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2006 Van Fleet Award Honoree

LEE KUN-HEE
SAMSUNG CHAIRMAN

 

As the guiding light of Samsung, Chairman Lee Kun-Hee is responsible for an extraordinary economic conglomerate that has contributed enormously to the economic rise of South Korea. Samsung is the strongest economic symbol of today’s Korea, as is demonstrated by its ranking number 20 in the latest Business Week / Interbrand survey of the 100 “top brands” worldwide. This extraordinary ranking is supported by the stunning surge in the value of the Samsung product line over the past five years. Over this period, Samsung posted the biggest gain in value of any of the top 100 brands, with an explosive rise of 186-percent in value. Today its total assets amount to more than $230 billion, with close to a quarter of a million employees working in over 65 countries. Samsung currently has more than 25 offices in the United States alone.

Chairman Lee has played a direct, hands-on role in shaping Samsung’s approach to its people and its products. He has long supported innovation in management, creating a more dynamic corporate culture under the slogan “Change Myself First,” based on his conviction that all progress begins with the individual. Today, Samsung’s corporate philosophy reflects Chairman Lee’s belief that economic success comes from a stress on quality, not quantity.

Educated in Korea, Japan and the United States, Chairman Lee remains active in many areas, as a vice chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, a vice chairman of the Korea-Japan Economic Committee, a member of the International Olympic Committee, a director of the Korean Youth Association and a philanthropist of high standing. Under his guidance, Samsung made a $3.2 million contribution to the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund last year and has contributed more than $30 million to American charities over the years. Truly, Samsung is an outstanding global citizen.

When General James Van Fleet, for whom this award is named, came up with the idea of establishing The Korea Society, Korea itself still lay largely prostrate in the wreckage of war. Samsung has played an enduring and significant role in Korea’s recovery and rise to global prominence. It is for his key role in that magnificent recovery that we honor Chairman Lee.

 

 

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2005 Van Fleet Award Honoree

 

GEORGE H.W. BUSH
41ST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 

The presidency of George H.W. Bush, from 1989 to 1993, remains the high point of the U.S.-Korea alliance that dates from the Korean War.

From the early months of his term in office, President Bush worked creatively to support South Korea’s policy of “Nordpolitic,” which was designed to pave the way toward better relations between North and South Korea by establishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, China, and the countries of Eastern Europe.

In 1990, after the collapse of the Soviet Union the previous year, President Bush arranged a meeting between South Korean President Roh Tae Woo and Mikhail Gorbachev in San Francisco that paved the way for the establishment of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Seoul the following year.

Using his vast Chinese experience, President Bush encouraged China to recognize South Korea, which it did in 1992. President Bush also urged the Chinese to drop their long-standing opposition to membership in the United Nations for South Korea. Today, both North and South Korea are United Nations members of long standing.

In military matters, President Bush was equally adroit in supporting “Nordpolitic.” Strategic weapons deployments, and annual, large-scale training exercises were modified in close coordination with Seoul’s outreach to Pyongyang. The result was the signing of two North-South agreements at the end of 1991 that remain as a blueprint for a stable Korean Peninsula in the post-nuclear age.

Today, as the U.S.-Korea alliance continues to grow and prosper in a new century, President Bush is still remembered with great respect and affection by the Korean people for all that he contributed to this key relationship during his presidency.

 

 

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2004 Van Fleet Award Honoree

 

BAN KI-MOON
MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND TRADE
REPUBLIC OF KOREA

 

Past recipients of the Van Fleet award have generally been distinguished individuals whose public service career had been completed. Included among these recipients are a former American president, a former secretary of defense, a retired four-star general, and a former chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries, who received the award posthumously.

Tonight, we are presenting the Van Fleet award to a man who is actively serving in a key position at a time of great historical and political turbulence in Northeast Asia. We feel that this award is very much in keeping with the spirit of the man for whom the award is named. General James A. Van Fleet developed a deep admiration for the Korean people as he observed them coping bravely with the devastation of the Korean War. He recognized them as a people of action. It was this high regard for the Korean people that led him to establish the first incarnation of The Korea Society in 1957.

Tonight’s awardee, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-Moon, is clearly a man of action, who brings to his vital position a wealth of experience acquired during 34 years of service to his country. At a time when the regional relationships in Northeast Asia are in flux and Korea is emerging as a hub of the region, Minister Ban has been coping admirably with such issues as the multilateral talks designed to defuse the North Korean nuclear issue, changes in longstanding patterns of U.S. troop deployments and the highly charged issue, between China and Korea, of the basic identity of the ancient kingdom of Koguryo.

