The Emergence of a Pioneering Female Scientist in Korea: Biographical Research on Sam Soon Kim

Introduction

It was definitely not easy for Joseon women to receive modern higher education under Japanese occupation. Traditionally, family support was concentrated on male family members, alienating women from education. Modern educational facilities such as schools were focused on men, leaving women with little opportunity to receive education. Moreover, as the subjugated class under colonial rule, Joseon people were clearly discriminated against in terms of education compared to the dominant Japanese. Joseon women could only receive higher education after overcoming double discrimination, as women and as a subjugated people, due to the traditional view of education and colonial policy. Only a few Joseon women received higher education at the level of specialized schools, and very few continued on to university.

Those who graduated from imperial universities were considered the greatest elite of the time. Imperial universities were the best educational institutions and were difficult for Japanese people to gain admission to, even more so for Joseon people. Furthermore, imperial universities first selected graduates of government high schools for boys (“Old System High Schools”), and for any spots remaining, they accepted male graduates of government specialized schools (Ikuo, 2017). Thus, entering an imperial university was more difficult for Japanese women than for the subjugated Joseon men, and nearly impossible for Joseon women. Sam Soon Kim (1909–2001) was a woman who made the impossible possible.

Women who left significant legacies in the modern and contemporary history of Korea—such as Esther Kim Park, Korea’s first modern female medical doctor; Bok Shin Song, Korea’s first woman to receive a Ph.D.; Hwallan Kim, first president of Ewha Womans University; and Hwang Kyung Koh, founder of Seoul Women’s University—all attended universities in the United States instead of Japanese imperial universities to overcome the institutional limitations of Japanese imperialism (G. B. Kim, 2002).

By contrast, Sam Soon Kim was the first and only Joseon woman to graduate from the Faculty of Science at a Japanese imperial university and received a Ph.D. Kim overcame the limitations resulting from being a woman and of a subjugated class within Japanese imperialism, graduated from an imperial university, and became Korea’s first female doctor of agriculture after liberation. Despite the disadvantages of her status as a Joseon woman under Japanese occupation, she secured a position of strength through her accomplishments. In fact, she was the first female scientist in Korea to be selected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences after liberation. Kim’s case shows the tremendous educational discrimination faced by Joseon women during the colonial era, as well as the difficult process by which some overcame those limitations.

This article consists of biographical research regarding the life and work of Sam Soon Kim. Biographical research is primarily concerned with how an individual’s life unfolds throughout his/her interactions with their social environment, with his/her life objectively reconstructed verifying materials containing personal stories, such as autobiographies and interviews, against non-personal public materials and reinterpreting them in light of such verification (Kang, 2013). Biographical methods are widely used in research in the fields of history, sociology, education, ethnic studies, and gender studies. Merrill and West, in particular, highlighted the value of biographical methods in feminist research, pointing out that “Feminist biographical research often revealed not only issues of gender inequality and oppression but also their interaction with other forms of inequality, such as class and race” (2009, p. 30). It is precisely this revelatory value that this study aims to bring to light through a biographical analysis of Kim.

There has been little research on individual female scientists in Korea in general, and even less on Kim in particular. In the West, bibliographic research on women scientists is being actively carried out, with a focus on Nobel Prize winners. For example, Keller (1983) conducted biological research on women scientists with a new framework by analyzing biologist Barbara McClintock from the gender perspective in her book “A Feeling for the Organism.” In Japan, there are a number of biographical research papers on women such as Kato Seiichi, Kuroda Chika, and Yuasa Toshiko, who earned doctoral degrees in modern times and became scientists, overcoming conflicts with men (Maeda, 1995, 2004; Yamamoto, 2017; Yamazaki, 2001). In Korea, there are only two biographical research papers, on female physicians Esther Kim Park and Young Sook Heo. Although these papers admirably describe their personal development stories as female physicians, I hope to call more attention to the institutional gender gap in the Japanese occupation period in order to more fully represent the experience of women scientists in Joseon (Shin, 2012; Yoon, 2014).

This study is the first research paper to fully discuss the life of female scientist Sam Soon Kim. It aims to reconstruct her life based on memoirs, newspaper and magazine articles, and interviews. Her years at Hokkaido Imperial University (HIU) were described based on her memoir “Memories of the 12th,” first introduced in this article. Kim’s memories were verified against known facts from newspaper articles reflecting the social conditions of that time, with HIU year-books and academic records such as those relating to HIU admissions used as statistical data. Her academic path from Gyeongseong Girls’ Higher Common School (GGHCS) to Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School (TWHNS) and HIU was traced in detail by delving into various materials related to the educational system and school conditions during this period. In particular, the brochures of these schools, including the annual TWHNS catalog which contains a vast amount of relevant information such as education law, school regulations, department organization, the student directory, and various statistics, were helpful to achieve a better understanding of the educational system that Kim went through. They also served, above all, as important historical records uncovering the institutional gender gap. Furthermore, this research relied on secondary literature and dissertations in an effort to interpret Japanese society at the time as objectively as possible.

