The UN·International Cooperation and Research for Crime Prevention is an annual project aimed at promoting international research and engagement of KIC with national, regional, and international agencies around the globe. To effectively organize and manage the project in its fourteenth year, the International Cooperation Center formulated the 2018-2022 master plan, which is expected to allow for further expanding an international network, disseminating research, and facilitating global scholarly exchange.
Among many research and activities that the Center undertook in the past year, this annual report mainly describes the progress and outcomes of the Korean Institute of Criminology International Forum (KICIF) and the Northeast Asia Forum for Criminal Justice (NAF). The KICIF, since its inception in 2014, has become a premier forum in the field where eminent academics and practitioners discuss and find solutions to the most pressing issues that national governments and the international society currently face. Having been cognizant of the fact that fighting corruption became the highest national priority of the Korean government, the Institute decided to co-host the KICIF with the national Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) on the theme entitled, “Anti-Corruption Reforms for a Transparent Society: Experiences and Lessons.” Attended by high-level officials, practitioners, and scholars from New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, the U.S., Japan, and Hong Kong, the event became a milestone in re-affirming the importance of the culture of integrity and transparency.
Another major forum organized by the Center is the annual Northeast Asian Forum for Criminal Justice (NAF). Having been hosted alternatively in the Republic of Korea and the Peoples’ Republic of China by the Institute and major Chinese law schools in the Northeast Province of the P.R.C. since 2013, the NAF has facilitated mutual understanding and cooperation in criminal matters between academics and practitioners in the R.O.K. and the P.R.C. For this year, the Institute and Liaoning University Law School co-hosted the NAF under the title, “Regulations and Prospects of Environmental Crime in a New Era.” The forum enabled scholarly exchange and collaboration on measuring the scopes and trends of environmental crimes and discussing potential inter-state cooperation in countering the crimes.