Prologue: The Eve of Revolution, the Dawn of Deliberation

Part 1 Homework
The Funny Hell: South Korea's Difficult Problems

Conflict and Communication: For a Wise Society
Ideological Conflict—Is There Nothing Beyond Black and White and Left and Right?
Regional Conflicts: Why Do Small Lands Always Fight?
Class conflict and the conflict between the rich and the poor: What are the facts and truths about poverty?
The Gender Conflict: Are Men and Women Really Different?
Generational Conflict: Is There a Solution to Low Birth Rates and an Aging Population?
Environmental Conflicts: Is Economic and Ecological Balance Possible?
Multicultural Conflict: Conquer or Reconcile?

Part 2 Education
Times when we know and love similar and different views

The collapse of the earth and the collapse of the tiles - the sad reality of our education system
Everyone has the potential to blossom
Don't be dragged along, drag along
Reading, Writing, Speaking
You learn without knowing it
When mixed, it becomes healthy and new.
We must hold hands to survive

3-part sample
Examples of people who don't parrot and talk nonsense

Harvard Students: Asking Questions Rather than Memorizing
Ted Capel - Don't rush right in
Brown Bag Lunch Meetings—Learning from Informal Conversations
Professor Roland Christensen's Workshop - Case Studies
Junior Fellows—Thinking Across Academic Boundaries
The Tongsupwon—from presentations to designated discussions and general discussions—will engage in a collaborative effort.
Committee - Recognize, identify, and resolve problems
Economic Cooperation—Joining Hands to Win the Competition

Part 4: Consolidation
Scenarios for Transforming Communication from Disruption

Comrade Chairman
Jedol Wild Life Release Citizens' Committee
Ministry of Strategy and Finance's Mid- to Long-Term Strategy Committee
Montfleur Conference
COVID-19 Daily Recovery Support Committee

Part 5: Polishing
Skills that lead to desirable deliberations

The purpose of deliberation and the role of the facilitator
Create an appropriate environment
Know thyself
Prepare thoroughly and proceed flexibly.
Agree on the rules first
Allow time to organize your remarks.
Be willing to be a 'good devil'
If it's stuck, split it
If necessary, feign passion.
Even if I speak like a dog, you understand me perfectly

Epilogue_Beyond Discussion to Deliberation
References
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Professor Choi Jae-cheon's masterpiece, "Sukron," which he finally completed after nine years of writing.
How do you sit down and have a conversation with someone who has different views?
A way to communicate and love each other in an age of strife.

It's truly an angry society.
The unprecedented diversity of opinions available on social media and the internet, coupled with the two-way communication between information providers and recipients, is certainly welcome.
However, the problem of lack of communication has come to the forefront, with social media algorithms selectively displaying only information that matches users' political leanings and preferences, and users with similar views grouping together and excluding other views.
Moreover, our society is experiencing unprecedented conflicts and confrontations of various kinds related to ideology, gender, generation, class, and environment.
The phenomenon of "conflicts being revealed to the world rather than sinking beneath the surface" is evidence that our society has become one where expression of opinions is free. However, how to wisely overcome this conflict and cooperate with one another is an urgent and crucial task for us.

Professor Choi Jae-cheon, who raised the topic of 'consilience' while emphasizing that in the 21st century, 'integrated knowledge that freely crosses and connects various fields and creates new things' is needed.
He says that what is most needed to overcome the conflicts in our society today is proper dialogue, and to lay the foundation for making this possible, he is publishing the book "Sukron," which he has been working on for nine years.
In this book, Professor Choi Jae-cheon examines current issues in our society and discusses how conflicting views can transcend confrontation and achieve true communication.
As an educator, an ecologist, and as the chair of a committee formed by a government or social organization, I will present a comprehensive collection of problem-solving, consensus-building, and communication techniques.

Professor Choi Jae-cheon, who has been learning and leading 'student-centered discussion' classes since he studied at Harvard University and served as a teaching assistant in the 1980s, has devoted himself to applying it to our society and education since taking office at Seoul National University in 1994.
In particular, from 2012 to 2013, he served as the chairman of the 'Jedol Wild Release Citizens' Committee', which released five dolphins, including 'Jedol', who had been performing at an aquarium show, back into the wild, and through discussions with experts from various fields, he led the successful release into the wild.
In this way, he has consistently led discussions in the church and society for nearly half a century and has reached one conclusion.
For our society, which has risen to rank among the world's top 10 economies, to leap forward and mature internally, we need not only science and technology, but above all, a culture of reflection.
In doing so, it raises questions about the methods and purposes of debate that the public has become accustomed to seeing in programs such as “100 Minute Debate” and “Baek Ji-yeon’s Final Debate.”
The debate has become an act of “subduing the opponent at all costs,” rather than an act of exchanging opinions and refining one’s own thoughts.
Here, I advocate for deliberation that goes beyond discussion.

Discourse is not a process of finding out ‘Who is right?’ but rather ‘What is right?’
It is an act of thinking together about a problem, discussing it thoroughly, and reaching a good conclusion.
In "Choi Jae-cheon's Study," he asked the question, "How should we learn and live?" In "Sukron," he talks about "How should we sit down and have a conversation?" and hopes that "If a culture of sukron is established where we go beyond discussions aimed at dominating the other person and have conversations with mutual respect, our country will be reborn as a truly advanced country respected by the entire world."
The reflections he presents offer valuable insights not only into our conflict-ridden society but also into our daily lives, where we must engage with those who hold different views.


From the Montfleur Conference in South Africa to the Citizens' Committee for the Release of Wild Animals
The wisdom of careful deliberation to unravel the tangled web of interests
A new public forum that will change the Republic of Korea is unfolding!

