ContributionAdding 'jeong' to technology

This year, the combined operating profits of Korea’s semiconductor companies are expected to soar well beyond 500 trillion won ($373 billion), reaching unprecedented levels. Some have likened this extraordinary performance to winning a lottery. But I see it differently.

What we are witnessing today, I believe, is not a stroke of good fortune. Rather, it is the culmination of decades of perseverance, sacrifice and dedication. As Koreans know well, countless companies, engineers and technicians have worked since the 1970s to build the foundations of the nation’s semiconductor industry. After nearly half a century of accumulated effort, the seeds they planted are finally coming to fruition.

A similar story of long-term commitment can be found in the rapid growth of international students choosing to study in Korea. In 2023, the Ministry of Education launched the Study Korea 300K Project, setting a goal of attracting 300,000 international students by 2027. That target has already been achieved ahead of schedule, with the number of international students in Korea surpassing 300,000 this year. Next year, the figure is expected to approach 400,000 — a number nearly comparable to the annual population of Korean high school graduates entering university.

This remarkable growth did not happen overnight, nor did it come about by chance. As vividly described in the recently published book "Hidden Figures of Korean Wave," it is the result of decades of patient work by educators at Korean universities and professionals in the fields of culture and arts. Their dedication, accumulated quietly over many years, has now begun to yield tangible results.

Over the years, I have come to cherish many memories of the time I spent with international students at Sangmyung University. I still remember making kimchi together with our international students, faculty and staff, sharing not only what we had made but also the simple joy of being together. During Chuseok and other traditional holidays, when some students found themselves far from their families, we gathered at the university cafeteria to share a special holiday meal. I played the ukulele as we sang songs together, including the Chinese classic “Tian Mi Mi,” familiar to many from the film "Comrades: Almost a Love Story."

During the Lunar New Year, we prepared small packages of rice cakes and hung them on the doorknobs of students’ dormitory rooms. I also remember feeling concerned when I saw some international students facing Korea’s bitter winter without sufficiently warm clothing. We bought them long padded coats to help keep them warm, and the delight on their faces has stayed with me ever since.

Looking back, these were all simple gestures. Yet I believe it was through such ordinary moments — making food together, sharing meals, singing songs and caring for one another — that something deeper gradually took shape between us: what Koreans call "jeong," a deep sense of affection and attachment that quietly grows through time spent together and remains long after that time has passed.

Many of the international students with whom we developed such bonds have since returned to their home countries. Some have become university professors, while others have gone on to serve as deans or in other academic leadership positions. Today, they are sending a new generation of students to Sangmyung University.

On a recent overseas trip, I had the opportunity to reunite with some of these former students, now professors and deans in their respective countries. During an event, a promotional video about Sangmyung University was shown. As they watched scenes of the university they once attended, many alumni were moved to tears, overcome by memories of their student days.

Watching them, I was reminded that the time we once shared had not simply faded into the past. It had settled into memory; It had deepened into jeong. And that jeong had remained alive through the years, taking root, growing deeper and creating new connections across generations.

I believe the global popularity of Korean culture, the growing affinity that people around the world feel toward Korea, and the increasing number of young people who come here to visit and study can also be understood in this way. They are, in part, the fruits of relationships patiently cultivated over time.

Now that the number of international students in Korea has surpassed 300,000, our attention must extend beyond quantitative growth. We need to ask a more important question: How can we ensure that the precious years these students spend in Korea become not only academically meaningful, but also personally fulfilling and rewarding?

That young people from countries with diverse traditions and cultures regard Korea with such interest and affection is both a blessing and an invaluable opportunity for our universities. Korea’s rapid industrial and technological development, and the economic progress built upon it, have undoubtedly played an important part in creating this attraction.

However, technology and economic achievement alone do not tell the whole story. Equally meaningful have been our efforts to introduce international students to Korean culture, to welcome them into our communities and, above all, to build with them the distinctive human bond of jeong.

We should make the most of this opportunity. Alongside Korea’s technological excellence, we should offer young people from around the world the opportunity to experience the warmth of jeong. If the bonds they form with Korea are nourished not only by knowledge and technology but also by genuine human connection, those relationships can endure long after their studies have ended.

By adding jeong to technology, Korea can build deeper and more lasting relationships with the wider world — relationships that continue to grow and bear fruit for generations to come.

Kim Chong-hee is the president of Sangmyung University.