As part of the Special Lecture Series "Korean Politics Today" (SoSe 2013) on June 18, 2013 two lectures were held regarding state injustice in South Korea. First Prof. Dr. Byung ook Ahn (The Catholic University of Korea) talked on the topic of "Reappraisal of state injustice in South Korea", mainly explaining the work of the Committee for Reappraisal of the Past of which Mr Ahn was the chairmain. But he also touched upon current issues concerning the role and meaning of continuing of the Committee's work despite a certain resistance by concervative force of the Korean society. The second speaker was Prof. Dr. Soo Sung (Chungnam University) who presented a paper on "State injustice and traumata" mainly dealing with the Kwangju Massacre in 1980 and its aftermath. He pointed out how important it was to deal with socio-psychological issues such as the those traumatas of the massacre that affect society until today. In the following discussion of the two papers it became clear that not only was it important to deal with the past socially, politically and psychologically, but that there is an opportunity to use the knowledge - acquired through taking these issues serious and doing research on it - for applying it on other cases and probably help other societies in dealing with their issues.

The two speakers were part of a South Korean delegation that was invited by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Goethe Institute to travel Germany and meet with dialouge partners concerning reappraisal of state injustice. Other members of the delegation were MP Sun Mee Jin (Democratic Party), MP Jae Oh Lee (New Forntier Party), newspaper reporter Min Kyoung Kim (Hankyoreh), and Mr. Kyung Ho Ahn (NGO).

 

From left to right: Mr. Kyung Ho Ahn, MP Sun Mee Jin, Prof. Dr.Soo Sung Oh, and Prof. Dr. Byung Ook Ahn.