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Inaugural Ra Jong-yil lecture in Cambridge

Cambridge University is celebrating its first dedicated Korean Studies post with a new series of lectures. The Ra Jong-yil Annual Lecture Series in Korean Studies will be launched by Dr Ra Jong-yil himself, who will talk on ‘The Discovery of the World – A Korean Perspective

The lecture is to be held at 5pm on Friday 31 October 2008 at Robinson College, Cambridge.

The lecture is a public one which all are very welcome to attend and will be followed by a drinks reception that will also be open to all attending the lecture. To register, or for further information, please contact Dr John Swenson-Wright on jhs22 @ cam . ac . uk

Dr Ra will be re-running the talk at the Korean Cultural Centre in London on 3 November at 3pm.

Ambassador Ra Jong-yil has had a long and distinguished career in public service and academia. A graduate of Seoul National University (from which he received his BA and MA degrees) he also holds a Ph.D. in international relations from Cambridge University. His early career was as a Professor of Political Science at Kyunghee University in South Korea. From 1996 to 1998, he played a key role in the first peaceful change of government through electoral process in Korea and served as the Director of Administration in the Kim Dae-jung Presidential Transition Committee. During President Kim’s time in office, Dr Ra served as both the First and Second Director of the Republic of Korea’s National Intelligence Service. During the administration of President Roh Moo-hyun, he also served as Senior Advisor to the President on National Security. Dr Ra has also held a number of very senior diplomatic postings, serving from 2001 to 2003 as ROK Ambassador to the United Kingdom and from 2004 to 2007 as ROK Ambassador to Japan. Dr Ra has published widely on a range of subjects, including political theory, cultural politics in Northeast Asia, Cold War issues, and on the politics and governance of North Korea. He is currently the President of Woosuk University.

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