Former Korea Times managing editor dies

By Bahk Eun-ji

Kim Yong-koo, a former managing editor of The Korea Times, passed away, Monday. He was 90.

He worked as an interpreter and chaplain in the army between Korean and U.S. forces during the Korean War at U.N. Military Headquarters.

Kim, Korea's first Nieman fellow at Harvard University in 1962, started his carrier in journalism by working as a reporter at the country's oldest English daily in 1954. He served as managing editor of the newspaper from 1959 to 1961. He continued his career as an editorial writer for its sister paper, the Hankook Ilbo, from 1963.

He was a founding member of Kwanhun Club, the nation's first journalists' group, and a chief of the Korean branch of the Congress for Cultural Freedom. After retiring from the journalism industry, he became a distinguished professor of journalism at Korea University in 1998. He also published “Bushitdol,” a literary journal, after retirement.

His funeral service will be held at the Catholic University of Korea Yeouido St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul on Wednesday. He is survived by his wife and daughter.