All of us in this distinguished audience tonight feel deeply reassured that it is Minister Ban Ki-Moon who is responsible for dealing with these complex issues. As members and friends of The Korea Society, it is our hope that he will accept the 2004 James A. Van Fleet Award as a kind of “battlefield decoration,” a token of our admiration for his achievements during a distinguished career in public service and his continuing contributions as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea.

Today, as the U.S.-Korea alliance continues to grow and prosper in a new century, President Bush is still remembered with great respect and affection by the Korean people for all that he contributed to this key relationship during his presidency.

 

 

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2003 Van Fleet Award Honoree

RAYMOND G. DAVIS
GENERAL, (RET.)
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

General Raymond G. Davis has compiled a matchless combat record as a Marine Corps officer in the brutal Guadalcanal campaign of World War II, and as the commanding general of the Third Marine Division in Vietnam. During the Korean War, General Davis was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions as a battalion commander during the First Marine Division’s historic fight to break out of the Chosin Reservoir area in the frigid mountains of North Korea.

General Davis has been awarded numerous medals for heroism by a grateful United States government. His 33 years of active service as a Marine Corps officer ended with his retirement in 1972, after serving as the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps.

Like General Van Fleet, for whom this award is named, General Davis came out of the Korean War with a special admiration for the Korean people. He has worked tirelessly to develop the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has worked to promote the establishment of a nuclear-free zone in Northeast Asia and has actively participated in meetings between American and North Korean officials in New York City.

Last year, with the cooperation of the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, General Davis visited the Chosin Reservoir area, as a part of the United States government’s effort to repatriate the remains of servicemen killed during the war. General Davis is working diligently to return to North Korea in the near future, with other Korean War veterans and their families, in an attempt to forge bonds of friendship between former enemies as well as assist in locating and repatriating those still buried in the formidable mountains of North Korea.

General Davis has brought the same dedication and intensity to civilian life that he demonstrated as an officer in combat. His contributions to Korea and to America, in peace and war, perfectly exemplify the spirit of the Van Fleet Award. It is most appropriate that this award is being presented to General Davis by the President of the Republic of Korea, His Excellency Roh Moo-hyun.

 

 

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2002 Van Fleet Award Honoree

 

HORACE G. UNDERWOOD
TRUSTEE
YONSEI UNIVERSITY

 

No living American can match Horace G. Underwood‘s unique and continuing contributions to Korea and to U.S.-Korea relations. Born in Korea, the son and grandson of Presbyterian missionaries, Underwood  has, throughout his life and in many capacities, worked to enhance Korean higher education. In 1939, following his education at Hamilton College and New York University, Underwood returned to Seoul and taught English at Chosen Christian College, which is now known as Yonsei University. Interned by the Japanese occupiers of Korea in 1941, Underwood was repatriated to the United States in 1942, when he joined the U.S. Navy and served as a Korean and Japanese language officer in the Pacific.

Following the surrender of Japan, Underwood was assigned to the U.S. Military Government in Korea, and was instrumental in forming Seoul National University out of a multiplicity of existing Japanese institutions. In 1947, he returned to Yonsei University, where he served until the North Korean attack in June 1950. Underwood rejoined the U.S. Navy and served throughout the Korean War. He was often decorated for his service and received the Bronze Star and Legion of Merit among other decorations. From July 1951 to 1953, Underwood served as senior interpreter for the armistice negotiations at Panmunjom.

Following completion of his graduate work in 1955, Underwood returned to Yonsei University where he served as a professor of education and later as head of the university library. Yonsei University’s emergence as a leader in the field of international education in Korea is directly attributable to Underwood’s tireless efforts. He remains active to this day in his service to the university, and is a beloved figure on the campus.

Underwood has been involved in countless other educational and social activities as well, including the Fulbright program, the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Korean American Association and the Seoul USO. In 2001, Underwood was given the U.S. Department of Defense medal for distinguished public service in recognition of his decades of outstanding service.

In presenting the Van Fleet Award to Underwood tonight, I am struck by the fact that he is the only recipient who has had direct contact with General James A. Van Fleet. That makes the presentation of this award to him all the more appropriate and special, as does the fact that today happens to be Horace Underwood’s 85^th birthday!

