Korean characters are explained to John Endicott (center) and Phil Bolton (right) near the tomb of revered Korean General Gyebaek outside Daejeon, Korea.

The Asia Institute of the Solbridge International School of Business is offering a six-day seminar and tour of Shanghai, China, and Seoul and Daejeon, Korea, for representatives of Southeastern U.S. companies interested in exploring business opportunities in East Asia.

John Endicott, a former professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, is the current vice chancellor of Daejeon-based Solbridge International. He is to return to Atlanta May 4-7 to formalize relationships with business schools in the region.

GlobalAtlanta and GlobalSavannah are to co-host a meeting with Dr. Endicott at a still to be determined time and place where he will provide an overview of the graduate school and describe its Asia Institute seminar and tours in China and Korea.

GlobalAtlanta/GlobalSavannah readers who are interested in attending the meeting and learning about the seminar, should call (404) 377-7710 or send an email to pbolton@globalatlanta.com.

Dr. Endicott also is president of Woosong University, the parent of Solbridge and is the first American president of a four-year private university in South Korea. All of Woosong's instruction is done in English, and the university has some 7,000 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate courses.

Solbridge opened in March and specializes in international affairs and business management.

"We're building an innovative school of business and international studies in Daejeon that will give students a real international experience not only in Korea but other parts of Asia as well where we are in the process of establishing satellite campuses," he told GlobalAtlanta.

Dr. Endicott said Daejeon, which has some 1.5 million inhabitants, is an ideal location for an international graduate school of business because it is a major high-tech center in Korea with some 20 major research institutes in the applied sciences, 40 corporate research centers and many high-tech companies.

Participants in the seminar and tours are to learn about Korean culture and strategies for negotiating with Koreans as well as meet area business leaders, government officials and researchers.

They also are to tour Korean factories and meet with suppliers, learn about the differences of working with Koreans and Chinese and understanding Korean and Chinese relationship-building and negotiating techniques.

While in Shanghai, they are to visit Chinese business leaders and officials.

Dr. Endicott was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to permanently remove nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Taiwan and Mongolia.

In addition to his non-proliferation work, Dr. Endicott also began the Korean Initiative while at Georgia Tech. The initiative works to offer courses at Tech in Korean affairs, security issues, language, political economies and host guest lectures.