June 4, 2005

The primary objective of this half-day conference was to provide American educators with an overview of Korean history and a background on a number of contemporary disputes over historical issues in the Northeast Asian region. Gari Ledyard, Sejong professor of Korean history (emeritus) at Columbia University, gave his usual masterful historical overview. Homer Williams, then director of information services at The Korea Society, spoke about how a territorial dispute over Tokto, several small islets that are located in the sea between Korea and Japan, and disagreements over the interpretation in a recent Japanese textbook of Japan’s actions during WW II had ballooned into significant and overlapping diplomatic disputes between the Republic of Korea and Japan. As a secondary objective, however, the conference also was intended to be a step towards leveraging the presence of Korean American teachers in the U.S. school system to raise the profile of Korean studies among American students. Korean American teachers generally have an interest in Korean subjects, but often lack the information needed to engage their students on these subjects. Due to the availability of opportunities such as the conferences offered by The Korea Society, Korean American teachers can become better informed and learn different ways to introduce Korea-related subject matter into the curricula. To highlight this objective, the conference was held in collaboration with the Korean Teachers Association of New York.