Women in a Subjugated Nation: Double Discrimination

Overcoming the Male-centered Educational Tradition: Entering GGHCS

Most Joseon women under Japanese occupation could not receive a modern education. Although it was extremely difficult to educate children in the poor common households of Joseon, some parents tried to educate at least one or more of their children, giving preference to sons. Daughters were considered last or were excluded altogether. There were limited opportunities institutionally because the number of educational institutions that accepted women, such as common schools and higher common schools, was much smaller compared to institutions for men. Thus, for Joseon women to receive a modern education, they needed not only their own capabilities but also a powerful backer to support their studies.

Kim was born in the rural area of Changpyeong-myeon, Damyang-gun, Jeollanam-do in 1909. Her father, Jae Hee Kim, served as Mayor of Changpyeong-myeon and was an influential leader of the community. Born as the fourth child out of seven, Kim had one older brother, two older sisters, two younger brothers, and one younger sister; however, her older sisters both died young, which made her the oldest daughter in the family (S. S. Kim, 1989). Kim’s brothers, Hong Yong, Mun Yong, and Seong Yong, all served as members of the National Assembly in Damyang after liberation, and her younger sister Sa Soon is the mother of Hoi Chang Lee, a famous lawyer and politician in Korea. Kim grew up without financial difficulties in a prestigious family.

Despite her hometown’s small size and rural setting, it featured a school providing modern education earlier than many other cities. Jeong Ju Ko, as jikgak (person in charge) of Gyujanggak in the Joseon Dynasty, established Changheunguisuk as a place to pursue new learning in his hometown of Changpyeong in 1906. Students received a modern education and learned foreign languages at the schools, later studied in Japan, and became preeminent figures. In 1919, Changheunguisuk was renamed as a four-year school called Changpyeong Public Common School after the annexation of Korea by Japan and permitted the admission of girls, beginning with the acceptance of three female students. One of these first female students was Sam Soon Kim, who entered this school with her older sister at the age of 10. According to Kim, her father contributed greatly to the establishment of the female department of the common school (T. K. Park, 1993).

Having graduated from common school, Kim wished to continue at a girls’ higher common school in Gyeongseong (current Seoul). However, she was forced to stay in Changpyeong for a while because of the objections of her grandmother, who was negative about women’s education, and her father who refused to send a girl to another region alone. However, when her older brother Hong Yong (1902–1950) returned in 1924 from Waseda University in Japan, Kim had the opportunity to go to Gyeongseong (Dong-A, 1936). With a profound understanding of modern studies based on his graduation from Gyeongseong Higher Common School and a university in Japan, Hong Yong convinced his family to send Kim to school in Gyeongseong. Kim recalled, “After I graduated the fourth year, my elder brother who was studying in Japan at the time convinced our grandmother to let me enter GGHCS in Gyeongseong at the age of 16” (T. K. Park, 1993, p. 80).

Kim first had to take a qualification exam to enter a girls’ higher common school because she had graduated from a four-year common school and was not qualified for admission. In 1922, the Japanese Government General of Korea announced the 2nd Joseon Education Decree, which changed common schools from a four-year to a six-year system and established that only graduates of six-year common schools could enter girls’ higher common schools. Because Changpyeong Common School only changed to the six-year system after she graduated, Kim had to take a qualification exam in 1924. After successfully passing the entrance examination, she entered GGHCS (Kyunggi Alumnae Association, 2009).

In 1924, GGHCS and Pyeongyang Girls’ Higher Common School were the two best public secondary schools for Joseon girls. Including private schools such as Sookmyung, Jinmyeong, Ewha, Holston, and Jeongeui Girls’ Higher Common School, there were seven secondary schools for girls authorized by the Japanese Government General of Korea before 1924 (W. S. Kim, 2005). By comparison, there were 24 higher common schools for boys, and 19 higher schools for girls and over 90% of the pupils accepted by the latter were Japanese. The number of new students in 1924 was approximately 1,750 in girls’ higher common schools, 10,000 in higher common schools for boys, and 5,300 in higher schools for girls. The number of new students from 1912 to 1924 was approximately 8,070 in girls’ higher common schools, 44,370 higher common schools for boys, and 28,650 in higher schools for girls (C. H. Park, 2006). Considering these figures, Joseon women had remarkably fewer opportunities to receive secondary education than Joseon men or Japanese women until the mid-1920s.

After she entered, Kim focused on her studies and maintained excellent grades. One third of the students who graduated from this school chose marriage, and the rest chose to get a job or continue to advanced schools. However, the problem with continuing to advanced schools was that, unlike higher common schools with a five-year system or girls’ higher schools with a four- or five-year system, girls’ higher common schools had a four-year system. Studies of the 2nd Joseon Education Decree under Japanese occupation have stated that the decree made the Joseon school system the same as the system in mainland Japan, thereby providing opportunities for Joseon people to continue to advanced schools. However, most of these studies have overlooked the fact that Joseon women were excluded from these benefits: even though the course in girls’ higher common schools increased from three to four years, it was still one year shorter than the system in Japan. In other words, even after the 2nd Joseon Education Decree, institutional discrimination kept Joseon women from attending advanced schools that were attended by Joseon men and Japanese women.

