The building at 251 Dwight Street, New Haven, Connecticut was purchased by the Kohs with East Rock Institute in mind.

East Rock Institute became a non-profit agency.

The late Dr. Kwang Lim Koh, founder of East Rock Institute, was honored by the Coalition for Healthy Korean Americans in Boston, December 19, 1999, with the establishment of the Koh Memorial Health Center at 41 Montvale Stoneham, Massachusetts. The Coalition for Healthy Korean Americans, founded in 1998, is the first Korean community-based health service agency. COHKA is a voluntary, nonprofit organization supported by concerned individuals, corporations, foundations and government agencies. Dr. Bill Chun is the founder of the center.

The First Annual Conference of Koreans and Korean-Americans was initiated at Central Connecticut State College with Dr. Kwang Lim Koh in the Chair and Dr. Hesung C. Koh as its Program Chair.

The 18th Annual Conference of Koreans and Korean-Americans: “Korean Identity in the Year of the Olympics,” was chaired by Charles C.S. Kim, M.D. under the co-sponsorship of East Rock Institute and Korean American Students of Yale. The conference was moved to New Haven.

“Building Community: Bridging the Korean and American Cultures” was the theme of 19th Annual Conference of Koreans and Korean-Americans. Dr. Kwang Lim Koh, the conference founder, passed away September 17th, one week before the conference.

A Korean Film Festival was presented by East Rock Institute.

“Vision of Korean-American Studies” was the topic of the 20th Annual Conference of Koreans and Korean Americans. Co-sponsors were East Rock Institute and Korean American Students at Yale.

Korean Traditional Music, a Kayagum Recital by Ahn Ok-Sun, was presented by East Rock Institute and was supported in part by the International Cultural Society of Korea.

“Fostering Korean Culture in America” was the theme of the 21st Annual Conference of Koreans and Korean Americans. Mu Young Lee and Christopher Park were Co-chairs.

A Kayagum Recital by Professor Hwang Byung-gi of Seoul, Korea was sponsored by East Rock Institute.

East Rock Institute presented “Korean Women in Politics,” a special lecture by Professor Ok-Yul Kim, Seoul, Korea.

“Race, Gender and Power: Changing Options of Women of Korean Heritage” was the topic for the 22nd Annual Conference of Koreans and Korean Americans. Em Cho and Se-Ok Oh were Co-Chairs.

East Rock Institute sponsored a public lecture “Korea: The Underside of Rapid Development,” given by Professor In Ho Lee, Seoul National University, and Current Visiting Fellow, Russian Research Center, Harvard University, on February 16.

On April 1,1993 East Rock Institute co-sponsored, along with the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Law Project, Yale Law School, and the Yale Women’s Studies Program, a panel discussion: The Korean Comfort Woman Case: New Claims for Human Riqhts in East Asia. Hesung Chun Koh, East Rock Institute and Thomas Hammack, Student Director, Lowenstein International Human Rights Project, Yale Law School, were the moderators. The panelists were Won Soon Park, Esq., Visiting Scholar, Harvard Law School and Director, Human Rights Division, Korean Bar Association; Seong-Phil Hong, LL.M., Yale Law School and Director, the Seoul International Law Academy. Ms. Jina L. Choi of the Yale Law School was the Discussant.

On April 19, 1993 East Rock Institute co-sponsored, with the Economic Growth Center, Yale University, a public lecture, How Did the Korean Economy Develop So Rapidly? What Problems Are Ahead and Why?, delivered by Linsu Kim, of Korea University.

On Saturday, March 27, East Rock Institute hosted a meeting of Korean American Young Professional Leaders. The purpose of the meeting was to seek a timely new perspective on the role and mission of the Korean-American community in a rapidly changing society.

On October 28, Kyung-soo Chun, Professor and Chairman, Department of Anthropology, Seoul National University, delivered a public lecture on “The Korean Family System and Its Transition: A New Perspective.” On October 29, East Rock Institute held its first fund-raising banquet at the Park Plaza Hotel.

