Korean War Veteran Builds Schools for his Former Enemies in China and North Korea

After South Korean soldier Kim Chin-kyung escaped from enemy forces, he decided to help them by creating universities in China and North Korea.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on March 11 2010

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Kim Chin-kyung (now known as James Kim) was just 15 when he went to war in 1950, serving for the South Korean army. He was ready to fight to defend his country from the Chinese and North Korean forces—but on the battlefield in Seoul, their armies were too powerful for his unit to overcome. Many of the 800 soldiers in Kim’s unit were killed by enemy fire. When a bullet hit Kim, he was sure he would be killed.

So Kim prayed for his life—and made a promise to God. “If you save my life, I would like to live for my present enemies, the North Koreans and Chinese, to save their lives, not kill them,” he said.

Kim was one of only 17 soldiers in his unit to survive the massacre. After returning home, he went back to school in Seoul, then traveled to Great Britain and the United States for further studies. He became a successful business mogul with a chain of fashion shops in Florida. But all the while, he never forgot about the promise he had made.

In the 1980s, when China began to open its borders, Kim was invited to give a guest lecture about South Korea in Beijing. While there, Kim issued an offer to the Chinese president: he asked if he could set up a small vocational school in Yanji, a border city near North Korea. Although the Chinese government was suspicious, they decided to allow it—though they nixed Kim’s proposed school motto, “Truth, Love, Peace.”

Kim founded the Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST) in 1992, and he and his wife moved into the dormitory building, living only steps away from the school’s students. Kim forged a strong bond with his students, and encouraged them to give back to their communities as he had: the program required each student to volunteer at nursing homes and orphanages. This unique community service aspect, combined with instruction from highly qualified professors, has made YUST one of China’s top universities.

Next, Kim wanted to help North Korea by building a university there as well. But when he traveled there in 1998, bringing food supplies from China, he was arrested and accused of being a spy. He was thrown into a Pyongyang prison, and interrogated by North Korean officials for 42 days.

Kim wasn’t sure if he would ever be freed, but eventually, he managed to convince the officials that he was actually trying to help the country. He was released from prison, and in 2001, he received permission to build the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.

The $35 million graduate school, funded by charity groups and Kim’s savings, has finally finished construction, and will begin classes in April. The first class will consist of only 150 students, but Kim plans to expand the university and offer a range of graduate programs.

Despite the difficulties Kim has endured from China and North Korea’s governments, he is not concerned with the countries’ ideological differences. He hopes only to give their children the opportunity to learn and grow.

“When I went to China and North Korea, I told them I was not a capitalist or a communist,” Kim told the Christian Science Monitor. “I was simply a ‘love-ist.’”

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Features, Heroes,

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