Thus, excluding women who married after graduation, graduates of GGHCS pursued one of three paths: in Joseon, most joined the female training department at Gyeongseong Normal School for female elementary school teachers; others attended the Christian Ewha Specialized School for Girls, which obtained formal approval in 1925; and a select few students with outstanding grades went to Japan to study. At the time, the prospects for higher school admissions differed for graduates of girls’ higher common schools in Joseon depending on the school’s level and direction of education.

Table 1

Paths of Graduates of Major Girls’ Higher Common Schools in Gyeongseong-bu in 1928

Of the graduates of the girls’ higher common schools in Gyeongseong where Kim graduated in 1928, 54% went to higher schools in Korea and Japan. This indicates that many students still had a strong will to study even after graduation. Numerically, the number of students who went on to higher schools from GGHCS was larger than other schools, but Jinmyeong Girls’ Higher Common School (JGHCS) was higher in terms of entrance rate to a higher school, and Sookmyung Girls’ Higher Common School (SGHCS) had more students studying in Japan.

However, these numbers do not reflect which higher schools the graduates attended. In particular, in 1928, for women’s higher normal schools in Japan, one graduate of Sookmyung entered Nara Women’s Higher Normal School; from GGHCS, one graduate entered Nara Women’s Higher Normal School and one graduate entered TWHNS (Nara Women’s Higher Normal School, 1928; TWHNS, 1928). Considering that 12 Joseon women entered TWHNS between 1921 and 1929 from GGHCS, two entered from SGHCS, and one entered from JGHCS, two facts emerge: (1) the highest schools in Japan, including women’s higher normal schools, had many students from GGHCS, and (2) assuming that between one and three Joseon women entered one of these two women’s higher normal schools in Japan each year, those continuing to women’s higher normal schools accounted for less than 1% of all graduates of girls’ higher common schools.

The Challenge Faced by a Woman in Colonized Joseon: Beginning as an Auditing Student at TWHNS

It was not easy for Joseon women under Japanese occupation to pursue higher education in Japan. First, higher educational institutions in Japan had extremely limited capacity for Joseon people and required them to take a separate exam according to their school system; thus, students needed excellent academic abilities. Moreover, since the age at which they graduated secondary school was generally 17–18 years, which was considered a marriageable age, the conflict between their will to study and social perceptions about marriage had to be resolved within their family to study overseas. Finally, they needed financial support for their studies in Japan, which usually required their family to be very wealthy. For Joseon women, all of these requirements needed to be fulfilled to study in Japan.

In 1928, Kim continued to TWHNS in Japan. Critical in empowering her to make this decision was Jeong Kyu Son (1886–1955), her teacher from GGHCS. Son graduated from GGHCS and TWHNS, after which she became a teacher at GGHCS in 1922. Influenced by Son—a woman Joseon teacher at her country’s top public girls’ school—Kim decided to study in Japan as well. Kim later recalled, “I was highly influenced by Son who had also studied in Japan during the years at GGHCS” (T. K. Park, 1993, p. 80).

Kim was 20 years old when she entered TWHNS, which was a marriageable age (Dong-A, 1935). However, TWHNS did not allow married students. In fact, according to historical records, one of the reasons Japanese students faced opposition in attending TWHNS was because it “delays marriage,” and some students even “got married secretly and ended up being expelled.” In particular, students were strictly prohibited from meeting men, and an internal guideline suggested “not to walk side by side with a man aged 50 or younger” (Ochanomizu University, 1984). It was rather ironic, therefore, that studying at Tokyo WHNS allowed Kim to break free from the traditional system of early marriage favored by Korean society.

TWHNS comprised full-time regular students, who were officially selected from the graduates of full-time girls’ higher schools in Japan, and a few elective-course students, who did not meet the official selection requirements but were qualified by a teacher once they had completed some regular courses. Auditing students could take courses for four years by choosing a department with regular courses, but they were foreigners who merely received a certificate instead of a diploma after completion of their studies. TWHNS classified those who graduated from schools in Japan’s colonies such as Joseon and Taiwan as foreigners and only permitted their admission as auditing students according to the special regulations on foreigners (TWHNS, 1928). In other words, TWHNS did not acknowledge students from subjugated nations as official members of the school. Furthermore, there was discrimination even among auditing students. Foreigners from non-colonies could obtain admittance with just a recommendation letter from the president of an imperial university or the principal, but people from Joseon and Taiwan needed a recommendation letter from the Japanese government general of their nation within the jurisdiction and had to pass the examination like full-time regular students.

When Kim entered TWHNS, the school had regular departments such as liberal arts, natural sciences, and home economics. Kim chose natural sciences as an auditing student. According to the admission statistics from Joseon in the “Applicants for admission and permanent address and academic background of enrollers” in The Catalog of Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School (1928) at the time, of the applicants from girls’ higher common schools or schools with insufficient terms of study, one student applied for liberal arts as an auditing student, two applied for natural sciences, and two applied for home economics. Three students were ultimately admitted, one in each department. As for Chinese applicants, four students applied for liberal arts as auditing students, three for natural sciences, and three for home economics; one student was admitted in liberal arts, one in natural sciences, and two in home economics. Considering that approximately one Joseon and one Chinese student were selected in each department, there appears to have been a quota system for auditing students.

