By Joon Soh
Culture Editor



Chun Young-jin

When Korean American Chun Young-jin came to Seoul in 2003, he was hoping to learn about the culture of his parents and maybe make a little money teaching English.
What he didn’t expect, however, was to spend the next two years in the Korean Army. Unbeknownst to Chun, an American citizen with rudimentary knowledge of Korean, he also held Korean citizenship, which meant he was obliged to fulfill the mandatory military service required by all Korean men.

But the 26-year-old, who was born in Illinois and grew up in Washington, has taken what is perhaps every Korean-American man’s nightmare and looked for the positives wherever he could. And one of his recent efforts has left him 2.5 million won richer.

Chun, currently a sergeant at the headquarters of the 2nd Republic of Korea Army in Taegu, was selected as a winner of the Commendation Award, the runner-up prize, in this year’s Korean Literature Translation Awards for his translation of Cho Chang-in’s novel ``The Lighthouse Keeper.’’

Chun said he decided to enter the contest after coming across a copy of The Korea Times during a joint ROK-U.S. exercise in August. ``I guess one of the American soldiers left a copy of the newspaper behind,’’ he said in a phone interview from Taegu Monday. ``I saw the announcement for the award and … I thought I would just give it a try.

``I spent about a month (translating the story), spending five minutes here and an hour there,’’ he said. ``Of course, at the same time, I was required to do other responsibilities. But whenever I had free time, or whenever other people were sleeping or watching TV, I would be working on it.’’

Given the circumstances, Chun said he didn’t feel he had much of a chance at winning; He ended up typing out his translations while on leave, but due to time constraints, was only able to complete two-thirds of the novel.

He almost didn’t send in his submission, ``but I figured I spent so much time on it that I should turn in what I had and just take a chance.’’

Chun may be making the most of his military situation, but the choice to serve was not completely voluntary. In fact, it was a shock to Chun, a graduate of the University of Washington in art, when he first received his draft notice.

With the help of his mother back in Seattle, Chun looked for every possible way to get out of serving. They talked to lawyers, visited the U.S. Embassy and even sent a letter to President Roh Moo-hyun. Chun’s last resort _ an attempt to join the U.S. army as a substitute for the Korean one _ didn’t work and he found himself in boot camp.

``The hardest time I had (in the military) was during basic training, when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to see my family for two years,’’ Chun said. ``Because all the other soldiers if they go out for a leave or a pass, they could go home and be with their family or their parents could come and visit them. But there wasn’t any of that for me.’’

With only a few classes of elementary Korean in university under his belt, Chun said the language barrier was a big obstacle at first. ``I depended a lot on other people and I always had a notebook with me. If I didn’t understand something, I’d ask people to write it down for me and then I’d look it up later. When the drill instructor wasn’t looking, I’d be taking peeks at my notes.’’

Chun, who serves in administration and translation at the Taegu base, has about three months left of his service, and says he has pretty much adjusted to military life now. He can also see some positives from his experience, which includes spending six months in Afghanistan last year as part of a peace and reconstruction operation. After he returned, he received a special leave to the United States to visit his family.

``The Korean military had an effect on my life that I probably couldn’t have gotten from any other kind of experience. It’s one of those things where life is what it is and you just have to accept it.’’

Chun says he felt an affinity with ``The Lighthouse Keeper,’’ which he first picked up as part of his efforts to learn the language. The novel tells the story of a man who reluctantly takes care of his mother who has Alzheimer’s disease, but ends up realizing how much she loves him.

``I could relate to it in a way because my mother raised me (my parents are divorced) and she had to be both mom and dad,’’ he said. ``And a lot of times I expected her to be the caring mother and instead she was the tough father. But through that I could see just how much she cared for me.’’

Chun will be discharged from the military on Jan. 28. Afterwards he says he will take some time to travel and think, but then return to Korea to go to graduate school, something he would not have imagined doing before his army service.

``(I’ve learned) so many things I never knew about, things I don’t think I would’ve found out about if I hadn’t come,’’ he said. ``There’s also that part of Korean society where you don’t get recognition unless you’ve been through the army. At least I could say to them, `Well, I’ve done my two years.’’’

The Korean Literature Translation Award is organized by The Korea Times and Korea Exchange Bank. Along with Chun, two others will receive the Commendation Award in the fiction category. The Grand Prize and one Commendation Award will be given out in the poetry category. The awards ceremony will take place Nov. 9.

sohjoo@koreatimes.co.kr