On March 2, to mark the 97th Anniversary of March 1st Independent Movement, Prof. Han Sang-Jin delivered a public lecture under the title of “March 1st Independent Movement and the Identity of ROK: State Building and Ethos Realization”(光復), which was also the introduction to his lecture course of “Human Rights, NGOs, and Global Civil Society with a Special Focus on Transitional Justice” opened at the department of Sociology at Seoul National University. In this public lecture, Prof. Han presented a new interpretation of the relationship between “State building and Ethos Realization(光復)” which has been the focus of heating debates and conflicts of two interpretation camps since 2008 which are now threatening to turn into an antagonistic contestation.

According to his new interpretation mediating two contesting camps, although the establishment of government in 1948 can be understood and recognized as a state building in the context of its legal facts, the historical meaning and the normative idea((光復) of the independent movement constitute the normative foundation of state building, and this aspect of the normative legitimacy can’t be reduced the legal aspect. Discussants of this lecture were Prof. Lee Young-Hoon and Prof. Han Si-Jun, who are respectively the representative of the two interpretation camps on this issue which Prof. Han tried to mediate.

related links: 
http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2016/03/03/2016030300092.html