Kim chose natural sciences because she thought the age of science was approaching as she observed the advances of modern civilization such as electricity and streetcars, when she attended school in Gyeongseong (T. K. Park, 1993). At TWHNS, Kim had the opportunity to study under the best female scientists in Japan at the time. Kono Yasui (1880–1971), who was the first Japanese woman to receive a doctoral degree in science in 1927, and Chika Kuroda (1884–1968), who was the first Japanese woman to enter the regular department of an imperial university, taught Kim at TWHNS. Both women were professors in natural sciences—Kim learned cytology from Yasui and organic chemistry from Kuroda—and both deeply impressed Kim, not just as teachers but also as female scientists.

Kim took a year off because of poor health and graduated from TWHNS in 1933 after five years (TWHNS, 1928–1933). However, she graduated not as an auditing student but instead as an elective course student, thanks to the “Auditing student transfer regulations,” which allowed some auditing students who received excellent grades to transfer as elective course students or regular students in their third or fourth year (TWHNS, 1929, p. 80). According to these regulations, some auditing students from Joseon could graduate as full-time regular or elective course students. Despite the theoretical provision in the regulations, when Kim changed to elective course status in her fourth year in 1932, there were no prior cases of transfer as a full-time regular student. Around three auditing students succeeded in transferring every year on average, with slight differences depending on grades. Of the seven students who entered as auditing students along with Kim, only two, including Kim, transferred as elective course students, and both were from Joseon. After that, most students who succeeded in transferring as elective course students were from Joseon, while only about five Chinese students in total transferred. This indicates that Joseon students had a high level of academic ability.

Table 2

Joseon Students in Natural Sciences at TWHNS

When she graduated in 1933, Kim began her teaching career back in Joseon. This was based on the Code of Conduct for Higher Normal School Graduates, which required graduates to serve as teachers at locations designated by the Ministry of Education. The period of service was determined by the size of the scholarship received while attending the higher normal schools. At the time of Kim’s graduation, the rule was that “Students whose school expenses were covered by the government must provide service for 1.5 times the term of study, and students whose school expenses were not covered by the government must provide service for half the term of study” (TWHNS, 1932, pp. 37–39). The state scholarship at TWHNS was given only to full-time regular students; thus, Joseon students were excluded because none of them were regular students. This meant that the mandatory period of service for most Japanese full-time regular graduates was six years, whereas it was generally two years for Joseon graduates. Kim’s mandatory period of service was two years because she entered as an auditing student and paid for her tuition without scholarship assistance. Thus, Kim returned to Joseon after graduation and served as a teacher at a private school, JGHCS, for two years, after which she transferred to GGHCS upon her alma mater’s request, where she taught until 1935.

Kim taught natural science subjects, including chemistry and mathematics, at GGHCS and was the school’s first female teacher in natural sciences. During Kim’s time there, her teacher Son was still teaching home economics, and the two of them shared a special bond. Despite being admired as a young and promising female teacher from TWHNS, Kim abruptly quit the teaching profession at GGHCS at the end of 1938 to attend university. Having progressed from common school to GGHCS to TWHNS, she was already a member of the female elite in Joseon, but she decided to seek a new challenge instead of settling for what had achieved.

Crossing the Barrier of Institutional Gender Discrimination: Entering an Imperial University

In 1913, the first women entered an imperial university in Japan. They were Chika Kuroda and Ume Tange, natural science chemistry majors at Tohoku Imperial University, and Raku Makita, a mathematics major also at Tohoku. Kuroda and Tange lived as scholars without marrying their entire lives, but Makita, who worked as a professor at TWHNS as well as a female mathematician, married and saw her career interrupted (Shiga, 2013). However, imperial universities did not select women as regular students for at least another 10 years because of their internal rules and only began to permit female admission in the 1930s. Even so, very few women actually attended universities—fewer than five women a year—and none of them were Joseon women.

When Kim quit teaching in Joseon and decided to return to Japan to attend university, she faced strenuous opposition from her family, mostly because she was 30 years old at the time and had already missed the chance to get married (S. S. Kim, 1990). To overcome her family’s objections, Kim sought help from Tai Kyu Ree, Japan’s first Joseon doctor in the natural sciences. Lee, who was an assistant professor at Kyoto Imperial University and was recognized as one of Joseon’s greatest scholars, was also the brother of Kim’s sister’s husband. He had arrived in Joseon on December 6, 1938, for a brief visit (Dong-A, 1938), which seems to be the time when Kim met him, judging by the fact that she quit teaching at GGHCS around this time. Thanks to Lee’s support, Kim was able to study in Japan once again. Kim recalled, “At the time, Dr. Ree, my younger sister Sa Soon’s husband’s brother, was in Joseon for a visit. I asked him to convince my mother. He asked my mother to send me to Japan, promising her that he would make me get married once I become a doctor, and finally helped me get permission” (T. K. Park, 1993, p. 81).

Why did Kim so abruptly decide to attend university? At the time, Kim was merely a graduate of TWHNS as an elective course student. Thus, it was in principle impossible for her to attend university. To continue her studies, she would have to become a research student at TWHNS, which was possible for full-time regular students, who could proceed directly to the research department for one to two years of service. However, elective course students could only enter the research department after completing the mandatory service of teaching, obtaining a secondary school teacher’s license, gaining recognition for their education level equal to full-time regular students, and then passing an exam (TWHNS, 1930).

