S. Korea to open think tank for Asia-Pacific legal studies

SEOUL, Aug. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top national university said Tuesday it will open the country's first research institute for Asia-Pacific legal studies and exchanges as part of efforts to delve deeper into regional legal systems. The think tank will open next month on the campus of Seoul National University (SNU) located in southern Seoul, the school said. The university's committee dealing with the new think tank has recently hammered out a plan and its department of law is set to come up with ground rules for the research center, SNU said. The construction of the new research center building will begin by the end of this year, it added. The plan comes as the country joins major Asian-Pacific countries like Japan and China in setting up regional legal research institutes in response to the growing importance of regional studies amid widening global integration. Once it opens next month, the local research center will act as a venue for regular academic conferences and exchanges for the study of legal systems across the Asia-Pacific region. It will also provide educational support for Asian-Pacific legal scholars and students as well as building archives for the regional legal sector, SNU said. To mark its opening, the center plans to host an international academic gathering in September involving major universities in South Korea, Japan and China, it added. The think tank will first concentrate on legal studies in Russia as well as Central and Southeast Asian countries since they remain uncharted areas compared with those in Japan and other mainstream nations, according to SNU. "Studies of Asian law have been insufficient for their grave importance," said Chong Jong-sup, the dean of SNU's department of law. "The center is expected to broaden exchanges among Asian scholars."