Kim, Sŏng-gon, 1949-

Kim Seong-Kon (Korean: 김성곤; born 9 August 1949 in South Korea), also known as Seong-Kon Kim, is a South Korean academic, literary critic, film critic, columnist, editor and writer. Currently, Kim is a professor emeritus at Seoul National University. Kim was the president of the LTI Korea (Literature Translation Institute of Korea) in the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea, which was an undersecretary-level post. On May 19, 2017, Kim received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the State University of New York [IMG_00] "in recognition of the profound impact Professor Kim has had as a cultural and literary bridge between Korea and the United States." In 2018, Kim taught at George Washington University as Dean's Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities and also at the University of Málaga in Spain as a visiting professor. In the same year, Kim was decorated by Felipe VI, King of Spain, with La Orden del Merito Civil (Cruz de Oficial). In 2019 [IMG_01], Kim taught at the University of California, Irvine, as a visiting professor. Currently, he is a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. Before he passed away in 2022, O-Young Lee, the legendary South Korean literary and cultural critic, said that he had always thought of Seong-Kon Kim as his intellectual and spiritual heir and successor.