Welcome Speech

On behalf of almost twenty thousand faculty members and students of Sejong University, I would like to extend my hearty welcome to the participants, particularly from abroad, to attend the conference. I sincerely hope that your contributions today will substantially enhance the possibility of economic prosperity through integration and unification in the East Asian region in the future. A forum on the current issue of FTA or TPP in relation to the theme of East Asia Economic Integration and Unification of Korean peninsula is both a grand subject and a great solution with a number of dimensions such as national and international strategy. More importantly, it is also about what we need to pursue for the better life in the East Asian region. In these tumorous daily life which is full of big news that can change the national destiny, I think it is our duty to provide a forum organized by the university that is the dwelling place of free mind, the guardian of free man's heritage. Through free and intellectual discourse on the problems confronting us, we may yet find an answer in the age-old question as well as in desperate current issues. I am also grateful that this conference is jointly organized by Sejong University and Hanns Seidel Foundation because we can share the German experience of Economic integration and German unification. “You die! I die!”, the expression frequently heard in standoff situations between South and North Koreas, can realistically describe the current relations between the two. I hope these Korean desperate situation can benefit from German experience. In 1986, Sejong University established the Center for Economic Integration that has been publishing the Journal of Economic Integration on the quarterly basis. I am sure that all your discussions on today’s Conference will enrich the contents of the Journal that pursues solutions and policy implications amid the challenges and chances in the globalizing world economy. As the President of a University, and as a senior economist in the Academia, I wish to encourage your insights, talents, passion, and dream. Once again, thank you very much in advance for your active participation. Your contribution will be a stepping stone. I would greatly appreciate your dedication and passion.