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DATE: Tuesday. August 26, 2025. 7:20PM (Seoul)
VENUE: Seoul Public Activities Center (SPAC, 서울시공익활동지원센터). ‘다목적홀’
(ADDRESS: Basement Floor, 40 Baekbeomro 99-gil, Yongsan Verdium Friends #101(용산베르디움프렌즈 101동), Yongsan-gu, Seoul), 2-3 minutes walking from Exit 8 of Samgakji-Station (Line 6 & Line 4)
ADMISSION (Online & In-person): Free for Members; W10,000 for Non-members; W5,000 for Non-member students (Student ID requested)
* Please bring your own tumbler for water or your own beverage to the lecture.
SUMMARY:
Dr. Kim Kyoung-jin was born in Shinkyo (Changchun) in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo in 1936. As a school boy, he recalls watching the motorcade of Puyi, the last Emperor of China and nominal ruler of Manchukuo, pass by. Instead of averting his eyes like the others lining the road, he mischievously looked up to look directly upon the Son of Heaven.
That moment in time captures just one of the remarkable events that have defined Dr. Kim’s life. Dr. Kim lived under five distinct regimes being a subject of both the Manchurian and Japanese Empires. Upon fleeing with his Mother to Korea in the waning days of the Second World War in August 1945, he lived in Seoul under the US Army Military Government (USAMGIK) led by General John R. Hodge and was to become a citizen of the newly proclaimed Republic of Korea in August 1948. Lastly, with the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, he lived under the military occupation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Following the Korean War, Dr. Kim went on to study at Korea University and was wounded by the police while participating with his fellow students in the April 19th Revolution of 1960 that led to the demise of President Syngman Rhee’s government. Thus, Dr. Kim is a living witness to the tumult and turmoil that have shaped the vibrant society of South Korea that we know today.
Rather than a typical lecture format, this event will feature a discussion between Dr. Kim and his biographer, Samuel Alexander Denny, Jr., during which he will speak about some of the momentous events he experienced.
BIO:
Samuel Alexander Denny, Jr. is a native of Fort Worth, Texas who has lived and worked in Japan and South Korea for almost twenty-seven years. Since March 2006, he has taught in the Department of English Education at the Seoul campus of Sangmyung University. He holds a M.A. degree in East Asian Studies from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and is co-author with Mr. Jihoon Suk of “Through the Gate of Violet Glow: A Short Historical Survey of the Northwestern Neighborhood of Seoul” published in 2018 and author of “Five Nations One Life: the Extraordinary Journey of Dr. Kyoung-jin Kim” published in 2024.
VENUE:
The Seoul Public Activities Center(SPAC, 서울시공익활동지원센터) is located at Yongsan Verdium Friends #101 (용산베르디움프렌즈 101동) B1, 40 Baekbeomro 99-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Walk 2-3 minutes from ‘Exit 8’ of Samgakji Station (LINE 6 & 4) and take the elevator down to the B1 Floor.