On October 30, the 23rd Annual Conference of Koreans and Korean Americans was held. The theme was “Realities and Visions: Vitalizing the Korean Communities.”

In January, Professor Jo Gun Chung of Dong-A University in Pusan, Korea arrived as an East Rock Institute Visiting Scholar to Yale Law School. He was accompanied by his wife, Professor Haesoon Yoon-Chung, who is a Visiting Scholar at the Yale School of Forestry.

On February 17, East Rock Institute held a consultative dinner meeting for pastors, church leaders, and community leaders, representing approximately ten Connecticut Churches, to discuss the needs and concerns of Korean Americans from the viewpoint of the Korean American church.

On March 10, East Rock Institute, the Asia-Pacific Law Society at Yale, the Yale Forum on the Practice of International Law, and the Chinese Law Students’ Association co-sponsored a lecture entitled Trade and Investment Policies After Uruguay and APEC: A Korean Perspective. The lecture featured speakers, Honorable Hyon Hong Lee, Ambassador and Consul General of the Korean Consulate General in New York, and Sang Hyun Song, law professor at Seoul National University, and moderator, Harold Hongju Koh, professor at Yale Law School.

On April 8-10, the first East Rock Institute Young Professionals Retreat was held simultaneously with the third East Rock Institute Young Professionals Meeting at Mercy Center in Madison, Connecticut.

On April 23, a Korean Language Lecture and Discussion, entitled, Wisdom to Cope with Conflict, was held at the First Somerfield United Methodist Church in New Haven, Connecticut. This was a follow-up meeting to the pastors’ and community leaders’ meeting of February 17. Woong Bum Lee, M.D. moderated the meeting.

On May 14, East Rock Institute held the first meeting of the Korean American Women’s Council. Approximately twenty Korean and Korean American women leaders, representing various Korean American Churches in Connecticut, met in order to delineate the common concerns from the women’s perspective, and to search for an effective and creative way to serve the community.

On July 16, East Rock Institute held the second meeting of the Korean American Women’s Council, at which Dr. Koh of EM lectured on Characteristics of Korean Culture through the Arts.”

On August 18, East Rock Institute and the National Association of Korean Schools (NAKS) co-sponsored a day-long Korean Culture and History Teachers’ Workshop. Entitled Korean Values, Family and Gender Roles: Past and Present, the workshop consisted of three sessions: “Social Control and Justice in the Choson Dynasty,” “The Korean Life Cycle,” and “The Meaning of Love and Family.”

On August 19, Dr. Koh of East Rock Institute delivered a lecture on “The Characteristics of Korean Culture” in Chicago to over 200 National Association for Korean Schools Annual Meeting participants.

On October 1, East Rock Institute hosted the third meeting of the Korean and Korean American Women’s Council. The theme was “Korean Women’s Contributions to the Choson Dynasty.”

On October 28, East Rock Institute held its second annual Dinner and Concert at the Yale University Law School Dining Hall.

On April 8, The Second Annual Young Professionals Retreat was held at the Mercy Center in Madison, Connecticut. This year’s participants included Chinese and Japanese American friends, meeting the previous year’s desire to expand our boundaries to include all those related to Korea.

On April 15, the Korean American Medical Leaders Conference took place at the Yale University School of Medicine. This was the first medical leadership conference sponsored by a joint effort of the Korean American Medical Association and East Rock Institute. The conference was an effort to foster and advance a relationship between first- and second-generation Korean American health care professionals, and to help them participate in mainstream American medical activities and community services.

On May 13, the Korean American Women’s Council convened for a round
table discussion at East Rock Institute. The topic was “Educating children in a bicultural setting.”

June 10-21. The first U.S.-Korea Forum was held at Seoul, Cheju City, and Taegu. The Forum was sponsored by East Rock Institute, in cooperation with Seoul National University (SNU), Korean University, Cheju National University (CNU) and Keimyung University. Participants from the United States included the President of East Rock Institute and several members of the Board of Directors. The Forum was a vital step toward East Rock Institute’s goal of enhancing and deepening cultural understanding between the East and West.

