On November 5, in this year marking the 80th anniversary of Korea’s liberation, Sungkyunkwan University held an alumni special lecture titled “Who Is Simsan to You?” at the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus. The Student Council, S-Angel, and the Simsan Kim Chang-suk Research Society co-hosted the event. Alumnus Tae-sung Choi (Department of History, Class of ’90), widely known as a historical communicator under the nickname “Big Star Teacher,” was invited as the speaker. He spoke about Simsan Kim Chang-suk, the first president of SKKU.

Let’s step into this space filled with heartfelt echoes that connect generations across our university community–linking the past and present.

| “Who Is Simsan to You?” Alumni Lecture

“And yet, the statue of Simsan was always here with me.”

Choi began by recalling his student days, admitting that he once walked past the statue of Simsan in front of the Central Library without knowing who he was—a memory he now finds embarrassing. Opening his lecture, he expressed his hope that today’s students will learn about Simsan during their time on campus and think about what his life can mean for their own.

“How could the Thirty-Three National Representatives not include a single Confucian scholar?”

In 1919, not one Confucian scholar was included among the Thirty-Three National Representatives who announced the March 1st Declaration of Independence. Confucian scholars—the very group that had led the Joseon dynasty for centuries—were absent from the historic effort to reclaim the nation.

Feeling profound shame, the young Confucian scholar Kim Chang-suk (Simsan) mobilized fellow scholars and initiated the Paris Petition Incident (1st Yurimdan Incident). Carrying the petition representing the will of Korea’s Confucian community, he personally traveled to Shanghai. He risked everything to ensure their voice was heard.

Determined to establish a base for the independence movement in Shanghai, Simsan realized funding was essential. He secretly returned to Korea and traveled across the Yeongnam region for months, requesting financial support from influential Confucian families—known as the Second Yurimdan Incident.

During this time, no one reported him to the authorities. This silence, Choi emphasized, was a testament to Simsan’s integrity and the deep trust people placed in him.

The funds he raised supported the independence activist Na Seok-ju, including lodging, weapons, and explosives. In this way, Simsan quietly strengthened the anti-Japanese movement from behind.

In 1927, while receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Shanghai, Simsan was arrested and transferred to Daegu Prison in Korea. He refused a lawyer, insisting that striving to restore the nation’s sovereignty could never be a crime. After enduring brutal torture, he lost the use of his lower body. In the years that followed, he was repeatedly imprisoned and released until Korea’s liberation, having devoted his entire life to the independence movement.

“Right after liberation, the first thing Simsan called for was purging pro-Japanese collaborators.”

Simsan argued that to restore the moral vitality of the Korean nation, the first task was to purge pro-Japanese collaborators. He expelled those collaborators who had seized control of the Confucian establishment during the Japanese occupation. He then went on to establish Sungkyunkwan University, inheriting the legacy of the historic Joseon-era Sungkyunkwan.

Our Sungkyunkwan University was founded by someone who devoted his entire life to the independence movement, who never once betrayed his beliefs, even to the point of losing the use of his legs.

▲ Kim Chang-suk during his presidency at Sungkyunkwan University

(Source: Simsan Kim Chang-suk Memorial Hall)

“Even if I die, I will die fighting in Seoul.”

Simsan resisted President Rhee Syngman's administration, which had violated the promises of democracy to extend its own rule. He opposed the manipulative constitutional amendment and issued public statements, sparking the International Club Incident. Bloodstained clothes and injuries on his head were the result of his unwavering dedication to upholding democratic principles.

Yet Simsan didn’t stop; he continued to resist the dictatorship. The Rhee administration applied the National Security Law against him. In his eighties and barely able to walk, he declared, “Even if I die, I will die fighting in Seoul,” and had his grandson carry him on his back to Seoul.

“Though Simsan’s body was shattered, his spirit kept burning like a flame.”

Simsan dedicated his entire life to Korea’s independence. He lost the use of his legs, could not be by his mother’s side at her final moments, and saw both of his sons die before him while fighting for the nation.