Beginning in 1939, as a result of Japan’s involvement in the war, Japanese imperial universities had to alter their admissions process to fill vacant seats. Kim recognized this opportunity and returned to Japan in 1939 to begin the admissions process. First, she joined Kuroda’s research department at TWHNS in 1939 to prepare. While Kim was in the research department, she applied for admission to the chemistry department of Hiroshima University of Literature and Science, but she did not pass the entrance exam and was denied admission.

After her admission fell through, Kim did not return to Joseon but remained in Japan. In 1940, with Kuroda’s introduction, she became an assistant at the physiochemistry lab at Kyushu Imperial University in charge of assisting research in the lab and completing office work. She then obtained a position as a research assistant at Kyushu Imperial University to gain more experience.

After encountering so many obstacles, an unexpected change in circumstances provided her with an important opportunity. Numerous vacancies had suddenly opened up in the Faculty of Science at Hokkaido Imperial University (HIU). Therefore, the university decided to carry out extensive lateral entry admissions. In principle, HIU’s first choice of students were graduates of old system high schools like other imperial universities in Japan, but HIU was not a university preferred by graduates of such schools. Although there were differences by department, Tokyo Imperial University and Kyoto Imperial University were so popular that they could fill their openings every year with old system high school graduates alone, thereby excluding inadequate candidates through exams. By contrast, Tohoku Imperial University, Kyushu Imperial University, and HIU could not fill their openings with just old system high school graduates. These universities mostly recruited students twice, accepting old system high school graduates in the first round without an exam, and then filling remaining vacancies through an exam in the order of qualified candidates (Yamamoto, 2006).

According to the regulations of the Faculty of Science at HIU in 1930, the first choice of candidates for admission was “those who completed the preparatory course of HIU and graduated from high schools.” The preparatory course was a three-year program that trained secondary school graduates by dividing them into liberal arts and natural sciences and giving them first-priority qualification to immediately enter the relevant university after graduation. The second choice was “regular course graduates of the higher normal schools and women’s higher normal schools” and thus elective course students were not eligible. The third choice was “specialized school graduates who passed the exam and holders of a secondary schools teacher’s license who passed the relevant department’s evaluation and exam.” Kim was the “holder of a secondary school teacher’s license,” which made her the third choice (Yamamoto, 2006). However, until 1937, the openings at the Faculty of Science at HIU had been filled by first- and second-choice candidates in the first round of selection.

This vacancy issue in the first round of selection by the Faculty of Science at HIU became even more serious in 1938, mainly because of the war. To replace students mobilized for war, imperial universities accepted more students, and Tokyo Imperial University and Kyoto Imperial University also began to accept more students through lateral entry admission. With this series of events, the number of applications from graduates of old system high schools rapidly decreased at HIU, forcing the university to fill the vacancies with more lateral entry admissions. In fact, there were 33 high school graduates in the Faculty of Science in 1931 and 18 in 1938, but the number decreased to six in 1939 and four in 1940 (Yamamoto, 2006). This forced the Faculty of Science to turn to third-choice candidates in 1939. As a result, Kim was able to take the entrance exam as a holder of a secondary school teacher’s license, which she obtained after completing the mandatory two-year service at JGHCS after graduating TWHNS. In 1941, at the age of 32, Kim finally entered the Department of Botany in the Faculty of Science at HIU, not as an elective course student but a full-time regular student.

Upon entering the department, Kim went to the Plant Physiology Lab with Tetsu Sakamura (1888–1980) as her adviser. While Kim was there, there were two other Joseon students in the Faculty of Science: Young Sun Kang (1917–1999) in the Department of Zoology, and Min Jae Lee (1917–1991), also in the Department of Botany. Moreover, Masako Imai was in the Department of Mathematics and Tami Inoue was in the Department of Geology and Mineralogy, both of whom were her juniors from TWHNS. Although her relationship with them cannot be precisely determined, Kim was very close to Fuji Yoshimura (1905–1996), the assistant at the Department of Botany at the time (Yamamoto, 2011). Yoshimura was advised by Sakamura like Kim, and she published many articles while working as a research assistant at the Plant Physiology Lab after graduation. She became an assistant in the Department of Botany in 1941, when she began to prepare her doctoral dissertation. This was when Kim met Yoshimura.

Kim conducted research on E. Coli with Sakamura’s guidance in the lab and published “A study on absorption of nitrite and a study on absorption of acetic acid and pigment by E. Coli” (S. S. Kim, 1989, p. 4). Yoshimura served as a mentor for her research and not only supported Kim academically but also shared a close personal bond with her. Kim developed a religious faith in college, and she attended Catholic church services with Yoshimura. They shared a special bond as alumni of TWHNS of about the same age and as female scientists on the same path. Kim was naturally influenced by Yoshimura who was preparing for her doctoral dissertation. In “Memories of the 12th,” the only source on Kim’s years at HIU, she wrote about her friendship with Yoshimura: “Yoshimura was such a special senior to me that we were inseparable in my years at the Faculty of Science. I fulfill my responsibility by writing about the memories with Yoshimura whom I love and respect as a teacher, woman, and friend” (S. S. Kim, 1980, p. 337).

