When I began working to improve relations between Korea and the Soviet Union and China, I discovered that Korea did not even have something as basic as a Russian or Chinese dictionary. Very little was going to get done as long as we could not understand each other’s languages. When I heard that there were groups of academics who had the foresight to begin work on a Chinese–Korean dictionary and a Russian–Korean dictionary, I supported these two projects. The Chinese–Korean Dictionary Project was led by Professor Il Seok Hong of the Korea University’s Institute of Korean Culture, and several professors in the university’s Russian studies department were behind the effort to publish a Russian–Korean dictionary. These dictionaries are playing crucial roles in the exchanges between the two Koreas and China and Russia.

       When a rock sits atop the highest mountain peak, once it begins to fall it will fall all the way to the deepest part of the valley. This describes the changing fortunes of Western civilization. It is common knowledge that the West achieved incredible development through the use of science, but now moral decay is sending it down to the depths of the valley floor. That valley floor is the East, which has been developing a spiritual culture for thousands of years.

       In particular, the Korean peninsula is the place where Eastern and Western cultures meet, as well as the place where continental and oceanic civilizations meet. The historian and philosopher Oswald Spengler put forth a cyclical theory of the rise and decline of civilizations that took a dim view of democracy and described it as the type of government that is leading Western civilization into decline. He argued that democracy is driven by money and that democracy’s corrupting power and its signs of moral decline include the rise of materialism and cults of science. Looking at today’s Western culture, it appears that some of his thoughts were prophetic. The Atlantic civilization that has prospered until now is clearly facing a new era, the era of a pan-Pacific civilization that is on the rise. Asia, with Korea poised to take a central role, is becoming the lead actor in a new world history. Two-thirds of the world’s population lives in Asia. All the world’s major religions began in Asia. It has long served as humanity’s spiritual root.

       It is inevitable that the Western and Eastern civilizations come together in harmony on the Korean peninsula. As the world rapidly changes, heavenly fortune is moving in Korea’s direction at an ever-increasing speed. However, if the Korean peninsula is to properly perform its important role in leading the world to harmony and peace during an era of chaos, then it must prepare itself well. It must do away with a past marked with prejudice and selfishness and greet the new age with clear eyes and a new heart.