International research conference ‘Korean Diaspora: the issue of identity’

On September 25-27, 2014, an international research conference ‘Korean Diaspora: the issue of identity’ was successfully held at Tomsk State University, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the voluntary resettlement of Koreans to Russia.

Especially for the conference, professor of the Humanities Department of the Academy of Korean studies (Seongnam, Republic of Korea), President of the Association of Recent History of Korea Kwon Hee-Young was invited. In the first day of the conference professor Hee-Young gave a plenary speech on the topic of ‘Identity of Koryo-saram and some objectives of the management of identity’. The presentation sparked a lively discussion joined by O.P. Kim, Chair of the Council of the public organization ‘Regional National and Cultural Autonomy of Koreans in Tomsk Region’. He spoke about the life of ethnic Koreans in Tomsk and across Russia.

Other presentations delivered at the plenary meeting were those by O.M. Vorozhishcheva, specialist in social work at the Institute of international education and linguistic communication (Tomsk Polytechnic University) and L.A. Andronova, associate professor of the Department of oriental studies (Tomsk State University). The second half of the day was dedicated to presentations by students and young researchers of Tomsk and Novosibirsk given in both Russian and English. Topics of presentations varied and the participants actively discussed related issues and asked questions.

During the second day of the conference professor Kwon Hee-Young met with university students and teaching staff as well as all others interested in Korea. The attendees demonstrated great interest in contemporary politics and economy of that dynamically developing country. Students put questions concerning research topics of their course work and future graduation theses, whether those topics are of any research interest in Korea today. The possibilities of study in the Academy of Korean studies were also discussed.

On September 26th, professor Kwon Hee-Young met TSU Vice-rector for international cooperation Artyom Yu. Rykun and Chair of the TSU Department of oriental studies Lyudmila I. Sherstova and discussed the prospects for further cooperation between TSU and Korean universities.