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Dr Ra’s talk, ̽»¨Ö±²¥Discovery of the World – A Korean Perspective, will be held at Robinson College on Friday (October 31) and is free and open to all. ̽»¨Ö±²¥new lecture series, in Korean Studies, has been set up by the Department of East Asian Studies and will be named after Ra Jong-Yil himself.

Dr Ra has a long and distinguished career in public service and academia. He graduated from Seoul National ̽»¨Ö±²¥, but also holds a Ph.D. in international relations from the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge and started his career as a Professor of Political Science and Kyunghee ̽»¨Ö±²¥ in the Republic of Korea.

From 1996 to 1998, he played a key role in the first peaceful change of government through electoral process in South Korea and served as the Director of Administration in Kim Dae-jung’s Presidential Transition Committee. During President Kim’s time in office, he was both the First and Second Director of the Republic’s National Intelligence Service.

Dr Ra went on to become President Roh Moo-hyun’s Senior Advisory on National Security. He has also held a number of senior diplomatic postings, serving from 2001 to 2003 as the Republic’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom and subsequently as its ambassador to Japan.

He 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 Korea’s Woosuk ̽»¨Ö±²¥.

̽»¨Ö±²¥talk will take place on Friday, October 31, at Robinson College at 5pm but anyone wishing to attend is advised to arrive early since places will be limited. Members of the public are welcome to attend and the event will be followed by a drinks reception, which is open to all those at the lecture.ÌýFor further information, please contact Dr John Swenson-Wright on jhs22@cam.ac.uk

̽»¨Ö±²¥Vice-Chancellor of the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge, Professor Alison Richard, will be visiting Seoul in October 2009.
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