Bruce Cumings, a renowned US expert on the Korean Peninsula, has been chosen as the second winner of the Jeju April 3 Peace Prize, its selection committee said Tuesday.

The 74-year-old Cumings, a chair professor of the University of Chicago, has produced a number of research papers on Korea's modern history and authored "The Origins of the Korean War," which helped expand the global understanding of the causes of the 1950-53 war.

According to the Jeju April 3 Peace Foundation, the Recommendation Committee of the Jeju April 3 Peace Prize has selected Cumings as the second winner of the biennial prize after confirming his intention to accept it.

The Jeju April 3 Peace Prize was created in 2015 in memory of victims of the Jeju April 3 incident, which refers to a series of pro-communist uprisings and a counterinsurgency that occurred between 1948 and 1954 on Jeju Island.

"Professor Cumings regards the April 3 Peace Prize as an honor given by the people of Jeju Island. He has huge interest in the April 3 incident and Korea's democratization," a foundation official said.

Cumings visited the Jeju April 3 Peace Park in 2015 and attended a peace forum on the island in October last year.

The prize award ceremony will take place at Hanwha Resort in Jeju on April 1. The winner will receive a plaque and prize money of $50,000. (Yonhap)