Biblioteka Publiczna m.st. Warszawy - Biblioteka Główna Województwa Mazowieckiego we współpracy z Katedrą Studiów Azjatyckich Uniwersytetu SWPS w ramach cyklu czwartkowych spotkań o Azji Wschodniej "Azjatyckie dylematy" zapraszają na spotkanie dyskusyjne:
Republic of Korea: In Search of Peace
Zagadnienia przedstawi:
H.E. Sung-joo Choi – Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Poland
Moderator: prof. dr hab. Krzysztof Gawlikowski – Uniwersytet SWPS
25 października 2018 r. (czwartek), w godz. 18.00-20.00
Debata odbędzie się w języku angielskim, będzie na żywo transmitowana w Internecie na stronie Biblioteki.
Spotkanie odbędzie się w Sali Konferencyjnej
Biblioteki Publicznej m.st. Warszawy, ul. Koszykowa 26/28,
gmach im. St. Kierbedziów
Republic of Korea: In search of peace
25.10.2018 r.
At the very end of the Word War II, in August 1945, the Soviet and the American forces liberated Korea from the Japanese occupation. They have agreed upon that their dividing line will be 38th parallel. In December 1945 during Moscow Conference the Soviet Union and the USA declared that one democratic government should be elected there. Unfortunately, the cold war resulted in 1948 in the formation of the two governments: one pro-Soviet at the North, and another pro-American at the South. On June 25th, 1950 the North Korean army invaded the South. In this way Korean War had been initiated. The North received support of China and of the Soviet Union, whereas the South received the UN help, with American Army as the most significant force. The armistice was signed in July 1953, after the death of Stalin.
Since the armistice both states developed in different directions, but on the two sides of the Demilitarized Zone there are two giant armies ready to fight, and many government consider the North as a threat for peace in East Asia. The South achieved almost miraculous industrial development, whereas the communist North remains rather backward, although it developed nuclear bombs and intercontinental missiles.
Numerous attempts to normalize inter-Korean relations did not produce lasting results. One of the significant achievements constitutes an admission of the two Korean states to the united Nations (1991). Many times it appeared that another war could outbreak there again.
In 2018 Mr. Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea, started a new period of peace efforts. His meetings with the communist leader Kim Jong-un in April and May 2018 opened a way to the meeting of Kim and President Donald Trump in Singapore (June 12). In September two Korean leaders met again, and at the beginning of October Mr. Mike Pompeo, American Secretary of State concluded his fourth visit to Pyongyang. And it was announced that the second summit Trump-Kim is under preparations.
Numerous politicians and intellectuals look for these developments with a surprise and with hopes for a success.
The complex situation on the Korean Peninsula and the policy of the Republic of Korea will present HE Sung-joo Choi, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea in Poland.
Professor Krzysztof Gawlikowski
The Head of the Chair of Asian Studies
SWPS University