《Sukron》 is composed of five parts.
He explains why deliberation is necessary in our society today, provides examples of desirable deliberation, discusses the deliberation scene he personally led, and explains specific methods for ensuring smooth deliberation.
He generously shares the insights, experience, knowledge, and wisdom he has accumulated over 45 years of teaching at a university, drawing readers into a world of exciting debate.

Part 1, “Homework: Interesting Hell, Korea’s Difficult Problems,” takes a close look at our society, which is mired in deep conflict and lack of communication regarding ideology, gender, generation, class, and environment.
Using various sources and evidence, he keenly analyzes the causes and trends of social conflict, and as an animal behaviorist, he compares animal communication with human communication and ponders the difficulties of achieving true communication.
The author believes that conflict has festered and erupted because “our society has not yet developed democratic communication skills,” and proposes the full introduction of a culture of deliberation.

Part 2, “Education: Time to Know and Love Similar and Different Views,” identifies education as the root cause of society’s lack of democratic communication skills and discusses solutions.
The author laments the reality that schools have become “an arena for competition aimed solely at social advancement, rather than a place to learn cooperation and consideration for coexistence,” and likens our education to a situation of “tobungwahae (土崩瓦解),” meaning “the earth is collapsing and the roof tiles are splitting here and there.”
Accordingly, he brings out educational improvement measures such as securing learning diversity and providing in-depth discussions, and preaches the importance of education that encourages discussion and brainstorming together rather than 'standing alone'.

Part 3, “Examples: Parrot Conversations and Nonsense Examples,” contains the author’s insights and practices that he has learned and applied as a student and professor.
He began his study abroad in the United States in 1979 and looks back in detail at how the lecture classes were conducted at Harvard University and other universities.
Why Harvard students are bound to become masters of critical thinking and how the Society of Fellows system in the United States fosters an environment of active interdisciplinary dialogue have significant implications for our education today.
The author's struggles to apply his theories to our educational environment can be seen in the content that follows his return to Korea in 1994 and his appointment as a professor at Seoul National University.
For example, modeled after the American Honorary Society, the Tongseopwon (Unification Garden) was established at Ewha Womans University and regular symposiums are held to hone the methods of discussion.
This article discusses a university course that utilizes group and individual evaluations appropriately to encourage students to actively discuss social issues through committees and to cultivate the ability to work together and independently.

Part 4, “Consilience: Scenarios for Transforming Lack of Communication into Communication,” cites the Montfleur Conference in South Africa as an ideal example of deliberation and recounts the activities of the committee that the author personally led.
The Montfleur Conference was a national meeting held in 1990 to resolve the political turmoil in South Africa following the release of Nelson Mandela.
We invited experts who had led negotiations between opposing groups and held workshops and public communication for about a year to reach a democratic consensus on the direction the country should take.
As a result, we were able to overcome extreme social conflict and move toward trans-ideological and non-partisan cooperation.
This dramatic case demonstrates how important the role of the facilitator is in properly conducting the deliberation process through consensus.
The author also closely examines the comprehensive meetings of the 'Jedol Wild Life Release Citizens' Committee' and the 'Ministry of Strategy and Finance's Mid- to Long-Term Strategy Committee', which he personally led, and advises on the mindset and various conditions necessary for proper deliberation.

The final part 5, “Practice: Techniques for Leading Desirable Deliberation,” provides methods for successful deliberations.
It specifically explains what the role of the facilitator is, what environment and rules should be established, and what is taboo during the deliberation process.
Above all, the author emphasizes the importance of 'listening' by citing the example of anchor Larry King, known as the 'King of Talk Shows.'
The point is that participants must listen to what the other person is saying so carefully that they can understand it “even if it is nonsense.”


Communication is inherently difficult.
The essence of communication and a systematic approach to achieving it.
From a discussion to subdue the opponent, to a discussion to cooperate with the opponent

The author, an animal behaviorist, has spent his life studying animal communication and pondering the lack of communication between humans for a long time, and reveals that he has reached a conclusion that is more simple than expected.
It is said that “it is normal for communication to not work.”
In animal behavior, communication between animals has long been understood as a mutually cooperative behavior, but a new perspective has been proposed that defines it as a deliberate act by the sender to control the receiver.
That is, from that perspective, communication is a process of ‘secret dating’ rather than ‘cooperation’.
The author says that communication, then, is not a one-sided transmission or instruction, but rather something that is achieved through a process of arduous dialogue and compromise between the parties involved.
Rather than being easily discouraged by communication failures, we must take the necessary steps to achieve difficult communication.
“Even if it is normal for communication not to work, communication is necessary at some point in almost everything we do,” he emphasizes, so it must be achieved no matter how difficult it may be.

Here, the phrase “If you know, you love,” which the author has long shared with the public, raises a question about the essence of communication.
As Carnegie, the master of success, said in “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” “Knowledge leads to forgiveness,” we “hate and envy each other because we do not know each other.” Furthermore, “Humans are born with the nature to love each other the more they know each other,” and therefore, he emphasizes that the more entangled we become in our conflicts of interest, the more we need to sit down and talk to each other.
In this way, the author emphasizes the importance of a culture of deliberation and hopes that, like the "salon culture" that flourished in Vienna, Austria in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, an atmosphere of sufficient dialogue and understanding will sprout in our society and daily lives.

Communication is not about being on our side or on your side, but about knowing, understanding, and loving.
Communication is a product of effort.
There are more failed communications in the world than successful communications.
Still, we must communicate.
Rather than setting traps and cornering the opponent, it's about sitting down, thinking things through conversation, and finding good insights.
In an age of strife and conflict, the insights presented in "Sukron" will lead us to true communication.