Choi emphasized that history teaches us our present lives—our time, our space—were not built on our own effort alone. We cannot live exactly as Simsan did. But as students of SKKU, we must at least know how this university was founded—through his call for a new kind of education.

| Words from Professor Ha Won-su, 

Chair of the Simsan Kim Chang-suk Research Society

Professor Ha Won-su, chair of the Simsan Kim Chang-suk Research Society and a faculty member in Chinese history at SKKU, shared insights about Simsan and Simsan Kim Chang-suk Research society

Q. What kind of organization is the Simsan Kim Chang-suk Research Society?

The Simsan Kim Chang-suk Research Society was founded in 1978 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Simsan’s birth. As teachers responsible for educating students, faculty members of Sungkyunkwan University took the lead in establishing the society to clarify and convey Simsan’s ideas.

In its early years, it was called the “Simsan Thought Research Society,” but the name was changed to the Simsan Kim Chang-suk Research Society after some felt the original name sounded too rigid. The current name reflects our intention to view and study the various dimensions of Simsan’s life and character, and to engage not only in academic research but also in a wider range of activities.

Recently, we felt it was important to interact more with students, so we have launched many new initiatives. Last year, we held a video contest under the theme “Who Was Simsan, and What Does Simsan Mean to Me?” And this year, wishing to expand and deepen our connection with students, we collaborated with the Student Council to invite Alumnus Choi Tae-sung and host the lecture titled “Who Is Simsan to You?”

Q. For students who may not be familiar with him, could you briefly explain who Simsan Kim Chang-suk was?

Simsan Kim Chang-suk left a profound mark on Korea’s modern and contemporary history.

First and foremost, he was a Confucian scholar who carried on the traditions of Korea. He came from the prestigious Uiseong Kim clan and studied Confucianism from an early age. After liberation, he played a central role in rebuilding the Confucian association. Although it is difficult to describe him strictly as a scholar in terms of academic contributions to Korean Confucianism, he made an important contribution in preserving and inheriting the Confucian tradition.

Notably, he did not confine himself to traditional interpretations; he sought to reinterpret Confucianism in a more open and modern way.

He was also an independence activist who dedicated himself to the nation. Saddened by the downfall of the Joseon dynasty, he submitted a memorial opposing the Eulsa Treaty. In 1919, he was deeply grieved that no Confucian scholar was included among the signatories of the March 1st Declaration of Independence. In response, he initiated the Paris Petition Incident, known as the First Yurimdan Incident. Later, he served as Vice Chair of the Provisional Assembly of the Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai.

He continuously traveled between Shanghai and Korea to raise funds for the cause, supporting independence fighters such as Na Seok-ju and groups such as the Euiyeoldan.

After liberation, he opposed the Syngman Rhee administration and engaged in various efforts for Korea’s democracy. Above all, after experiencing the Korean War, he emphasized that national reunification was an urgent task—likely arising from a sense of responsibility felt by his generation for the division of the country.

Although he had a deep interest in reunification, his deteriorating health limited his activities.

He was widely respected by the Korean people, and upon his passing, he was laid to rest with a state funeral, receiving the nation’s heartfelt condolences.

Q. Simsan Kim Chang-suk is known for rebuilding Sungkyunkwan University. Could you tell us about the background behind this?

In the immediate aftermath of liberation, Sungkyunkwan had lost most of its former educational functions.

Before liberation, the institution had been downgraded by the Japanese authorities into the Gyeonghakwon, and the Confucian scholars there adhered to Hwangdo Confucianism, which defined loyalty to Japan as genuine loyalty.

Simsan expelled these collaborators and took an active role in rebuilding Sungkyunkwan. Above all, he was determined to transform the traditional institution of Sungkyunkwan into a modern institution of higher education—a university. Although his aspiration to establish Sungkyunkwan as a national university could not be realized, he founded Sungkyunkwan University, inheriting the Confucian tradition in a modernized form. Regardless of his own personal background, he recruited faculty in a relatively open manner to create a truly modern university. As a result, the early faculty included even anarchist scholars. In this way, he endeavored to build an educational institution that would nurture the young people who would lead the future.

