"I want to be someone who can give back."

Mine is a blended, international background. I’m from South Korea and it’s important to my identity but my roots spread wider and I've done a lot of cultural adaptation along the way.

I’ve grown up between different countries and languages, dipping in and out at different stages of an educational journey that has brought me - via Canada, an American University (in South Korea) and a Paris business school - to Oxford.

I’ve had to adapt to different languages and cultural norms. My early schooling in South Korea was fact led: “this is the way”. It didn’t encourage questioning or exploring. I was unprepared for Canada – where we sat in groups, researched on the internet and teachers asked us “what’s your opinion?”. It was the hardest thing for me – to get it right! I'd think in Korean ways and that didn't match. Then I'd return to South Korea with my new Western ways and that didn't match! All these transitions I made… It was repeated culture shock.

I’ve come to understand South Korean culture through a historical as well as a geographical lens. My Grandfather as a child saw bombs in the fields where he played. He was only 11 years old when the War broke, and his lifespan mirrors its 75-year Korean history. Through hearing his perspectives and personal recollections, I’ve inherited an insight into the country’s evolution.

In South Korea, they want you to do well. It’s an ethos rooted in that WW2 legacy: a country that was under the Japanese colony that needed to “push through” to become a reputable country. This was the burden they carried and it explains the high expectation to excel. Even in my generation, that expectation remains strong.  

The emergence of materialism in South Korean fascinates me. It's less obvious now, but in older culture financial status was revered. This is easier to understand in the context of war: everything was destroyed; there was nothing to eat. Aid was given for food, clothing; many struggled to get a basic education. Grandfather was the eldest of seven siblings and they had to steal to survive. Although he went on to University, the family could only afford to send one member – who must then support the rest. This pattern engenders a culture where you look up to education and education is the route to wealth.

I worked for a time in luxury fashion retail, selling high-end garments to affluent customers. In the 1960s, the global image of Korea as a poor country meant people feel a need to show their material possessions, their achievements, their smart attire. This culture still exists in today’s material culture. It has also become a very image-based culture, both at a national and personal level. Unless you look into history, it's easy to only form negative views of South Korea. But adopt a historical lens and you’ll come to understand why South Koreans are a dedicated people who needed to bring results.

A lot of Christians were put to death trying to bring freedom to Korea, which was Japanese colony. Eventually freedom was gained by a different route with the Japanese surrender at the end of WW2. Korea’s first President, Syngman Rhee, who took office in 1948, was a Christian who had accepted the Gospel from a USA missionary while a prisoner. 

My background has taught me that it’s not just opinions that are important but the authority behind them. This is why Oxford fits me really well. Now I know how to listen to people: how to evaluate and form justified opinions. I apply this to all areas of my life; both academic and Christian. Wycliffe Hall is opening my eyes to so many things! The community – these amazing people with so much experience… It is pushing me to do so much more. To be vocal about my experiences and my life, and to feel confident stepping into new things. 

I’m really interested in how South Korea can improve. Within South Korea, we didn't have time to look back to learn as we were so busy pushing forward to survive. I hope to become an academic who can help redress that historical legacy by contributing broader angles and expanded views. I want to be someone who can give back.