June 26-30. The first workshop of East Asian Law and Culture was convened at the National Museum of Ethnology, Senri, Expo Park, Osaka, Japan, bringing together an international collaborative team of scholars for the purpose of establishing the coding and computerization of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese traditional criminal codes and cases as well as the division of work among the scholars and a project timetable. The second workshop will be held at Seoul National University in November to analyze the computerized data. This two year research project is sponsored by the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology and supported by a Japanese Ministry of Education grant. Dr. Sugita Shigeharu is the project representative and Dr. Hesung C. Koh is the project director.

On August 25, The Second Annual East Rock Institute Teachers’ Workshop took place in Los Angeles. The conference for the first time was a collaborative effort of the National Association for Korean Schools and the Korean School Association (of California).

On September 28, The Korean Culture and History Teachers’ Workshop, a workshop for American teachers from both private and public schools, was held at the Area Cooperative Education Service in Hamden, Connecticut. This workshop covered Korean Cultural Values, Family and Gender Roles in a comparative view with China, Japan and the United States.

On October 27, the Annual East Rock Institute Benefit Dinner and Concert was held.

On March 16-17, East Rock Institute held the Young Professionals Retreat.

The Korean American Women’s Council met twice at East Rock Institute to discuss the challenges of raising children in a bicultural environment.

The fourth workshop for the East Asian Law and Culture Project was convened at Seoul National University, September 15-21, 1996.

East Rock Institute sponsored the Second Korea-United States Forum in June 1996 to “enhance its mission of deepening cultural understanding between the East and the West.” The Forum was held in various locations in Korea during the two week tour.

On October 24, East Rock Institute held its Annual Dinner and Concert.

On October 25, East Rock Institute held the 26th Annual Conference of Korean and Korean Americans at William Harkness Hall, Yale University. Over 300 people attended.

On October 1-11, the sixth workshop of the East Asian Law and Culture Project at the Law Department, Beijing University, Beijing, China was held (Dr. Shigeharu Sugita, Vice Director of the National Museum of Ethnology, Japan, is the Project Representative and Dr. Hesung Chun Koh of ERI is the Project Director of this international collaborative project of scholars from China, Japan, Korea, and the US).

On November 4, East Rock Institute’s first Japan-United States forum was held, including a panel discussion, “Japanese and American Management Styles: A Comparison” was led by Professors Clark and Maegawa. (10 scholars and business leaders from Japan and Korea attended.)

On March 19-29, the 7th workshop for East Asian Law and Culture was held at East Rock Institute. Topics that were discussed were: Cultural and Anthropological Study of Law and Culture: A Review (Kyung-soo Chun and Toshio Asakura); Computer Ethnology utilizing criminal cases of 18th Century China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam for the analysis of their Kinship Structure (Shigeharu Sugita and Tadashi Yamamoto); Influence of Chinese Law to Japan, Korea and Vietnam (Zheng Qing), An Analysis of Choson Dynasty Korean Kinship through the study of Criminal Cases (Hesung Chun Koh); Tokugawa Law and Kinship Structure in Japan (Mitsuhiko Kasaya) and Bibliographical Annotation of Primary Legal Documents of 18th Century East Asia (Yukio Fujimoto; Jae-Soo Yun, In Sun Yu, Shiro Ishii, Toshihiko Tanii)

On May 8-10, the Young Professionals Group of ERI held the fourth annual ERI Retreat.

The 26th Annual Conference of Koreans and Korean Americans was held.

On October 15, East Rock Institute hosted the Korean American Forum, titled “Moving into the New Millennium: In Search of Wisdom for Koreans
in America.”

In Novemeber, Hesung Chun Koh, Chair and President of ERI, presented a paper, “Korean Masked Dance Drama and Korean Traditional Social Structure” at the symposium on Asian Pacific Culture and the Masked Dance Drama. This event was held at the International Research Center for Japanese Culture in Kyoto, Japan.

