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On Sept. 14, JNU Graduate School held the first monthly colloquium for the 4·3 Convergence Major at JNU College of Education.

For this colloquium, Dr. Jeong Geun-sik, a renowned authority in the field of national violence and memory studies from Seoul National University's Department of Sociology, delivered a lecture on "The Prospect and Direction of 4·3 Research." Dr. Jeong served various significant positions, including Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Director of the Institute for Unification and Peace Studies, Research Director of the Democracy Movement Commemoration Foundation, and Board Member of the Jeju 4·3 Peace Foundation.

This Colloquium helped deepen the 4·3 convergence major curriculum while training manpower for national violence research and implementation of past settlement tasks were discussed. In addition, the event provided an opportunity to collaborate between theoretical research by scholars from Jeju and mainland and empirical research by Jeju researchers through presentations and conversations on specific topics.

JNU Graduate School has been offering the 4·3 Convergence Major Program since the second semester of the 2023 academic year. The 4·3 Convergence Major is a master's and doctoral training course operated by JNU with budget support after signing agreements with Jeju Island, the Jeju Provincial Council, and the Jeju Free International City Development Center with the aim of cultivating follow-up researchers of the 4·3 Studies and systemizing research infrastructure. Currently, the program involves departments such as Korean Language and Literature, History, the General Social Education Major in the Department of Social Education, Sociology, and Political Science and Diplomacy, and more departments will participate in the future.

JNU 4·3 Convergence Major aims to establish the theoretical and practical foundation of the 4·3 generation by conducting interdisciplinary research that delves into pre-4·3 and post-4·3 eras, addressing issues such as the Cold War, decolonization, diaspora, and development-oriented thinking. In order to share the research results and concerns of domestic and foreign researchers and to spread the 4·3 research socially, it plans to regularly plan and hold special lectures and academic conferences, including monthly colloquiums.