In September 1943, Kim became the first Joseon woman to graduate from the Faculty of Science at a Japanese imperial university. She graduated in just two-and-a-half years because of the shortened semester system implemented during the war, after which she immediately continued to graduate school at HIU. Kim entered the Faculty of Agriculture instead of the Faculty of Science because she had become interested in molds while writing her thesis and was deeply impressed by the applied mycology lectures of Professor Jun Hanzawa of the Faculty of Agriculture. Hanzawa was considered a pioneer of mycology studies in Japan and had a reputation as an authority on applied mycology at the time. Kim began research for her doctorate as a graduate student in the Department of Biotechnology and Agrochemistry in the Faculty of Agriculture. At the end of 1944, Kim returned briefly to Joseon on a break. She was about to return to school in time for the new semester but decided to stay longer when the war got worse. It turned out to be the very year Joseon became independent, so Kim had no choice but to stay in Joseon, unable to earn her doctorate in Japan (S. S. Kim, 1989).

Marriage, War, and Woman: Becoming the First Female Doctor of Agriculture

Having returned to Korea after liberation, Kim first went to her hometown Damyang. While she was there, she gave in to her parents’ pressure to get married. Her husband was Se Hyung Kang (1899–1960), who had graduated from Waseda University and majored in philosophy in Germany. He is remembered as a politician who served in the 3rd National Assembly in 1953. The rumor that Kim was single and never married is false. “All I have done was study, and I have never worked in the kitchen. I just read books next to my grandmother, and I just got married because my mother pleaded with me,” Kim recalled. She never had a child with Kang, and it seems that they never even lived together (S. G. Kim, 1990). While she was in her hometown, she was contacted by Son, who had become principal of Gyeongseong Women’s Normal School, and she went to Seoul and started a new post in the faculty of Gyeongseong Women’s Normal School. The school was then amalgamated with Gyeongseong Normal School according to the Establishment Plan of Seoul National University and integrated and reformed into the College of Education at Seoul National University, where she became a professor in 1946.

However, even as a professor, she constantly searched for ways to study in Japan to earn her doctorate. Then suddenly, studying in Japan was permitted once again, and those like Kim who had not been able to finish their studies were allowed to return to Japan. Accordingly, Kim resigned her professorship at Seoul National University in September 1948 and was interviewed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, the Korean War broke out in 1950 as she was waiting for the results of the interview, and once again her plan fell to pieces.

The Korean War left her with indelible scars. Her older brother Hong Yong Kim, to whom she had been closest among all of her siblings and who enthusiastically supported her studies and helped her financially and mentally, was killed by the North Korean army. Shocked by this incident, she became so ill that she could not even think about studying overseas. Even so, Kim did not give up on her studies. When the regime changed in 1960, her previously issued visa became invalid, making it difficult for her to go to Japan. Kim sought ways to receive a visa preferentially so that she could pursue her studies overseas. She got a job as an editorial officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, worked for three months, and received a visa with the minister’s help. The convent she had known from her time going to Catholic church during her years at the imperial university invited her as a teacher at Fuji Girls’ High School (S. S. Kim, 1989) because there was no professor at HIU to invite her at the time. Thus, she submitted an invitation from the convent in Hokkaido and was finally able to return to Japan.

In October 1961, Kim returned to her alma mater after 25 years, which had become Hokkaido University. Since she had been invited by the convent, she worked as a teacher at Fuji Girls’ High School and joined the Applied Mycology Lab in the Faculty of Agriculture not as a graduate student but as a research student. Since a long time had passed since the system changed, she had to retake the exam to return to graduate school. Because her goal was to earn a doctorate, she did not necessarily have to become a graduate student. At that time, she was interested in photobiology, especially microorganism biopolymers. However, Kim could not earn a doctorate degree at Hokkaido University because there was no professor to help with her research topic. Thus, in 1963, she transferred to the Faculty of Agriculture at Kyushu University, which she had briefly attended previously, and became a research student again in Professor Keiichi Tomita’s biophysics lab (S. S. Kim, 1989).

Kim decided to conduct research on the topic of taka-amylase A, which she had been interested in since her studies at Hokkaido University. Fully committed to research at Kyushu University, Kim also published articles such as “Photoinactivation of taka-amylase A” in 1965 and “Photochemical sensitization inactivation response of taka-amylase A by riboflavin” and “Inactivation response of taka-amylase by ultraviolet rays” in 1966 in Japanese scientific journals (S. S. Kim, 1965, 1966). Then, she earned global recognition for publishing “Substrate effect on heat inactivation of taka-amylase A” and “Inhibition of photo-inactivation of taka-amylase A by halogen ions” with Tomita in Nature (Tomita & Kim, 1965a, 1965b). Kim combined these articles and submitted her doctoral dissertation with the title of “Photoinactivation of Taka-amylase A” in 1966; she earned a doctorate as the first female doctor of agriculture in Korea in July 1966 at the age of 57 (Kyunghyang, 1966).

