Workshop: Neutrality, Unification and East Asian Studies in Scandinavia

Workshop

Date: Monday 30 September 2024

Time: 10.00 – 14.00

Location: Uppsala University Library Hybrid event: on-line attendance via Zoom: Meeting ID: 640 5896 7313

A Reappraisal of the Late Prof. Seungbog Cho's Ideas and Scholarship.

https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/64058967313

Organized by: Stockholm University and the European Branch of the International Society for Korean Studies (ISKS). Sponsored by the International Society for Korean Studies (ISKS).

This workshop aims at reappraisal of the significance of the late Stockholm University Professor Seungbok Cho’s (1922-2012) academic achievements as well as his ideas on Korean unification, neutrality and peace and his role in the Korean democratization movement. Professor Seungbog Cho, a Korean political émigré, pioneered Korean and Japanese studies in Northern Europe after the war. He left outstanding academic achievements in the fields of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese language and cultural history. At the same time, he was also an enthusiastic activist-cum-scholar who long engaged in the Korean peace, anti-war, and unification movement. He was engaged in struggle for Korea’s democratization and led the movement for restoring North-South linguistic homogeneity in the 1990s. This workshop will shed light on various aspects of Seungbog Cho’s life course and peace/neutrality ideas, his understanding of Japanese cultural history, his connections with North Korean intelligentsia, and his linguistic contributions.

Time

Title

Speaker

10:15-10:20 Introduction to the workshop  
10.20-10.40 Twists and Turns in the Life of a Remarkable Scholar

Bert Edström
(Institute for Security and Development Policy)

10.40-10.50 Discussion  
10.50-11.10 Cho Seung-bog, An Academic Life in Overlapping Contact Zones

Vladimir Tikhonov
(Oslo University)

11.20-11.40 Discussion  
11.20-11.40 Cho Seungbog's Encounters with North Korean Intellectual life

Sonja Haeussler
(Stockholm University)

     
11.40-11.50 Discussion  
11.50-12.30 Lunch  
12.30-12.50 On the Position of Neutrality Disallowed in Korea: Cho Seung-Bog’s Anti-War and National Unification Movement

Kyounghwa Lim
(Chung-Ang University)

12.50-13.00 Discussion  
13.00-13.20 A Korean Linguist in Scandinavia: Characteristics and Significance of Cho Seung-bog's Linguistic Theories

Wonhyong Cho
(Berlin Free University)

13.20-13.30 Discussion  
13.30–14.00 General Discussion All participants (on- and off-line), Robert Winstanley-Chesters (Edinburgh University), Suk-Hi Cho (Stockholm University)
14.00-16.00 Review of Cho Seung-bog's collection in the Special Collections Reading Room of Carolina Rediviva (offline)