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The Japan-Korea tunnel was published in Korea Unification Daily

Jeon Ho-hwan, president of Busan University, believes that a ``Korea-Japan undersea tunnel'' should be dug in order to breathe warm air into the current cold relationship between South Korea and Japan. He is also a naval architect and marine engineer, and said, ``In an age when underwater city plans are being drawn up, building an undersea tunnel is a simple civil engineering project.'' On the 17th, he met with the president of Busan National University, which aims to become a prestigious university in the world.

(Interviewer: Kang Chang-man, organizer: Lee Min-hao)

 

Interview with the former president of Busan University: Scholarship support for international students in Japan

 

--The pledge you made when you took office last June was to become a ``global national university prepared for the era of unified Korea.''

"We can prepare for the future only by taking a proactive approach. The unification agenda is very important. Unification will come unexpectedly at a certain moment. It will not come planned. Busan is the gateway to the Eurasian continent. If you look at it from the other side, it is an outpost stretching out into the ocean.Busan is a city that has all the features of a world-class city.A global city has a global university.If you look only at New York City, However, the culture of young people, centered on universities, is the driving force behind the development of cities.I want Busan National University to leapfrog the country and become a prestigious university in the world.''

 

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(Photo: President Jeon Ho-hwan)

 

--You seem to be saying that in order for South Korea to become a country that connects the ocean and the continent, it is necessary to build an undersea tunnel between South Korea and Japan.

“As you say, the relationship between Korea and Japan is important for Korea to develop. The excavation of the Korea-Japan tunnel is the core of this. In order to do so, it is necessary to open a tunnel.As a shipbuilding and marine engineer, I believe that it is not that difficult.Drilling a tunnel into the ocean floor is, to put it bluntly, an extension of civil engineering work.Research on underwater cities has just begun. If you have the will, you can do it.This project will greatly help improve Korea-Japan relations, which have become chilly."

(Busan City will begin a study this year to analyze the validity of constructing an undersea tunnel between Korea and Japan.)

 

Q: Koreans living in Japan established the Keiken Silver Academy at Busan University and have been interacting with each other for 16 years.

“The founder, Chairman Kim Kyeong-Hun (first-generation Japanese resident from Kyoto, 90 years old), is a pioneer in re-education for the elderly in Korea. Kyeong-Hun Silver has become the pride of Busan. It is the number one lifelong learning institution in the country, both in name and reality. It has established itself as a facility.Competition for admission by elderly people is fierce.It is amazing that Koreans living in Japan can make their fellow countrymen in their homeland feel worth living a ``second life.'' I believe that our compatriots not only improved relations between Korea and Japan, but also made meaningful contributions to the motherland."

 

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(Photo: Busan University)

 

--Keinori Silver is the only academy that has a support group for Koreans living in Japan. How can we continue our relationship in the future?

``In January of this year, the number of graduates exceeded 2,500.Thanks to the support of Korean Koreans in Japan, including Kenji Kim, Chairman of the Support Association for Koreans in Japan, we were able to hold a special ceremony to commemorate this milestone. We would like to express our gratitude for your continued support and support over the past 16 years, and will continue to work hard to maintain this important relationship.The Korean residents of Japan have been of great help to the economic development of their homeland since their poverty-stricken days when they sometimes suffered from poverty. I think the Keiken Silver Academy is also a successful example created by Koreans living in Japan.If the children of Koreans living in Japan come to study at Busan University, we will provide support measures such as scholarships. As such, I would like to help the next generation of Korean students living in Japan as much as possible.In addition, I will prepare a special course so that elderly Korean residents in Japan can receive an education at Silver Academy.

 

Korea Unification Daily (from the article dated January 25, 2017)

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