 

 

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2001 Van Fleet Award Honoree

 

KIM KYUNG WON
PRESIDENT
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Over the past quarter century, Kim Kyung Won has made an indispensable contribution to the Republic of Korea’s stunning rise to political prominence in Northeast Asia. Born in North Korea, Kim escaped to the South as a 15 year-old boy in 1950. Educated at Williams College and Harvard University, Kim left a comfortable, tenured position at New York University to return to Korea in 1971.

After four years of teaching at Korea University, Kim was appointed as a foreign affairs advisor to President Park Chung Hee. He served continuously at Blue House from 1975 to 1982, one of the most difficult eras in the modern history of Korea, encompassing President Park’s assassination, the coup of General Chun Doo Hwan, the Kwangju massacre, and the arrest and death sentence of President Kim Dae-jung. During this period when U.S.-Korea relations were often strained by all these momentous events, Kim’s voice and influence played a key, behind-the-scenes role in enabling solutions to be found and crises to be avoided.

From 1982 to 1988, Kim served brilliantly in the United States, first as chief of the Republic of Korea’s Mission to the United Nations, and then as the Republic of Korea’s ambassador in Washington. After his retirement from government service in 1988, Kim has served in a wide variety of private and public positions, all focused on foreign affairs. His influence has been, and remains a constant, positive ingredient in the shaping of relations between Seoul and Washington.

Kim’s life exemplifies what the Van Fleet Award stands for, and he becomes one of its most distinguished recipients.

 

 

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2000 Van Fleet Award Honoree

 

JIMMY CARTER
39TH PRESIDENT
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In early summer 1994, a serious military crisis with nuclear implications was developing on the Korean Peninsula. Misunderstandings and mutual suspicions abounded between Seoul and Pyongyang, the rhetoric was heated, and the United States was preparing to increase its forces in South Korea and to impose additional sanctions on the North. Tensions were extremely high, with North Korean officials speaking of turning Seoul into a “sea of fire.”

President Jimmy Carter wisely chose that moment to activate a standing invitation to visit North Korea, where the late President Kim Il Sung warmly welcomed him. Their extended conversation led to a defusing of the crisis. President Carter’s report of his conversation with President Kim signaled to officials in Washington that North Korea desired improved relations with the United States, and that Pyongyang was willing to place its potentially dangerous nuclear power program under international safeguards. The U.S.-North Korea Agreed Framework was negotiated in the fall of 1994, and remains a central part of ongoing efforts to build a new and constructive relationship with Pyongyang.

Without President Carter’s courageous and decisive actions in 1994, President Kim Dae-jung’s diplomatic breakthrough in Pyongyang earlier this year might not have been possible. It is thus highly appropriate that President Kim Dae-jung personally present the Van Fleet Award to President Carter on this highly auspicious occasion.

 

 

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1999 Van Fleet Award Honoree

WILLIAM J. PERRY
SPECIAL ADVISOR TO THE PRESIDENT AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE 
FOR U.S.-NORTH KOREA POLICY REVIEW

FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

In 1998, having capped an outstanding career in public service by serving with distinction as U.S. Secretary of Defense, William J. Perry was asked by President Clinton to undertake a definitive review of U.S.-North Korea policy. This difficult and highly contentious policy had become the center of more acrimony and disarray than any issue since the Vietnam War.

Perry brought to this policy review the thoughtfulness, intelligence and integrity that have marked his entire career. He traveled extensively and consulted in detail with all of the concerned parties in the region, including the government of North Korea. The report that bears his name has now emerged as a highly respected blueprint for undertaking the extremely sensitive task of dealing with North Korea, and bringing long-range peace and stability to the Korean Peninsula.

In conducting this review, and constructing a blueprint for peace, Perry’s efforts have perfectly embodied the spirit of the James A. Van Fleet Award. Perry’s acceptance of this award increases its luster, and all those present on this occasion join in extending to Perry our congratulations and thanks for his outstanding service to the United States and the Northeast Asian region.

 

 

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1998 Van Fleet Award Honoree 

JEONG H. KIM
PRESIDENT OF LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES’ CARRIER NETWORK GROUP

Jeong H. Kim is president of Lucent Technologies’ Carrier Networks Group, where he is responsible for Lucent’s worldwide offering of data networking products to service providers. Kim assumed this key position in May 1998 upon Lucent’s $1 billion strategic acquisition of Yurie Systems, the high-tech communications equipment company that he founded in 1992. By 1997, Yurie Systems had been named by Business Week as America’s #1 Hot Growth Company.

