A number of letters to friends in the US

September 16, 2009

Dear Maurie,

As you know, we left Portland on August 25 and arrived here safely next day. It has taken a while to settle down here, although it is not entirely a new place where we don’t know our way around. Last time we were in Seoul, we stayed at the foothill of Bukhan Mountain, which I enjoyed tremendously, especially in the morning, when I was able to jog along the hills of the mountain. However, this time we stay in a hotel in the heart of Seoul. This is good for Helen since all the activities of a big city are taking place right in front of your nose, and there are so many restaurants, one after the other – from very expensive ones to reasonably priced ones. Furthermore, the hotel provides breakfast, a simple but sufficient buffet, which we like very much. Helen does not have to cook much and in addition, there is no cleaning needed by us since the room-keeper does it all for us every the other day. The room we stay has a kitchenette, which allows us to cook simple stuff – heating up ready-made soup, for example. The room has a rice cooker too.

I am teaching only one course, an advanced technical communication offered to graduate students. The importance of communications, including oral and written communication are being presented and discussed. Of course, our emphasis is how to write papers and theses. It is really fun to teach such a course since one learns by teaching, as you know. Many of these students are currently in the process of writing a paper or even a thesis. We pick a paper being written by a student and go over and discuss how best to improve the format and the content. We also pick up a well written paper and learn from it.

In addition, I meet with the students working in the KEN Research Lab at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and discuss their work and other items including English composition and grammar. I also give them my experience in studying in the US and also teaching experience in the US and Australia. This is my way of giving back something of value to the younger generation. I sincerely hope that these students’ lives will be a little better because of the interaction they have with me.

Another very valuable experience I am entertaining is to meet with my old friends and acquaintances, with whom I had some interactions in the past. I have met a number of old high school as well as college friends with whom I used to study and play together. Many have gone to quite different field than mine, and some very successful, others less but just happy nevertheless. I am very surprised that many have become very religious, although they were not when we were together in old days. Over the long period in life, we tend to think about life and attach to a religion of our liking. On the other hand, I was very religious when I was young, but as I get older, I seem to have gone the other way. Well, enough of this stuff is said today…

This visit also has given me an opportunity to think about my own roots: parents, and relatives, especially those who are no longer with us today. I will have an opportunity to visit the cemetery of my folks and spend sometime to reminisce the good and old times, and pay my thanks to them for what they have done to me. As I get old, I realize that nothing is more important than human relationship in life. It makes me happy and also sad – but happy sad, if you know what I mean.

Hi Maurie, you have been a good friend of mine and I thank you for your friendship. I will write you soon.

Best wishes, Ken


November 22, 2009

A Miracle at the foothills of Bukhan Mt.

Time flies like an arrow, someone said as I remember. It is indeed fast and is still ticking as fast as ever, so I feel. I have finished my three months stay in Seoul, Korea and am ready to take off to Portland, OR, my rainy home.

I am pleased to share with you a story entitled, “A Miracle at the foothills of Bukhan Mountain,” the mountain where SeoKyeong University is located and the mountain whose ridges I enjoyed so much jogging along for so many hours when I stayed here a year ago.

As many of you recall, I retired at the end of 2006 from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T) and decided to join SeoKyeong University, as the founding director, to lead a newly built research center, called the “KEN Research Center.” I was inherited empty four old class rooms, for which I was supposed to fill up with modern pieces of equipment and researchers to work on nano-environmental oriented research. Many of you asked why I had decided to join a place where there was very little help and no department close to my own existed. My answer then was simple to say that it didn’t really matter where as long as it was somewhere in Korea, if I wanted to help the science and technology of the nation I was born in. However, inside of me wasn’t quite sure what I could really expect out of such a place. I am pleased to say that I tried my best and enjoyed every minute I spent here, although there was not a proud tangible outcome that I was able to point.

Due to some problems at home in Portland including my wife’s health, I had to decide to retire again and go back home where my children and grand-children were waiting after two years service. I was fortunate to convince one of my former students, Dr. Peter Kim who finished a Ph.D. under my direction and was working in the US to come back home and succeed the work I started. During my retirement back in Portland, Dr. Kim was successful in getting a grant from the Korean Government, entitled the “World Class University (WCU)” project in which the Korean principal investigator invites a well established world class scientist(s) to help make the individual department where the PI resides to the level of the world class status. As a result, I was called back to the duty to help the research center that I was responsible to establish in the first place. My story begins right here.

