America, public servant, politics, community service, and working for the disadvantaged. When I lived in Korea, I never imagined that these words would somehow become meaningful to me. Having been born and lived in Korea for thirty years, I had absolutely no idea that I would live as a public servant in the United States, a foreign country in which I didn’t have even a single distant relative. Nor had I dreamt of such a career path. More than anything else, working as a public servant looked, in my youthful mind, somewhat conformist and not so creative, and I had publicly sworn that public servant was definitely off the table of my career options. Additionally, in my eyes, politics was merely a world that existed only in television and had nothing to do with my life. Since I was so preoccupied with taking care of my own business, I had absolutely no interest in community service, not even the concept of it, even though I felt some sympathy towards disadvantaged people. However, I am ashamed to confess that I didn’t even intend to take the responsibility of helping the underprivileged until I turned thirty. If someone had told me that I would become a public servant in the United States who was active in politics, specifically to serve the disadvantaged, I would have scoffed at it as pure nonsense.
*This essay was originally written in Korean by Soohyun Koo. It was translated from Korean to English by Dongho Cho, a Professor of Sociology at Queens College.*
March 20, 2021 - Virtual Book Talk on Korean "Comfort Women": Military Brothels, Brutality, and the Redress Movement
On Saturday, March 20, 2021, we hosted a virtual book talk for the recent publication of Korean "Comfort Women": Military Brothels, Brutality, ...
Read More |
March 27, 2021 - Virtual Film Screening of "Jeronimo"
On Saturday, March 27, 2021, we hosted an online screening of the documentary film Jeronimo, directed by Joseph Juhn. This film recounts the...
Read More |
RCKC Publication of Edited Book on "Japanese Military Sexual Slavery: The Transnational Redress Movement for the Victims"
It is with great pleasure that we announce the long-awaited publication of our edited volume on the "comfort women" issue and the redress ...
Read More |
October 25, 2019 - RCKC's 9th Conference "Korean Americans' Transnational Ties to the Homeland" at Queens College
On Friday, October 25, 2019, the Research Center for Korean Community (RCKC) held its 9th academic conference, "Korean Americans' Transnational Ties...
Read More |