Like father, like son

Kim Seong-kon, president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, gives a speech at the commencement ceremony of the College of Arts and Sciences at the Center for the Arts Auditorium of State University of New York (SUNY) in Buffalo on May 19. His speech came on the occasion of his receiving an honorary doctoral degree from the university. / Courtesy of SUNY

LTI president gives commencement speech at SUNY

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Kim Seong-kon, president of Literature Translation Institute Korea (LTI Korea), said his father was the key inspiration for his lifetime endeavor to support cross-cultural understanding.

In a speech at the commencement ceremony of the College of Arts and Sciences at State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo on May 19, Kim said just as his father did as an interpreter, he has striven to play a role to connect different cultures all during his life _ like father, like son.

The only difference is that his father fulfilled the role when the nation was in extreme turmoil from a series of political upheavals but his son was fortunate in that he was able to pursue his cultural ambassador-like mission after stability came to the nation.

His father, who studied law, served as an English translator for the U.S. Military Government in Korea in 1945 when Korea gained independence after 36 years of Japanese occupation and he stayed there all through the Korean War.

Kim, a former dean and professor emeritus of Seoul National University, quoted his father as saying, “In times of crisis, the most important thing in life is to help different people understand each other.” He said his father chose to become an interpreter, not a lawyer, for this reason.

“When I first saw the Bosporus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, that connected Asia to Europe, I was fascinated by the symbolism of the bridge,” he said. “Crossing the bridge, I told myself, I should be like this bridge, connecting the East and the West. Ever since, I have always tried to become a bridge, an interpreter and a cultural ambassador between East and West and between Korea and America.”

LTI Korea is responsible for transmitting Korean ideas and thoughts overseas and has translated selected Korean literary works into many languages, including English, Spanish and French, to give international readers access to Korean literature in their languages. The state-sponsored institution’s translations have helped several Korean writers earn international fame when their works captivated the hearts of foreign readers.

Kim took the helm of LTI Korea in 2012 and was reappointed as its president in 2015.

Kim’s speech came on the occasion of his receiving of an honorary doctorate from SUNY at Buffalo for his life-long devotion to bridging cultural gaps. He is the third Korean to receive an honorary doctoral degree from SUNY at Buffalo, following former presidents Roh Tae-woo and Lee Myung-bak.

Mentioning his first arrival in Buffalo in 1978 when he was in his 20s, he called the city his second hometown and compared his reunion with the city to receive the honorary doctoral degree something akin to a “homecoming.”

“Now I have returned here in my late 60s, accomplishing what great American poet Walt Whitman once described as a roundure complete. And I am so happy for my homecoming,” he said. “There is no place like home and it is always so good to be back in your hometown.”