Veteran actress receives honorary doctoral degree from KazNUA

Actress Park Jeong-ja (left) poses with Bakyt Dyussenbayev, Kazakhstan Ambassador to Korea during the conferment ceremony held Oct. 28 at Seoul Cyber University. / Courtesy of Seoul Cyber University

By Lee Hyo-jin

Veteran actress Park Jeong-ja received an honorary doctoral degree in drama arts from Kazakhstan National University of Arts (KazNUA), recognized for her accomplishments and contribution to the theater industry.

The degree was awarded by the Kazakhstan Ambassador to Korea Bakyt Dyussenbayev, at a conferment ceremony held Oct. 28 at the Tchaikovsky hall in Seoul Cyber University.

“I perceive this degree to be a message for me to constantly study art, culture, the origin of life and human emotion. Keeping this in mind, I will strive to support young artists to help them fulfil their dreams in the theater industry, and bring hope to people through art in the COVID-19 pandemic era,” said Park.

Park, 78, made her debut in 1962 with the play “Phaedra”. She has tread the boards for 57 years inspiring many young artists. She has starred in over 200 plays, gaining a record of 9,000 days spent on the stage.

The artist has also worked for 12 years as the director of the Theatre People Welfare Foundation of Korea, during which she actively engaged in the legislation of the Artist Welfare Law.

“We are pleased to honor the leading actress with a doctoral degree from KazNUA, and hope Park will continue to strengthen cultural ties between the two countries,” said the ambassador in his congratulatory remarks.

Many prominent from arts and education circles including Lee Eun-joo, president of Seoul Cyber University, Son sook, head of Seoul Arts Center (SAC), and Jang Yoon-geum, president of Sookmyung Women's University, attended the ceremony to congratulate Park.

KazNUA is a prestigious educational institution founded in 1998, located in Nur-Sultan, the capital of Kazakhstan. Over the past 16 years, the university has produced around 500 winners of various international musical competitions and 300 winners of domestic competitions. It currently has over 500 faculty members and around 2,000 students.