ADRN

East Asia Institute (EAI) is hosting the KF-EAI Korea Friendship project, sponsored by Korea Foundation (KF) and Samyang Holdings Corporation, offering educational and networking opportunities to international students residing in Korea.

Jeong, Byung-Sul, a professor at Seoul National University, claimed that Korea’s political self-consciousness has inhibited the country’s progress toward becoming truly independent. He explained the “political self-consciousness of Korean culture” via an anecdote in Samguksagi, by Kim Yu-shin, and by comparing the independent, ideal world view of Choi Chungjeon with the dependent and realistic world view of Imgyeong Up Jeon. He also gave examples of how of Koreans continue to understand themselves in the context of Confucian relationship structures, emphasizing that Koreans need more independent historical consciousness. Furthermore, he explained that Confucianism has promoted detrimental and dependent “gap-eul” relationships in which parties distance themselves from one another and superiors burden their underlings with “lumps” of obligations.

Academicus Lecture Schedule