At 85, Korea’s oldest college graduate this year proves it’s never too late to learn
With a navy cap perched above her permed brown hair and a shy smile, 85-year-old Kim Jeong-ja slowly made her way up to the podium at Sookmyung Women’s University Friday. Applause filled the auditorium at the university as she received her associate degree in social welfare from the school’s Future Education Institute, making her Korea’s oldest college degree recipient this year. She reached the milestone after seven years of study that began when she first picked up a pencil at age 78 to learn how to read and write Korean. “This moment exists because of everything I learned here — and because of my friends who studied and cheered alongside me,” Kim said, her voice trembling with emotion in her speech. Born in 1941 as the eldest of eight children, Kim grew up during the Korean War, when her family fled to Geoje Island to escape the conflict. “In my day, girls didn’t get to go to school. I worked until my fingernails wore off,” she recalled. She worked in households, lunch box factories and bathhouses — “anything that paid,” she said. Like for most women at the tim
Feb 27, 2026By Lee Hae-rin
