A meeting of a delegation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the Republic of Korea, an organization with a similar profile to the Institute of National Remembrance, was held at the headquarters of the IPN on 19 June 2024. The four-member delegation was led by Kim Kwang Dong. The guests were welcomed by the Deputy President of the IPN, Prof. Krzysztof Szwagrzyk, who presented the tasks and activities of the Office of Search and Identification.
Prof. Krzysztof Szwagrzyk referred to some examples of search work, including exhumations at the so-called "Łączka" of the Powązki Cemetery, where the communist authorities had buried heroes of the anti-communist underground in the 1940s and 1950s, and in the 1980s created burial spots for communist leaders to remove traces of the crime. The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Director of the Office of Search and Identification, Anna Szeląg.
The Korean delegation also met with representatives of the various substantive IPN offices to learn their modus operandi in Poland and abroad. Dorota Lewsza, Ph.D., from the IPN Office of International Cooperation, presented the IPN scope of activities on the international level.
Deputy Director Joanna Sulej-Piskorz talked about the projects of the IPN Office for Commemorating Struggle and Martyrdom, such as maintaining war graves and decommunizing public space. What is interesting is that the memorials of some communist oppressors have been replaced by commemorations of Polish heroes.
A Prosecutor of the IPN Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation, Tomasz Kaminski gave an overview of the Commission's works, presented some statistics, and outlined the specifics of the Commission's investigations.
The Korean delegation met with Marek Hańderek, Ph.D., a researcher from the IPN Historical Research Office, who explores topics including the Cold War in East Asia, relations between Eastern Europe and East Asia, and Korea's recent history. Marek Hańderek spoke about the threads linking the recent history of Poland and Korea, including Poland's participation in the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) established by the Korean Armistice Agreement signed on 27 July 1953, declaring an armistice in the Korean War.
The day ended with a meeting with Marcin Majewski, who talked about the IPN Archive's activities such as how the documents are acquired, preservation and digitization of collections, and current projects on the Digital Archive.
The series of meetings concluded with the presentation made by IPN's Archive Deputy Head of the Department of Research and Archival Education Marcin Majewski, who talked about the Archive's diverse resources, the form of acquiring, preservation and digitization of collections, as well as current projects such as the Digital Archive.