U.S. Scholars Hold “Korean Peace Day”

On December 1, “Korea Peace Day” events were simultaneously held at many U.S. universities across the state.

Scholars working in the U.S. and studying U.S. policies toward the Korean peninsular held this event nationwide regarding the North Korean nuclear issues and its peaceful settlement by holding a variety of seminars, lectures and movie sessions at many universities.

At Stanford University, a panel discussion was held by Stanford’s Asia-Pacific Research Center (chairman: Shin Gi-uk). Bruce Cumings, a professor at Chicago University, John Lewis, a professor at Stanford University, and Professor Seo Jae-jeong of Cornell University were in attendance at the forum as panel members.

Robert Oppenheim, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, presided over a seminar on his campus while Woo Jeong-eun, a professor of politics at the University of Michigan, held a lecture session at her university as a part of the event. In addition, many other universities including Arizona State University held a variety of events designed to inform the essential nature of the North Korean nuclear issue and to promote the importance of a diplomatic solution on the matter to their fellow professors and students.

“Korea Peace Day” was created in 2004 by the scholars of Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea (ASCK; visit asck.org), who study U.S. policies toward the Korean peninsular.

ASCK was founded by as many as 20 scholars in March 2003 and developed into a membership of one hundred. More than half of the members are Korean-Americans.

ASCK said in a statement ahead of the peace day event, “Over the last year, the relationship between the U.S., Japan and North Korea continued to become sour,” and urged that “we have to iron out current crisis through a diplomatic way, including direct negotiations between the U.S. and the North.”

Henry Lim, a professor at the University of Michigan and a coordinator for the event, said, “We published a book last year, and this year, we plan to issue a report to share the outcomes from this event.”

sechepa@donga.com