Since its affiliation in 1970, the Korean National
Committee participated for over 30 years in every international congress of
historical sciences where more than 2000 historians around the world gathered
together, in which Korean historians joined as reporters of papers, discussants,
or as observers. Through this participation in international scholarly activities,
they have contributed to the development of historical disciplines, domestically
and abroad.
Particularly in July 2005, two specialized themes which the
Korean National Committee proposed for the Sydney Congress were scheduled on
program, and Korean historians were eagerly looking forward to these upcoming
sessions. A panel entitled 'Colonialism and Post-Colonialism' was to expect lively
participation from the part of Korean historians in the analysis of data and
facts, presenting valid interpretations to urge foreign fellow colleagues
through
heated discussions. But due to the unexpected procedural mistake done by
the Bureau the panel was organized only to focus on the British-Indian problems.
Regrettably, the discussant designated by the Korean National Committee withdrew
from the panel, because his expertise was relevant with Japanese colonial rule
of Korea.
On the other hand,
the specialized theme entitled 'Textbooks: From a Narrative of the Nation to the
Narrative of Citizens," which was proposed jointly by the Korean and Japanese
National Committees, aimed to criticize not only the issues of distorted history
textbooks, but any misuse of history for political pretexts. The joint venture
as such was a kind of landmark that the cooperative relations between two
neighboring nations in terms of history made much progress. A Korean expert on
Asian history presented a paper, and the discussant from the Korean National
Committee participated in the discussion. The joint session surely contributed
to further cooperation among historians of both nations.
|