Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kocka, President of the International Committee of Historical Sciences met Prof. Cha Ha Soon (President, Korean National Committee), Prof. Yoichi Kibata (President, Japanese National Committee), and Prof. Koichi Kabayama(a bureau member, CISH) and talked about the Asian historians' conference in Beijing to be held in May 2003. Prof. Dr. Kocka explained that this conference will be sponsored by the CISH in cooperation with the Association of Chinese Historians and the Institute of World History under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The international symposium was to be entitled 'The Course of Modernization in the Countries and Regions of East Asia', in which both Korean and Japanese national committees were requested to be positively involved.

  Upon this request, the Korean National Committee of Historical Sciences decided that four expert scholars would be sent for presenting papers, one at each of four panels of the conference, where some eminent social scientists and historians would also be present from Europe and the United States of America as well as from the countries in Asia.

  Unfortunately because of the SARS epidemic, the Asian conference in Beijing scheduled for September 2003 was postponed until 7th through the 9th of April, 2004.

 Following the evening of a welcoming banquet on the 7th, for two days from the 8th through 9th April, about 40 historians and social scientists from Germany and the United States of America as well as China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hongkong participated in an international symposium, being engaged in presenting papers, comments, and discussions.  Professors Kim Kyong-Dong and Park Tae-Gyun from Seoul National University read papers, and Professor Cha Ha Soon made comments.

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