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네이버 공유 카카오 공유 트위터 공유 페이스북 공유

Korean Studies: Forever a Part of My Life

Whenever I meet Korean people, they are naturally curious about why I had chosen to pursue Korean Studies. For sometime, I would answer: “It is difficult to explain that now, but I could give you an explanation later on.” Now, with the passage of years, it seems that the time has arrived for me to explain myself.

All of a sudden, when I was 14 years old, I began to feel pain in my back. The pain was too severe to bear, and I had to be hospitalized for 18 months. I could only lie down all this time, not able to stand or even sit up. The time of my confinement to a bed was when I was 14 to 16, the most wonderful period of youth. While I was lying in a small hospital room and could not see the outside world, I happened to receive a book on Oriental painting one day. From that moment on, I fell in love with the romantic-looking Orient so deeply that I found myself wanting to have a normal life again.
At that time, the doctors said that I could never have a regular life or any kind of ordinary work, due my physical disability. However, I did not believe what they said because I had to learn about the lovely Orient. For this, I altered the hospital so that it indicated that my condition was treatable. Then, I underwent physical therapy, endured the pain, and was able to recover and eventually enroll at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University, where I studied the history of China.
In those days, in the late 1970s to the early 1980s, there were no regular courses on Korean history, although students were offered a Korean - language course every five years and a Korean history course, on an irregular basis, under the supervision of Professor L.V. Zenina, who specialized in the history of Japan and also that of Korea.

Then, in 1982, the university proposed that my classmate, A. N. Lankov, and I study Korean history as a kind of personal program - that is, about 90 percent based on self-study -while continuing to study Chinese history at the same time. This was an initiative to revive interest in the Korean history course. Korea was not as well known in Russia, in comparison to China and Japan in the early 1980s. As such, there were far fewer research papers on Korea, as compared to those on Japan and China.
I like what is not well known and what might be “overlooked” by other people. I like to discover and shed light on these “overlooked” things. So, I gladly accepted the proposal from the university. Thus, began my life as a Korean Studies scholar in 1982, after recovering from my ailment and having a “regular” life like other people. In this way, Korean Studies has become the center of my life and an inseparable part of my existence, like the air that people need to breathe.

The Korea Foundation has played a vital role in this process. I would liken it to a “Korean mother” who embraces and protects me. I visited Seoul in May 1992 as a translator for the Leningrad Ice Ballet. To make the most of my free time, I dropped by the Korea Foundation office, then located nearby the Seoul Station, and immediately completed a fellowship application for the 1993 program. After passing a screening process, I was granted a fellowship and returned to Korea in late July 1993. With a way of thinking based on my experiences in the former Soviet Union, under which I felt that an invitee like me should be responsible for himself, I went directly from Kimpo International Airport to the Korea Foundation office, with all my luggage. I arrived at the office around noon. Two of the Foundation staff members, Ms. Yoon Keum-jin, currently Director of the Korea Foundation Cultural Center, and Mr. Hwang Oh-seok, currently Director of the IT Services Department, invited me to lunch.
At this time, while I was still getting my bearings in Seoul, I had such a memorable lunch that I will long remember. In this way, the Korea Foundation made an indelible impression on me. In 1995, I received another fellowship grant from the Foundation, this time for Korean Language Training. In that year, torrential rain caused flooding in areas of Seoul that victimized many residents.
I was one of them. The room I rented, which was partially underground, was inundated with muddy water. After hearing about my situation, the then President of the Foundation personally phoned me to offer words of encouragement.

I remember thinking: How could there be a more compassionate organization than this in the world? My first book on Korean Studies in Russian was published with support from the Foundation. The book, entitled “Korean History: From the Ancient Times to 2000,” consists of 628 pages. In the early 2000s, publishers did not understand the need to publish such a book on Korean history. So, the Foundation’s assistance was essential for its publication. Now, five years later, the book seems to getting recognition from readers. Previously, my first book in Korean, “Diary about North Korea” (Joseon Ilgi), was published by the Korea Economic Daily in 1990.

The Korea Foundation has also been providing support to the faculty members of St. Petersburg State University since the late 1990s. I wonder whether the Korean Studies program at my university, with a 100-year-old tradition, could be as active as it is today without such support from the Foundation. In the early 1990s, a number of scholars left the academic sector and went abroad due to Russia's economic difficulties.

Whenever I visit the office of the Korea Foundation, I feel as if I am visiting a good friend or close family relative, rather than a cold public organization. I hope that the Foundation can be like a close relative for all Korean Studies scholars, like myself. In this way, Korean Studies scholars from around the world can be united like a family thanks to the Korea Foundation.

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