▲ First Graduation Ceremony of Sungkyunkwan University

(Source: Simsan Kim Chang-suk Memorial Hall)

Q. What do you hope students will take away from this alumni lecture?

What matters most is that Simsan Kim Chang-suk is the person who built the Sungkyunkwan University we know today, and I hope students remember this. Although it was a painful and unavoidable era, our university is one of the few in Korea without a pro-Japanese past, and that is entirely thanks to Simsan. I hope our students take pride in their university because such pride enables them to fully realize their own potential.

At the same time, I hope they also develop a sense of responsibility for our university.

As with all history, pride must come with responsibility.

Many young people today often feel disappointed that there are no adults they can truly look up to. But here at SKKU, we have Simsan—a genuine role model of integrity and conviction—close at hand. I hope our students remember him, honor him, and live and study with both pride and responsibility.

| From “Big Star Teacher” Choi Tae-sung

Alumnus Choi Tae-sung, who was invited as the speaker for this alumni lecture, graduated from our university with a major in history. For more than an hour, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to conveying the will and spirit of Simsan to the students. We spoke with him, as an alumnus, sharing the stories of previous generations with current students.

Q. What were your thoughts when you were asked to give this lecture on Simsan Kim Chang-suk, and what message did you most want to share with the audience?

When I first received the request, I wondered whether I could even dare to speak about Simsan. He felt like an enormous mountain—someone whose convictions stood firm and unchanging, just like a mountain itself. I questioned whether I was truly capable of explaining such a person. So instead of feeling pressured, I decided to come with the mindset of an alumnus simply passing on the stories of earlier generations to students.

Simsan devoted his entire life to the sake of others. Because of lives like his, we have the time and space we live in today. What I wanted most for our students at Sungkyunkwan University to understand is that whatever they achieve in society—whatever they accomplish out in the world—is never due solely to their own abilities. It is possible because people like Simsan laid down their whole lives as nourishment for the generations that followed.

Q. Today’s lecture asked, “Who is Simsan to you?” I believe everyone who listened may have found their own answer. How would you like Simsan Kim Chang-suk to be remembered by SKKU students?

I would like to say, “Simsan is Simsan.”

In life, maintaining an unchanging, consistent path is never easy. There are not many people in history who have lived with such unwavering integrity. Simsan lived a life of absolute consistency—without a single deviation—and he felt no regret in looking back on the life he had led. Some may wonder how a person could speak of his own life as righteous, but he truly was someone who had every right to do so.

For the students of SKKU, I hope Simsan will be remembered as that steadfast spirit—like a mountain—unchanging and resolute. That is who Simsan was, and that is how I hope he will remain in our memory.

Q. Many members of the SKKU community attended today’s lecture with great interest. How did you feel about the experience?

I hadn’t expected so many people to come, so I was both surprised and very grateful.

As an alumni, there were insights I had hoped to share with students, and through the Q&A session, I felt that what I wanted to convey had been genuinely received. One of the questions was, “What does it mean to live a good life for you?” Hearing that made me think that Simsan’s life had, in its own way, inspired the students.

At the very least, I hope that those who pass by Simsan’s statue on campus—even just once—will, in the course of their daily lives, hold on to the thread of thought that guided him: to consider what they can do for our community and for the next generation, and to live their lives without losing that sense of purpose, just as Simsan did.

Choi Tae-sung noted that countless people in our land, like Simsan, poured their youth and became the foundation from which later generations grew.

Each of us has our own Simsan. For one generation, Simsan was the person who helped shape them into democratic citizens of a nation; for another, he was the one who opened the path toward a wider world.

And Simsan asks us: What kind of Simsan will you become? And how will you answer when asked who your Simsan is?

Reporter: Lee Yoonha