Kim came to America in 1975, at the age of 14. Throughout his education—from high school through his Ph.D.—Kim worked full-time. Nonetheless, he was able to earn his Ph.D. degree in two years. Notably, Kim served for seven years as an officer in the U.S. Navy, and credits this military experience for giving him the leadership and management skills he has so clearly demonstrated in his business career.

Earlier this year, Kim was told of the plight of many Koreans studying in the United States who are facing great hardships, and even the potential loss of the opportunity to complete their education in the United States, due to the financial crisis in Korea. Kim clearly recognized the vital role that Koreans who have been educated in America are playing in Korea’s development, and in the strengthening of the Korean-American relationship. Once again, Kim demonstrated his capacity for leadership by making a donation of $250,000 to a scholarship fund The Korea Society is sponsoring to benefit Korean students impacted by the financial crisis.

This truly magnificent gesture of generosity, coming on top of his brilliant achievements in the field of technology, makes Kim an outstanding candidate for this year’s Van Fleet Award. It also is worthy of note that Kim is the first Korean American to receive this award. So it is fitting that he is a beneficiary of the American educational system who has built his great success on what he has learned and acquired in the United States. We are delighted to honor his great generosity in helping others to do the same.

 

 

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1998 Van Fleet Award Honoree

 

JONG-HYON CHEY
CHAIRMAN 
THE FEDERATION OF KOREAN INDUSTRIES

CHAIRMAN
SK GROUP

 

The late Jong-Hyon Chey, who was chairman of the SK Group and The Federation of Korean Industries, is hereby recognized with the greatest appreciation for his generosity and support of The Korea Society.

One of the distinguishing features of The Korea Society is its Intercultural Outreach Program (ICOP), which was established in 1994 and sustained over the last five years by a generous annual grant from The Federation of Korean Industries that was made possible by Chairman Chey. Through this program, over one hundred inner-city high school students from all over America have traveled to Korea to see firsthand what the Korean people have achieved in their own country. In addition, thousands of schoolchildren have been introduced, in their classrooms, to the arts and culture of Korea through this program.

Chairman Chey demonstrated great vision and leadership in his support of The Korea Society. Part of his legacy, in America, are the thousands of people who have gained a better understanding of Korea and a greater appreciation of the importance of the U.S.-Korea relationship through the program he so generously supported. Chairman Chey’s support has been so vital to the development of The Korea Society that he will always be remembered as one of its true founding fathers.

 

 

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1997 Van Fleet Award Honoree

 

PYONG HWOI KOO
CHAIRMAN 
KOREA INTERNATIONAL TRADE ASSOCIATION

 

Pyong-Hwoi Koo became chairman of the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) in February 1994 after serving as its vice chairman from 1985.

Chairman Koo’s business career with the LG Group began in 1951, as a manager at Lucky Chemical Company. During his 40-plus years with LG, he held numerous positions of distinction including: director of Goldstar Co., president of Honam Oil Refinery Co., vice chairman of the Lucky-Goldstar Group and chairman of Lucky-Goldstar International Corporation. In 1995, he became an advisory board member of the LG Group.

Chairman Koo has been a dedicated member of a number of prominent economic and social organizations. He has served as chairman of the Korea-Canada Business Council, international president and Korea committee chairman of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC) and chairman of the Bidding Committee for the 2002 World Cup in Korea (KOBID). His current appointments include: chairman of the Korea-U.S. Economic Council (KUSEC), chairman of the Korea-U.S. Business Council, chairman of the Korea Commercial Arbitration Board, and honorary consul general of the Republic of Peru.

Chairman Koo has received many awards over the course of his distinguished career, including Korea’s highest civilian honors for service to national development. He was awarded the Order of Industrial Merit (Gold Tower) in 1982, the Order of Civil Merit (Mugunghwa Medal) in 1993 and the Order of Sport Merit (Cheongryong Medal) in 1997. He was also awarded the Order of Merit for Distinguished Services (Great Cross) by the Republic of Peru in 1996.

Koo graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Seoul National University in Korea. In November 1993, he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree by the University of British Columbia.

 

 

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