Practicing love for the nation.

Engineering education and Paiknam

In his autobiography, Paiknam said, "I believe that God has led me to this education industry in order to modernize this country."
Paiknam regarded science and technology education as the key to modernization of his country. He gave up his career as a musician which he thought as his destiny, and he invested everything he had into educating his people for the future of the country.
In 1939, when the country was groaning in the darkness of the Japanese colonial era, Kim Lyun-joon, a 25-year-old youth, founded Dong-A Engineering Institute, the forerunner of Hanyang University, with the belief that "I will save the country through science and technology education". The young Kim Lyun-joon was impressed by the passion of Dal Gas and Grundtvig, who inspired Danish citizens, who lost most of their homeland by the invasion of Germany, to find inside what they had lost outside. Dong-A Engineering Institute, was established by Kim with the vision of professional skills as the key to gaining national independence.
In the days when technology was disdained, the establishment of Dong-A Engineering Institute based on his affection for the country was a pioneering decision to prepare talented people for the industrialization of his country. The Dong-A Engineering Institute was established in 1939 as a two-year course with 3 majors such as civil engineering, mining, and architecture at Cheondogyo Center (current Sueun Assembly House) in Kyungsung City, Kyungwon-jeong 88 (present: 88, Kyungwoon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul). However, in 1944, the growing Japanese oppression forced the college to close down. But this could not stop Paiknam's love for the country, and he tried to revive the country through technical education. After the liberation, his dream was afire with enthusiasm. In 1945, Dong A Engineering College became Geonguk Technology College, and then Hanyang Engineering College was followed in 1947. In 1948, he finally founded Hanyang College of Engineering, the first and only private engineering university in Korea.
Paiknam sent a letter to the Minister of Education about the foundation of Hanyang College of Engineering ,
"The sky and the sun in darkness for 36 years, we saw that the patriotism that has been closed has exploded and flooded over the whole land of Korea with great power."
I am immersed in this uncontrollable feeling for this college. Founded by a relentless spirit of patriotism, Hanyang College of Engineering gives our nation a reason to celebrate as hope for reconstruction of our country. Its opening is a celebration dedicated to our liberated homeland. Graduates of Hanyang College of Engineering have become the key talents leading the modernization and industrialization of Korea.
Kim Lyun-joon is widely recognized as a young man who had a big dream for his country who was at the forefront of Korean engineering education, that if there had been no human resources raised by Hanyang, the modernization and industrialization of Korea would have been much delayed.
His love for the nation continued as he declared, "When the country is in poverty and confusion, we must all the more do our best to collectively build up our nation."
When laws against human rights in Korean society were enacted to stop aid and to withdraw US army in Korea because of the public opposition against the United States, Paiknam himself formed a civil diplomatic mission with several acquaintances, and went to the US president Carter. He has contributed greatly to the passing of the national crisis by persuading the president to keep the aid for the security and development of Korea or stop the US army from withdrawing.
Later, Paiknam became the chairman of the International Headquarters of People to Peoples in Korea, Chairman of the 5th North Administrative Advisory Committee, and the chairman of the International Advisory Committee of the Friendship Delegation, and he always took the lead in practicing love for the nation and the country. The practice of Paiknam's love for his country and nation was not just made overnight. As Paiknam said in his autobiography, his hometown, Myeongcheon, North Hamgyong province, has a story of anti-Japanese fighters who grew up in the home of anti-Japanese fighters, and his father was a young man who participated in independence movements. Since these people's effort on independence, it affected his childhood, which was served as a lighthouse for his practice of love for his country and nation.
The state spirit that our nation and our country should be strong is neither an exclusive property of any system, nor is it the ruling party or the opposition party in the political circle. Now we have come to the point where we should think thoroughly and honestly about what will strengthen our nation and how to make our country stronger. As Paiknam's argument shows, his love for this country and nation was not a matter of system or politics. For Paiknam, who had a clear historical awareness, engineering education was a way of practicing love for the country and nation. "The disputes of society and international laws can be solved only by the practice of love, not by political means or military methods." His philosophy of social awareness and love has sublimated engineering education into the love for the country and nation, not a mere technical education.