First Korean woman pilot to receive medal

Kim Kyung-o

By Kwon Ji-youn

Kim Kyung-o, the nation’s first woman pilot, will receive the Dongbaek Medal of the Order of Civil Merit at the Women’s Week ceremony, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced Monday.

“I am very honored to win the medal,” Kim, 84, said. “I don’t think there is any other way to express it.”

She was an air-force pilot in the 1950-53 Korean War and after she was discharged, she became an icon for Korean civil aviation. She is currently chairwoman of the Far East Women Pilot Association.

Kim served as vice president of the International Aeronautics Federation (FAI) in 1983 when Korean Air Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet interceptor near Moneron Island, west of Sakhalin Island, in the East Sea.

She played a leading role in having the FAI adopt a statement denouncing the Soviet military for attacking the civilian jet.

She also played a significant role in enhancing national prestige, especially for women.

She served as president of the Korean National Council of Women between 1988 and 1994, and played a key role in the government’s decision to allow women admission into military academies.

Kim is the only Korean woman to have an exhibit in the Ninety-Nines Museum of Women Pilots in Oklahoma, the United States.

She is also honorary chairman of the Federation of Korea Aeronautics and honorary chairman of the Korea Women Aviation Association.