Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 7, 1993 TAG: 9310070159
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A year later, he entered Roanoke College in Salem. He graduated in 1903 with a bachelor of arts degree.
Kimm - who later became one of the most important statesmen that modern Korea produced - spoke often to his daughter about the "extraordinary" educational experience he'd had and how it helped shape his attitudes about life.
The daughter was curious.
She was 21 when she last saw her father. Now 67, she wanted to walk the grounds he'd walked and read the writings he'd mailed to the college after graduation.
Pauline Kimm Chang wanted to bridge the gap between father and daughter.
"I'm trying to imagine what things were like for him," said Chang, a retired Yale University research scientist who made her first visit to Roanoke College this week. "It was very significant in shaping him as a man."
Chang sat in the archives of the Roanoke College library Wednesday, combing through books, poetry translations and other publications that her father sent to the college.
They are nearly all that remains of her father's writings, most of which did not survive after Korea was divided in 1948, Chang said.
"In one way, I may be starting something new, trying to learn more about my father," Chang said. "The last time I saw him, I was 21. But there are a lot of gaps. I want to find out more about him."
Kiusic Kimm was the son of a high court official in the then-kingdom of Korea. When Kimm's father fell from royal favor, he was exiled and placed his son in an orphanage.
At age 4, Kimm came under the care of Horace Underwood, a pioneer Presbyterian missionary. Through Underwood, Kimm was introduced to English.
In 1897, a year after graduating from an English-language school, the Korean government sent Kimm and several other students to the United States, in part out of interest in expanding Korean contact with the Western world.
A year later, Kimm was admitted to Roanoke College, one of the key institutions selected to host Korean students. His graduation in 1903 made him the second Korean ever to graduate from an American college or university.
Kimm earned a master's degree from Princeton University in 1904. He returned that year to Korea after the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war.
Kimm's life from then on has been called extraordinary. He fought for freedom as a college president, author, world peace conference delegate, political leader and army commander.
Kimm wrote once of his desire to attend Roanoke College's 1953 centennial. His wish, however, was not fulfilled.
During the Korean War, Kimm was kidnapped by Communists and taken to North Korea. His family fled south.
Daughter Wuai - who took the English name Pauline - was at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, wanting to go home.
Kimm died in captivity in 1950 at the age of 69.
Chang marveled at her father's writings in the Roanoke College archives. She caught glimpses of his college years through old photos, speeches he gave as a student and articles about him in alumni magazines.
For 43 years, Chang kept a thick manuscript given to her by a close friend of her father's. It was a manuscript of "The Lure of the Yangtze" - too long to be a poem and too short to be a book - written by her father in 1945, she said.
Last year, Chang had the manuscript published in book form. A copy has joined Kimm's other writings in the Roanoke College archives.
It is a fitting place, Chang said.
"This place has special meaning for him," she said. "From what I've seen, it appears he really enjoyed his experience here."
by CNB