In today’s 21st century, the importance of knowledge and information cannot be emphasized too much regarding cross-border and cross-cultural communication. While a vast flood of information is being transmitted across the continents at an unprecedented speed and scope nowadays, it is too often incomplete and even misleading without a proper knowledge and understanding on the part of both the senders and receivers of such information. Without adequate knowledge, an abundance of information is likely to contribute to miscommunication and misunderstanding, as well as conflict, between the senders and receivers. This creates the need for an epistemic community, a global network of knowledge-based specialists, to help overcome the potential for misunderstanding and confrontation as a result of incomplete or misinterpreted information. This session seeks to identify the practical efforts needed to construct an epistemic community in East Asia and beyond. This year, the Korea Foundation will launch its “KF Global e-School” program for the purpose of educating our next generation of leaders and professionals. This innovative program will serve to build an epistemic community through the operation of cooperative educational networks at the regional and global levels. This session will focus on cross-border educational cooperation through the KF Global e-School program and related initiatives.

- Moderator
MOON, Woo-sik (Professor, Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University)

- Panelists
XIE Tao (Associate Professor, School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University)
John B. DUNCAN (Director, the Center for Korean Studies, University of California, Los Angeles)
CHOI Hyeon-Seon (Director, Korean Studies Department, The Korea Foundation)
RHEE Christine (Professor, Korean Studies, Waseda University-SILS)