Park Chul
A research book by Park Chul, president of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, has been translated into Japanese and published in Japan, the university announced.
Park, a prominent scholar of Spanish literature, first wrote in 1986 about Gregorio de Cespedes, a Spanish Jesuit priest, who was the first European on record to land on the Korean peninsula in 1593. He stayed in Korea for about a year.
His book, published in both Spain and Korea, led to the establishment of the Cespedes Memorial Hall in 1992 in Spain. Park also received the Great Cross of Carlos III, one of Spain’s top honors, for his role in 2010.
According to the school, the new Japanese edition was translated by Tomoko Taniguchi, professor at Aichi Prefecture University in Japan.
Park is a life-long member of the Real Academia Espanol and chairman of an association to promote friendship between Korea and Spain. He was elected as the eighth president of HUFS in 2006.
By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)