On the Japan Foundation Awards

As the recipient of a Japan Foundation Special Prize, I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations on the 50th anniversary of the Japan Foundation.

I received a communication from the Japan Foundation at the start of 2006 telling me that I had been selected as a recipient of that year’s Japan Foundation Special Prize. I was told that the award ceremony would be on October 3. At the time, I was the Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University, and I was thrilled to accept this prestigious award from the Japan Foundation as a researcher of Japan. However, I was also unexpectedly approached with a request to serve as the president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, to be established by the Korean Government in August that year.

The Northeast Asian History Foundation was set up as an organization that deals with issues of territory and history in the East Asian area, with the aim of building a foundation of peace within the region. It is an organization that represents the position of the Korean Government to a large degree. And so, I firmly declined becoming its president, because I had promised to accept an award from the Japan Foundation two months later. The Korean Government, in turn, convinced me to accept, believing that we should open our hearts enough to accept that the president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation had been chosen as the awardee of the Japan Foundation Special Prize. I was concerned at this point that the award ceremony on October 3 would clash with the program for Gaecheonjeol (Korea’s national foundation day), but I felt that it was my responsibility as the president of the Northeast Asian History Foundation to keep my promise in light of such matters.

At the award ceremony, I spoke about my family’s anti-Japanese views and how I started researching Japan because I felt that, when it came to the relationship between Korea and Japan, we should know more deeply about Japan rather than unilaterally ostracize it.

The following day (October 4), the Emperor invited the award winners to a celebratory reception. The Korean people, having heard Emperor Akihito say that the Imperial family had Baekje lineage at a press conference in 2001, felt a strong affinity with him, so I was delighted to meet him.

After receiving the Japan Foundation Special Prize, I focused on work compiling a joint history of Korea, Japan, and China. The present-day outcome is minor, but I have come to believe that East Asian history could become a shared asset.

I think that the road to Korea, Japan, and China working with mutual cooperation toward peace from an equal standpoint requires efforts to face our past, unaltered, and to write history based on this. In Korea, we have a proverb: “50 is half of 100.” This means that the 50th anniversary will soon become the 100th anniversary.

I would like to express my great respect for the efforts of everyone involved with the Japan Foundation to encourage mutual understanding and friendship and goodwill between Japan and other countries, and hope that international cultural exchange and peace will develop as a result of their achievements to date.

Kim Yongdeok

(Original text in Japanese)

The Japan Foundation Award / Special Prizes (2006) - Profile