As soon as Kim returned to Korea after earning her doctorate, she started her new post as a professor at Konkuk University. She focused more on lectures than research while she was there. In fact, in an interview she gave in Korea after earning her doctorate, Kim claimed that she might go to the U.S. to continue her studies rather than staying in Korea, where research was difficult due to a lack of proper equipment for experiments (Dong-A, 1966). Then, Hwang Kyung Koh, her senior from GGHCS and a dean at Seoul Women’s University, approached Kim and suggested she transfer to her school for female education. In 1968, Kim transferred to the Food and Nutrition Department at Seoul Women’s University, inspired by Koh’s vision of female education and her own desire to participate in establishing the school (S. S. Kim, 1989).

Kim initiated research on mycology, which is a branch of biology focused on all types of fungi such as molds and mushrooms, after she transferred to Seoul Women’s University. Kim had been interested in mycology since HIU, although it was quite different from her doctoral dissertation topic. While her doctoral dissertation was basic research that investigated the components created from microorganisms, Kim’s mycology research was applied research that investigated and classified the components of mushrooms and processed them for practical use.

Kim began studying mycology because she understood the domestic situation well. The research environment in Korean universities in the 1960s did not have proper research facilities, unlike Japan. Moreover, to obtain the necessary financial backing, applied research was much more likely to attract government backing than basic research (G. B. Kim, 2008; Moon, 2012). Thus, Kim tried to expand research opportunities by implementing mycology in ways appropriate for domestic Korean circumstances instead of conducting world-class research as she had done in Japan. To institutionalize mycology, she founded the Korean Society of Mycology in 1972 and carried out national research projects, while also publishing many research papers in cooperation with more junior researchers and colleagues (S. S. Kim, 1975, 1992; H. S. Kim, 2008). Then, in 1990, at the age of 80, she published Mushrooms of Korea (Kim & Lee, 1990), which is considered a major achievement in the world of Korean mycology. This book, the result of 10 years of work, describes the shapes, distribution, and ecology of 325 species of mushrooms that grow in Korea (Yang, 1990). As such, Kim pursued her studies in the new area of mycology despite her age.

Conclusion

Kim’s journey toward becoming a doctor included a series of discriminatory hurdles. When Kim tried to enter GGHCS, she faced difficulties such as her family’s opposition as well as changes in the school system resulting from the 2nd Joseon Education Decree. When she entered TWHNS, she faced discrimination because she was not a Japanese woman as were other auditing students. To enter an imperial university, Kim had to overcome many hurdles such as her family’s strenuous opposition, her status as an elective course graduate, and the university entrance exam. To receive higher education, she continued from GGHCS to TWHNS and then to HIU. Each time, she had to overcome increasingly fierce discrimination owing both to her being a woman and to her being a subjugated Korean. She was able to overcome these impediments and become a Japanese colonial female scientist on account of her strong academic ability, her family’s economic status, her strong supporters, and her ability to cope sensitively with the changing times. She became Korea’s first doctor of agriculture at nearly 60 years of age and maintained her passion for science for over 30 years after earning her doctorate (W. C. Kim, 2000).

