Jeong Su-il (Korean: 정수일; born 1934) is a South Korean historian, specializing in Silk Road history.

Life

Jeong Su-il was born in Longjing, Jilin, China, and migrated to North Korea in the 1960s. He was trained as a spy, travelled to Lebanon, Tunisia, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, and Philippines, and obtained Lebanese and Filipino nationalities. In 1984, he entered South Korea under the disguise as Filipino researcher Mohammad Kansu, and worked at Dankook University.^[1][2] He was arrested in 1996 and released in 2000.^[3]

Education and career

Jeong studied Arabic in Peking University and continued his studies in Cairo University. Later, he became a history professor at Dankook University. Currently, Jeong is the president of Korea Institute of Civilization Exchanges.^[4] Jeong had embarked on dozens of journeys along the Silk Road to study the cultural exchange. Major works include A History of Trans-Civilizational Exchanges (2002) and The Cyclopedia of Silk Road (2013).^[5]

Writings

• 왕오천축국전 (학고재, 2004)
• History of Exchanges between the Silla Dynasty and the West (of China) in 1992
• The East and the West in the World in 1995
• The Elementary Arabic in 1995
• The Silkroadology in 2001
• The History of Exchanges among the Ancient Civilizations in 2001
• The Study of the History of the Civilizational Exchanges
• The Civilization of Islam in 2002
• Silk Road, the Route of Civilization in 2002
• Walking on the
• The World in Korea (2 volumes) in 2005
• Journey of the Silk Road Civilization in 2006
• The Life and Religion of the Silk Road in 2006
• Encyclopaedia of Silk Road in 2013

Translations

• Journey The Travels (الرحلة, Rihla) of Ibn Battuta in 2001
• The Eastern Parts of the World Described of Odoric de Pordenone
• An account of travel to the five Indian kingdoms (Wang ocheonchukguk jeon) by Hyecho
• Cathay and the way thither of Sir Henry Yule