To my great surprise, when I got back to the laboratories which were nearly empty when I left last time, I found the labs filled with plentiful glassware, first class pieces of equipment, and students who are very energetic, eager-driven, hard working, and productive working for 12-14 hours a day, every day a week. I had a chance to attend an international conference held in China and another in Jeju, Korea and witnessed these students presenting a first class research report, all in English. Their performance was as good as those of professors from first class universities from Japan, China, and Korea. I could not imagine even in my wildest dreams that a year of hard work had produced such wonderful students and the first class research outputs. This, I refer to as the miracle happened in a small, non-research university.

When I returned back to Korea after 45 years away from her, I found the miracles happened to her. A small research center where there were only five professors and five research students, one of whom was yours truly had become the KIST, which is now a first class research institute with thousands of scientists, a miracle in a larger scale. Furthermore, Korea, which was below in GDP of many countries in the south eastern Asia when I left, is now enjoying the 11th ranking and still growing faster than any advanced nations in the world. I asked myself a question, who are responsible for such miracles? The answer is simple and clear in that it is the honest, sincere, and hard working people! We often say that if one puts ones mind into one thing and work hard, there is nothing that cannot be done. I think that it is easily said than done, however. I am thrilled to report to you that I have witnessed such miracles in this hard working people.

I had a Chinese student who took a couple of courses from me when I used to teach at SDSM&T. He returned to his home country after finishing his Ph.D. in the US and has now become a professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a premier research institute in China. He invited me during my stay in Korea this time and I gave a couple of seminars while in Beijing, China. They were impressed with the kinds of work being carried out under the leadership of Peter Kim and agreed to work jointly with our research center. In turn, they have extended an invitation to me to come over there to teach for a semester or so next year. When the joint research proposal is approved by the Korean and Chinese Governments, there will be a scholar and student exchange program associated with it and as a result, the research output of our research center will enter another dimension. Such synergestic approach is what the WCU project is looking for and I am very pleased and carefully optimistic about the future of the center.

Three years ago, I put seeds into a barren field without too much expectation. Now, I have found that there was a thin, but green stem coming out of the barren ground and ready to bear fruits. With hard work, God has sprinkled a few drops of rain onto the barren ground. I only pray for the rain keep dropping and the hard working students will be happy with the harvest they will collect after a long and hard work. There is no doubt in my mind that this small miracle will contribute towards even a larger miracle to this hard working and prosperous nation.

I am so happy to share such a first-hand, wonderful story with you and am sure that you will be happy to see the future growth of this story to be even a bigger story. Thank you for your support during this endeavor.

Sincerely,

Kenneth N. Han




November 25, 2009

Dear Friends,

It has already been nearly three months since we arrived here late August in Seoul. I have been busy lately since I had to make an official trip to visit the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, China in October and give them two lectures, and have also given a plenary lecture at an international conference held on Nov 11-13 in Jeju Island, the largest and one of the most beautiful islands in Korea.

My routine has been to see a group of students every day at 9:00 a.m. to discuss how to write reports, articles, and theses, and also make public speeches, which is often referred to as the “technical communication.” As you know, a blind man is leading blind people; but I have become less blind after two months worth of study. In fact, it is fun to talk about mistakes I have made so many times in the past.

Fall was here shortly and gone, and it is chilly in the morning registering below freezing point. I remember well that Fall is my best season and I would like to run in the morning to see the beautiful colors and smell fine scent. In fact, I have been running in the morning nearly all of my adult life, nearly 365 days a year for the past 30-40 years. However, I have stopped doing it. I have been diagnosed to suffer from “spondylolisthesis” [encyclopedia – a condition in which a bone (vertebra) in the lower part of the spine slips forward and onto a bone below it]. There are many causes for this, two of which are most likely, one being an old age and another wrong habit of exercising like hitting golf balls without proper stretching. Is my golf-game over? Am I done with running? I hope not but the doctor told me that I better forget them for awhile. After taking five sessions of manual therapy, I feel much better. I have learned six different stretching exercise routines and have to repeat them everyday for the next 4-5 months. Poor me!

All in all, my decision to retire and come back to Korea for two years and to spend additional three months this Fall was a good one. However, like anything else in life, I didn’t know exactly what to expect out of this exercise. I am pleased to report to you that it has turned out to be a worthy cause and a fulfilling experience. Have Korean students become better off because of me? I doubt it very much but it is I who have benefited from it. It has made me feel good. I may have to come back again next year. In fact, I may have to go back to China as an “Honorary Professor” to teach a number of courses in the near future, which I look forward to very much. I may have to speak to you in Chinese English next time we see each other.

We will be taking off to Portland, OR the day after tomorrow and will keep in touch with you. With warmest regards and a Happy Thanksgiving! Ken and Helen