Welcome to KNU. I’m Wonhwa Hong, president of Kyungpook National University.

On behalf of all the faculty members and students of Kyungpook National University, I would like to express my sincere gratitude that you visited our beautiful campus. Hosting this year’s AAS-in-Asia conference here in the Humanities Korea Hall is meaningful to us. This building was built by the donations of professors, students and alumni to promote humanities, which I believe fits well with the goal of the Association of Asian Studies. I am also grateful for the hard work of the members of the society who have conducted research and devoted to education even during the pandemic.

I heard that the Association for Asian Studies is the world's largest gathering of Asian studies researchers, and it is the first face-to-face meeting held in four years. I hope this year’s conference will be memorable to all of you, sharing your research and ideas and experiencing Korean culture in Daegu. Currently, Asia is making very dynamic development, and Korea in particular continues meaningful growth in many fields. I hope that this year’s conference will make an important contribution to the development of Asian studies, which in turn will contribute to the globalization of Asian studies

Lastly, I would like to thank the AAS board members who visited our school for the 2023 AAS-In-Asia conference and the two keynote speakers, Professor Heonik Kwon and Professor Francois Julien, who gave us seminal lectures. I hope that all of you will be able to achieve what you hope to achieve during the conference period. Daegu is notorious for hot, humid and unpredictable weather. I hope you take care of your health, and I wish you and the association continued success.