The Northeast Asian History Foundation and the Forum for the Study of East Asian History will jointly host an international conference on the East Asian history at Hotel Grand Hilton Seoul on November 6 (Friday) ~ 7 (Saturday).

Efforts to perceive East Asia as one "world" have continued for a long time, but how to define the identity of the "East Asian World" has not yet been clearly established.

Under these circumstances, the international conference on "Identity and Diversity of the ''East Asian World'' from a Historical Perspective" is very meaningful in that the identity of East Asia will be illuminated through historical contexts.

Bu Ping, the director of the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in his keynote statement, "It is generally agreed that there is a historical ground in Asia composing its identity just like Europe" and pointed out that "Chinese character culture" and "Confucian culture" are good examples of it. The director noted, however, "Despite the historical ground, there remains political and emotional friction between Korea, China and Japan over historical understandings, textbooks, Yasukuni Shrine and other issues, undermining the burgeoning sense of community" and emphasized, "It is necessary to establish a historical perception beyond national borders."

Meanwhile, Masanori Nakamura, professor at Hitotsubashi University, Japan, will give a presentation titled "The Russo-Japanese War and National History" in which he analyzed Japan''s nationalism through Ryotaro Shiba''s novel Clouds on the Hill which depicts the period when Japan''s expansionist and imperialist military, economy, politics and education (national mentality) were established after the Meiji Restoration.

The conference is expected to serve as a good opportunity for relevant researchers in East Asia to meet and discuss ways to promote co-prosperity and peace in the region.