdom-closed in 1938 in protest against the Japanese colonial government's shrine worship, was reestablished in Seoul in 1954. The university has consistently devoted efforts to research and education on peace and unification of the Korean Peninsula. Furthermore, this year it established a master plan for Korean diaspora research, conducting comprehensive integrated research on the Korean diaspora that goes beyond overseas Koreans to include North Korean defectors and multicultural families, aiming for broader unification beyond the South and North Korea divide.

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