References

• Dong-A Ilbo. (1928, February 5). Where did graduates of girls’ schools in this city this year go? p. 3. (In Korean)
• Dong-A Ilbo. (1935, September 10). About marriageable age: Still bound to the years of early marriage. p. 1. (In Korean)
• Dong-A Ilbo. (1936, May 23). Young man’s guide, Hong-yong Kim in Changpyeong. p. 4. (In Korean)
• Dong-A Ilbo. (1938, December 6). Ph.D. Tai Kyu Ree conducts studies in Western countries. p. 2. (In Korean)
• Dong-A Ilbo. (1966, June 2). 57-year-old female botanist who earned a doctorate in agriculture. p. 5. (In Korean)
• Ikuo, A. (2017). Imperial University. Seoul: Sanbooks. (In Korean)
• Kang, M. S. (2013). Biographical method consideration in the research field of educational studies. The Journal of Educational Research, 11(1), 81–104. (In Korean)
• Keller, E. F. (1983). Feeling for the Organism. New York, NY: Freeman.
• Kim, G. B. (2002). Early female scientific technicians in Korea. Korea Science and Engineering Foundation Newsletter. (In Korean)
• Kim, G. B. (2008). An anatomical chart of establishing the scientific and technological state. Critical Review of History, 85, 236–261. (In Korean)
• Kim, H. S. (2008). Formation of the space for mushroom research (Master’s thesis, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea). (In Korean)
• Kim, S. G. (1990, February 19). Ph.D. Sam Soon Kim publishes Mushrooms of Korea at the age of eighty: “Exploration of mushrooms began from girlhood.” Kyunghyang Shinmun. p. 4. (In Korean)
• Kim, S. S. (1965). Photoinactivation of taka-amylase A. Nippon Nōgeikagaku Kaishi, 39(1), 10–17. (In Japanese) [https://doi.org/10.1271/nogeikagaku1924.39.10]
• Kim, S. S. (1966). Riboflavin-sensitixed photoinactivation of taka-amylase A. Nippon Nōgeikagaku Kaishi, 40(2), 73–79. (In Japanese) [https://doi.org/10.1271/nogeikagaku1924.40.73]
• Kim, S. S. (1975). Society and I: Korean Society of Mycology. Science and Technology, 8(11), 51. (In Korean)
• Kim, S. S. (1980). Memories of the 12th. In The 50-Year History of Hokkaido University Faculty of Science (p. 337), Hokkaido: Hokkaido University Faculty of Science. (In Japanese)
• Kim, S. S. (1989). Memoirs of Ph.D. Sam Soon Kim. Korean Journal of Mycology, 1(2), 3–6. (In Korean)
• Kim, S. S. (1990, August 25). My youth. Maeil Business Newspaper, p. 9. (In Korean)
• Kim, S. S. (1992). Retrospection of 20 years of the Korean Society of Mycology’s Foundation. Korean Society of Mycology News, 4(2), 1–2. (In Korean)
• Kim, S. S., & Lee, J. Y. (1990). Mushrooms of Korea. Seoul: Yupong Publishing Co. (In Korean)
• Kim, W. C. (2000). Seeking veterans: Korea’s first female doctor of agriculture Sam Soon Kim. Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation, 570. (In Korean)
• Kim, W. S. (2005). A study on girls’ higher common schools in the 1920s. Sanongsalon, 11, 1–78. (In Korean)
• Kyunggi Alumnae Association. (2009). The 100-Year History of Kyunggi Girls’ High School. Seoul: Kyunggi Alumnae Association. (In Korean)
• Kyunghyang Shinmun. (1966, June 1). Korea’s first female doctor of agriculture. p. 7. (In Korean)
• Maeda, K. (1995). Chika Kuroda – research on the constitution of natural coloring matters and her life as a pioneering woman chemist. The Journal of the Japanese Society for the History of Chemistry, 22(3), 226–238. (In Japanese)
• Maeda, K. (2004). The work and life of Dr. Kato Sechi. Journal of Gender Studies, 7, 87–110. (In Japanese)
• Merrill, B., & West, L. (20090. Using biographical methods in social research. London: Sage.
• Moon, M. Y. (2012). A discourse analysis on science and technology during the Park Chung Hee era. Journal of the Korean History of Science Society, 34(1), 75–108. (In Korean)
• Nara Women’s Higher Normal School. (1928). Nara Women’s Higher Normal School: Temporary teacher training school catalog. Nara: Nara Women’s Higher Normal School. (In Japanese)
• Ochanomizu University. (1984). Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School Age. In Ochanomizu University 100 Year History (pp. 122–268), Tokyo: Ochanomizu University. (In Japanese)
• Park, C. H. (2006). The discriminative characteristics that appeared in the distribution of the learning opportunities and in the course after the graduation from “Women’s Godeung Botong School.” Korean Journal of History of Education, 28(2), 27–73. (In Korean)
• Park, T. K. (1993). Interview with veterans: Korea’s first female doctor of agriculture Sam Soon Kim. Science and Technology 26(5), 70–72. (In Korean)
• Shiga, Y. (2013). Kuroda Chika and Makida Raku: Birth of Japan’s first female university student of Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School. Tohoku Imperial University. Tohoku University Archives Newsletter 19, 4–5. (In Japanese)
• Shin, D. W. (2012). Life and works of Heo Yeng-suk, the first female medical practitioner in modern Korea, Korean Journal of Medical History, 21(1), 25–65. (In Korean)
• TWHNS. (1911–1938). Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School: Sixth temporary teacher training school catalog. Tokyo: TWHNS. (In Japanese)
• Tomita, G., & Kim, S. S. (1965a). Substrate effect on heat inactivation of Taka-amylase A. Nature, 205, 46–48. (In Japanese) [https://doi.org/10.1038/205046a0]
• Tomita, G., & Kim, S. S. (1965b). Inhibition of photo-inactivation of Taka-amylase A by halogen ions. Nature 207, 975–976. (In Japanese) [https://doi.org/10.1038/207975a0]
• Yamamoto, M. (2006). The entrance of women to Hokkaido Imperial University’s Department of Science. Annual Report of Hokkaido University Archives 1, 18–57. (In Japanese)
• Yamamoto, M. (2011). The alumnae of Tokyo Woman’s Higher Normal School in Hokkaido Imperial University. Annual Report of Hokkaido University Archives 6, 53–73. (In Japanese)
• Yamamoto, M. (2017). “Science is beautiful clothes”: Inspirational messages from Sechi KATO, a pioneer woman in the study of physical chemistry. Annual Report of Hokkaido University Archives, 12, 53–67. (In Japanese)
• Yamazaki, M. (2001). Yuasa Toshiko: Science and her life. Journal of Gender Studies, 21, 95–122. (In Japanese)
• Yang, Y. C. (1990, February 20). Interview with Ph.D. Sam Soon Kim who published Mushrooms of Korea: 325 species with 10 years of work. Dong-A Ilbo, p. 18. (In Korean)
• Yoon, S. J. (2014). Female’s professional career and studying abroad at the end of the Joseon Dynasty, based on Esther Pak’s story. Women and History, 20, 139–177. (In Korean) [https://doi.org/10.22511/women..20.201406.139]