Korean named president of Japanese university

Kang Sang-jung(65) inaugurated president of Seigakuin University. (Photo : NEWSis)

Kang Sang-jung, an ethnic Korean professor residing in Japan, was inaugurated president of Seigakuin University in Saitama Prefecture at the school’s chapel, Tuesday.

He is the first Korean national to be appointed president of a four-year Japanese university.

“When I entered this school 40 years ago, I was nervous and hesitant mainly because I had no friends,” Kang said at the ceremony. “I hope every student at this school will manage to find friends who will help shape you for four years.”

Kang, a second-generation Korean-Japanese political scientist, was born in Kumamoto and later became the first Korean to be appointed a full-time professor at the University of Tokyo.

He studied at Waseda University and was involved in the protest movement against the compulsory fingerprinting of foreigners in the early 1980s.

His major works include “Beyond Orientalism” (1996), “The Perspective of Globalization” (2001) and “Nationalism” (2001). The Korea Times