Tasan selected by UNESCO as universal figure

Chung Yak-yong, pen-named Tasan, a scholar of the Joseon Dynasty, was designated by the UNESCO as the figure of 2012 worth being remembered universally together with some famous  foreign figures, it was learned Thursday (June 7).

Park Sok-mu, head of the Tasan Research Institute, revealed the fact in a speech at the seminar held at the Press Center to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Chung’s birth. The UNESCO has designated anniversaries related to famous figures or certain events fitting to the value and conception of the organization as the anniversaries with which UNESCO is associated since 2004.  

Other foreign figures, selected by the UNESCO with Tasan this year, include Hermann Hesse, a German novelist marking 50th anniversary of his death; Claude Debussy, French composer marking 150th anniversary of his birth; Jean-Jackqes Rousseau, French philosopher marking 300th anniversary of his birth.   

Kim Nam-ju david9303@theasian.asia