Dr. Hesung Chun Koh accepted an invitation from Taehard Puinhoe to speak at the meeting of the Korean Women’s Association of Washington State on the role of Koreans in the new millennium.

Dr. Hesung Chun Koh presented at the Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC) meeting at the University of Berkeley. Papers: “Me tadata Issues” and “Analysis of Traditional East Asian Legal Data for Comparative Research.”

On April 8-10, East Rock Institute sponsored Master Artists and teacher Sozan Matsuba from Ibaraki, Japan, for Asian Brush Painting lectures and workshops to cover the philosophy and values underlining the ancient art form. The event was co-sponsored by Yale University, Timothy Dwight College, and New Haven Creative Arts Workshop.

On November 9-12, East Rock Institute sponsored an exhibit of innovative Asian brush paintings: “Seeking Unity in Diversity.”

On February 17, East Rock Institute and Korean Connecticut Clergy held the “Role of Korean American Churches in the 21st Century: Intergenerational, Interfaith, and Intercultural Forum.”

On March 22, East Rock Institute held the conference “The Korean Diaspora in China, Japan, the USA, and the Former USSR” with Dr. Hesung Chun Koh and Edward T. Chang as co-chairs.

On June 16, East Rock Institute held the Teacher’s Workshop “Crossroads: A Comparative and Historical Look at Korean, Korean American, and American Cultural Values.

On April 20, East Rock Institute held the Editorial Committee Meeting of the National Association of Korean School (NAKS) in California.

A program of Korea Seminars, which had begun during the Korea Institute era in Cambridge, was revived at the Human Relations Area Files at Yale University where Hesung Chun Koh was a research director. The Kohs served as co-moderators of the monthly seminar series.

The Korean and Korean-American Studies Bulletin was launched with Hesung Chun Koh as the editor. Vol. 1, No. 1 focused on the history of Korean studies in America.

The Korean History and Culture Program. East Rock Institute assisted Yale University in holding a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute high school teachers’ program. The program was directed by the East Rock Institute Director at the new East Rock Institute headquarters on Dwight Street and at the Yale Campus.

The Korean and Korean-American Studies Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 2/3, featured an article on the history of printing in Korea.

The Korean and Korean-American Studies Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 2/3, featured an article on the history of printing in Korea.

The Korean and Korean-American Studies Bulletin, Vol.2, No. 1/2 featured an article on socioeconomic activities in Korea, and Vol. 2, No. 3 focused on Korean-American relations and Korean culture.

Korean and Korean-American Studies Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 1/2 featured Korean literature and art.

The “Dynamics of U.S.-Korea Trade Relations: Economic, Political, Legal and Cultural” international conference was held at Yale University.

The Korean and Korean-American Studies Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 3 featured articles on Korean women in various sectors of Korean life.

In April, the Korean History and Culture Syllabus project was begun, with a grant from the Korea Research Foundation.

Cultural Information System, INSTROK - Information System for Research and Teaching on Korea, INSTROK, of the East Rock Institute was featured at the 1999 and again at the 2000 annual international conference of Pacific Neighborhood Consortium (PNC). “Characteristics of Korean Cultural Information System” was reported at the January 1999 meeting held at the Academy of Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, and ERI’s database and the major characteristics of its cultural information system, including the cultural data analysis method, was described. In the year 2000, the PNC meeting was held January 11th through 17th at the University of California at Berkeley. Hesung Chun Koh, ERI President, presented two invited papers: one on “Me tadata Issues” and a second on the “Analysis of Traditional East Asian Legal Data for Comparative Research.”

East Rock Institute received a grant to develop Korean studies curriculum and to produce instructional and research website from Korea.

Robert G. LaCamera received the “Children’s Health and Well-Being Award” from ConnectiCare, Inc.

Elizabeth Peirce Swift, Long-term Board member and volunteer editor at ERI, retired.