Summary
On July 16, 2025, the Institute for Japanese Studies at Seoul National University, with support from the Toshiba International Foundation, hosted the international conference "Development of Reconciliation Studies in East Asia." Organized as a special session of the IARS Seoul Conference 2025, the meeting offered a platform to discuss reconciliation studies in Korea, East Asia, and the wider global context.
The conference consisted of three sessions addressing reconciliation as a method of Korea–Japan dialogue, the international politics of reparations, and comparative perspectives on decolonization. Discussions examined the limitations of state-centered reparations, the evolution of reconciliation concepts, and the applicability of reconciliation in postcolonial contexts.
The opening ceremony featured welcome and congratulatory remarks from institutional representatives, and the entire program was conducted with simultaneous Korean–English interpretation. This special international conference highlighted the expansion and practical significance of reconciliation studies in East Asia and underscored its broader implications for global scholarship.
Schedule
Program
09:30-10:00 Opening Ceremony
Moderator: Ji Hee Jung (IJS, Seoul National University)
Opening Remarks: Kijeong Nam (IJS, Seoul National University)
Congratulatory Remarks: Shunsuke Sogo (Director, The Japan Foundation, Seoul), Hiroki Yamazaki (President, Toshiba International Foundation)
10:00-12:00 Session 1. Reconciliation Studies as a Method of Korea-Japan Dialogue
Chair: Ji Hee Jung (IJS, Seoul National University)
Dialogue 1: The Role of Reconciliation Studies in Overcoming the Past
- Toyomi Asano (Waseda University)
- Kijeong Nam (IJS, Seoul National University)
Dialogue 2: Reconciliation Studies as International Politics
- Ja-hyun Chun (Yonsei University Mirae Campus)
- Ayaka Takei (Gakushuin Women's College)
12:00-13:00 Lunch Break
13:00-14:30 Session 2. The International Politics of Reparations and the Evolution of the Concept of Reconciliation
Chair: Hyojin Kim (IJS, Seoul National University)
Presenter: Chiara De Cesari (University of Amsterdam) "The Paradoxes of Colonial Reparation: The 2008 Italy–Libya Friendship Treaty and its Afterlives"
Presenter: Yukiko Koga (Yale University) "Unrepayable Debt, Redress, Repair, and Reconciliation for Japanese Imperialism in East Asia"
Presenter: Ayako Tomizuka (Hitotsubashi University, Waseda University) "Preemptive Title, Divided Reparations: Japan’s Compensation to South and North Vietnam and the Limits of State-Centric Reconciliation"
Discussant: Gwanja Jo (IJS, Seoul National University)
14:30-14:45 Coffee Break
14:45-16:10 Session 3. International Comparison and Universality of Decolonization
Chair: Dong Ju Seo (IJS, Seoul National University)
Presenter: Sašo Dolinšek (Independent Researcher / Waseda University) "Beyond Identity: Reconceptualising Reconciliation through Universality"
Presenter: Peter Inalegwu Awodi (University of Ibadan) "Bridging the Colonial Divide for Postcolonial Reconciliation: Anglo-French Colonialism, Civil War, and the Dynamics of Reconciliation and Post-Genocide in Cameroon"
Presenter: Richard Gbemudia (University of Ibadan) "The Nigerian Civil War, State Violence and Reconciliation in Nigeria"
Discussant: Sinhyeok Jung (IJS, Seoul National University)
16:10 Closing Remarks
