In a multifaceted career, service has been her code

Hesung Chun Koh

Hesung Chun Koh is a proud mother of six, including five college professors and a writer. One of her children is Harold Hongju Koh, the dean of Yale Law School. She has children in the faculties of Harvard University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Chung-ang University.
Chun, 78, is one of the most respected mothers and role models for women in Korea and Asia.
Chun has just published a book with her life story and personal philosophy as a woman leader. She is visiting Seoul for a conference of women leaders from around the world.
In a meeting with reporters Wednesday, Chun said, “Women in this global era must have authentic leadership,” echoing the title of her book, “Women’s Authentic Leadership.”
“Understand the situation you are in and set your lifetime goal based on it,” Koh said. “Know what you are good at and accomplish your goals and dreams with it. That is leadership.”
While raising her children, she always reminded them to look for a life in the service of others. She gives the same advice in her book ― true leadership means working for the community and for society.
She was 19 when she left Korea to study, with dreams of making a contribution to her motherland.
She married Kwang Lim Koh, an accomplished scholar, and earned a Ph.D. in sociology and anthropology while raising their children. She taught at various universities, including Yale, Boston University and Albertus Magnus College.
In 1952, she and her husband established what would later become the East Rock Institute, based in New Haven, Connecticut, to foster cultural understanding between East and West, with special emphasis on the cultural experience of Koreans and Korean-Americans in the United States. Chun is currently chairman and president of the institute and a prominent figure in comparative cultural studies. “A single resume cannot explain the entire life of a woman,” Chun said. She points out that a woman’s accomplishments may encompass “not just a career, but also raising children who may someday give something back.”
Chun will give a speech on leadership and Asian values at the World Women’s Forum in Seoul, which will take place this Wednesday to Friday at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill.

By Moon Kyung-ran JoongAng Ilbo [yhwang@joongang.co.kr]