Kyung Hee marks International Day of Peace
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Kyung Hee University President Choue In-won gives an opening speech at Peace BAR Festival 2016 on the university’s Seoul campus, Wednesday, in celebration of the International Day of Peace. / Courtesy of Kyung Hee University
Scholars, experts discuss challenges of civilization
By Chung Hyun-chae
Kyung Hee University kicked off the three-day Peace BAR Festival at its Seoul campus, Wednesday, to celebrate the 35th International Day of Peace, introduced by the U.N. General Assembly in 1981 and first observed in 1982.
“Peace BAR Festival 2016 provides a forum in which we can discuss the possibility of an existential revolution that may lie in our near future,” Kyung Hee University President Choue In-won said in his opening speech.
“Human civilization is now at a crossroads, in which we face a bleak future if we do not establish a new relationship with our planet.”
Choue cited the issue of climate change several times while mentioning threats to the planet.
“The raison d'etre of universities including Kyung Hee University is to create a better future by contributing to the creation of a sustainable human civilization,” said Lee Moon-jae, director of the Kyung Hee University Press. “And that will lead to world peace.”
Kyung Hee University has hosted Peace BAR Festival since 1982 to seek ways to ensure the future of human civilization amid a series of crises including climate change, terrorism, violence, war, human alienation and polarization.
BAR is an acronym representing the three main values central to this festival _ spiritually Beautiful, materially Affluent and humanly Rewarding.
The Moon Development and Marketing (MDM), a real-estate development firm, and the Korea Asset In Trust(KAIT), an asset management company, sponsored the event.
Under the theme of “Transformative Challenge: The Worlds of Human Mind and Planetary Engagement,” this year’s event takes a more philosophical approach to ponder world peace and how to create a better future.
For this, Kyung Hee invited three international academic think tanks _ the Club of Rome, the Club of Budapest and the World Academy of Art and Science _ to discuss our common future.
Major participants included Club of Budapest president Ervin Laszlo, Club of Rome vice president Roberto Peccei, World Academy of Art and Science president Heitor Gurgulino de Souza and Global Academy for Future Civilizations rector Chung Jong-pil.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also sent a congratulatory video message to the festival.
About 350 dignitaries, scholars and professors, including the university’s faculty and students are participating in the event.
The school expects more than 1,000 people to come to the festival by Friday.
Following the opening ceremony, the university’s College of Music students gave a congratulatory performance.
On the first day of the festival, representatives of the three international academic institutions attended a roundtable discussion on the topic of “Civic Minds and Politics in This Troubled World.”
Kim Min-woong, professor of the Global Academy for Future Civilizations at Kyung Hee University, presided over the session.
The session was planned in light of the recognition that economic and expansionary values overshadow human values.
“We propose to highlight the inner life of human beings in their quest for a new way of thinking,” said Choue, who also took part in the discussion
Today there will be two colloquiums that will provide venues for attendants to explore what higher education institutions can do for world peace.
Among the topics that will be discussed in the colloquiums are individualized education and the emerging role of the university in the age of global collaboration.
Scholars from Kyung Hee and other local universities and members of the World Academy of Art and Science are scheduled to speak on such subjects.
Two more colloquiums will be held tomorrow.
Various kinds of events and special lectures will accompany the main programs.
An essay contest for Kyung Hee students with the theme of peace will be held on campus today, while there will be a student debate competition hosted by the university’s Humanitas College tomorrow.
An exhibition organized by the Humanitas College on world citizenship education and peace education is open to all visitors.
A special lecture under the theme of “The Earth Spaceship Vision: A New Philosophy for Our Life and Future” will be given by Laszlo on the last day of the festival.