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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Former South Korean presidential candidate and minister of unification to speak at IU Friday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 19, 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- This Friday (Nov. 21) at Indiana University, South Korea's former minister of unification Chung Dong-Young will deliver a presentation, "Korean Reunification and South Korea's Policy toward North Korea," as part of the IU East Asian Studies Center's Colloquium Series.

Minister Chung was the ruling party's presidential candidate in South Korea's presidential election in 2007 and currently is a visiting scholar at the Duke Center for International Development at Duke University. The talk will begin at noon in Wylie Hall, room 005.

Also participating will be Professor Kwon Manhak of the Department of International Relations at Kyung Hee University in South Korea, where he served as dean of the College of Management and International Relations.

Kwon also has served as vice president of the Korean Association of International Studies and Korean Political Science Association and secretary general of Korea Unification Forum, which has organized joint conferences with North Korean scholars more than half a dozen times. He is a visiting scholar at the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches South Korean politics.

In their presentations, Chung and Kwon will analyze South Korea's policy toward North Korea and discuss the costs and benefits of reunification and their impact on formulating a prudent North Korea policy, the "national" character of which differentiates the policy from an ordinary "foreign" policy.

Chung also will share his experiences as minister of unification and as a top policymaker concerning North Korean issues, such as the nuclear crisis and the Sunshine Policy.

The talk is sponsored by Horizons of Knowledge, the East Asian Studies Center, the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of History.

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