The 2023 Yoon Hoo-Jung Unification Forum Held, Marking a 10-Year Journey for Peace Building
- 작성처
- Date2023.12.08
- 13112
The 2023 Yoon Hoo-Jung Unification Forum Held, Marking a 10-Year Journey for Peace Building
The 2023 Yoon Hoo-Jung Unification Forum was successfully held at Lee Sam-bong Hall of the ECC building at 2 p.m. on December 4, 2023 (Mon.).
The forum, which marks its tenth anniversary since its first session in 2014, served as a venue to retrace the course of Ewha’s past steps toward unification and peace, and to share the peace building activities of women around the world, under the theme of “Womans for Peace Building.”
The event began with opening remarks by President Eun Mee Kim of Ewha Womans University, congratulatory remarks by Oh Youngju, the 2nd Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, who passed the Diplomatic Service Examination for the first time from Ewha, and video screening of “The 10-Year Journey: Yoon Hoo-Jung Unification Forum.” This was followed by Session 1, featuring a conversation with a UN agency expert on violence against women and health in conflict situations, and Session 2, featuring talks with heads of domestic and international institutions for North Korea and unification research.
In Session 1, Reem Alsalem, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls, made remarks as a keynote speaker, while former World Health Organization (WHO) Director Kang Min-Whee, the first Korean woman to serve in a director-level position at the WHO, participated as a speaker in a conversation on the topic of “Women and Girls in Conflict Situations and Mainstreaming Gender in Peace Building.” Based on the length and depth of their hands-on experience, UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem and former WHO Director Kang Min-Whee shared their opinions on the reality of women and children facing statelessness and anarchy, gender-based violence in conflict situations, and female North Korean defectors’ issues. They also expressed their expectations to find ways to uphold women’s rights and human rights in the process of the unification of the Korean Peninsula through the Yoon Hoo-Jung Unification Forum.
Session 2 opened with the screening of a video showcasing North Korean studies and unification research at Ewha, and featured talks with heads of domestic and international institutions for North Korea and unification research under the theme of “Ewha, Women and Unification: Past, Present, and Future.” Won Gon Park, Director of the Institute of Unification Studies and a professor at the Department of North Korean Studies at Ewha, presided over the talks as a moderator representing the school. Meanwhile, Director Jong-won Lee of the Institute of Korean Studies at Waseda University, Director Eun-Jeung Lee of the Institute of Korean Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Director Sojin Lim of the International Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire participated in a panel conversation to discuss future-oriented plans to overcome the division on the Korean Peninsula and move toward peace building, including discussions on the issue of female North Korean defectors, peace-focused unification, and the establishment a network for a sustainable future.
The event closed with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Ewha Institute of Unification Studies and the International Institute of Korean Studies at the University of Central Lancashire. Marking its tenth anniversary this year, the Yoon Hoo-Jung Unification Forum served as an opportunity to retrace Ewha’s footsteps to establish itself as an opinion leader for society, academia, and future generations by continuing to conduct rich academic discussions on North Korea and unification issues over the past decade.