A Herman Ottó Múzeum Évkönyve 32. Kunt Ernő emlékére. (1994)

TANULMÁNYOK - FENDLER Károly: A magyar-koreai kapcsolatok száz éve (1892-1992) (magyar és angol nyelven)

tioned in Korea, with a designation "Korea". The 19th division was stationed around P'yöngyang and the 20th around Seoul, altogether with a force of 15-20 thousand. The summary of the status report in June 1935 reads "Having made use of the favorable opportunity and position, the chiefs of the Japanese army took the initiative, as usual, in state leadership and are about to lay the foundations for Japan as a great power on "the Asian continent with bold determination."

5 The same evaluation is brought forward in a report of the Hungarian Embassy in Moscow of 21 August 1936 on "the promotion of the hated General Minami to be Korea's Governor General." Describing "Minami's military and political career, the report stated that Minami is one of the major factors in Japan's expansionary policy on the continent...," "his function is to thoroughly organize and establish posts in Korea for a more extensive action by Japan on the continent, all the more so since two new Korean military ports have been complete recently and their favourable location can significantly shorten the transportation of Japanese troops."

6 On another occasion, in relation to the high-level negotiations between the Soviet Union and Mongolia, the Hungarian Ambassador in Moscow emphasized from Mongolian Prime Minister, Genden's interview that Mongolia did not wish to become the victim of Japan as Korea and Manchuguo had.

7 Even such indirect relations were broken off in the years of World War Two. Developments in the Hungarian-Korean relations after 1945 are well-known; briefly speaking they were generally determined by the international political situation and the internal situation in Hungary and Korea at any given time. Therefore, I would like to touch upon this subject only in short. Hungary established diplomatic relations with the Korean People's Democratic Republic on 11 November 1948 and set up official contacts with the Korean Republic forty years later in 1988. Then in February 1989, diplomatic relations were established and embassies opened mutually. The history of Hungarian-North Korean relations is well-known.

8 In spite of periodic minor fluctuations motivated by political reasons, relatively wide-ranging relations have been developed in political and economic fields, trade, culture and sciences between the two countries. They are reflected in the contractual relations between them. By now, specific images have evolved mutually about Korea and Hungary, partly in relation to the Korean issue. It is also one of the results of the past few decades that several hundreds of people in the Korean People's Democratic Republic have learnt Hungarian at different levels of fluency, making it possible to publish Hungarian and Korean literature in translation.

9 Unfortunately, very few people are familiar with the Korean language in Hungary. In my view, the biggest shortcoming is that no centre, no education has been introduced for Hungarian and Korean studies either in Korea or in Hungary, respectively, up until now. In spite of the short past, the relations between Hungary and South Korea are 5 Hungarian National Archives, 1936. k. 63. 114, cs. 15. 6 Ibid., 281/1936. k. 63, 15/28. f. 15. 7 Ibid., 1936 15/28. f. 43. 8 See: Péter Faludi, Mit kell tudni a KNDK-ról (What to know on DPRK), Budapest, 1981. pp. 182-186. 9 See attachment. 163