In memory of Kyujin Jung (by Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki) May 2020 I first met Kyujin at the 2013 DISC conference. In addition to being impressed with his energy and enthusiasm, I will always remember his kindness to my son, who I brought along with me to DISC. Over the years, almost every time I came to Korea – for DISC or other conferences and meetings – I would get together at least for coffee with Kyujin, and we had the most amazing conversations.
In addition to having a great personality, Kyujin was an inspirational scholar and educator. Kyujin’s research interests were outgrowths of his deep concern about the interplay between society and risk/disaster management. I remember the passion with which he spoke about the Sewol ferry disaster (2014), which later became one of his major research trajectories. As an educator, Kyujin was articulate, patient, and motivating. I was amazed at how one of his half-day workshops after a recent DISC was so well planned and organized, and I can imagine how he was able to inspire his students. When I invited Kyujin to Japan in the summer of 2017 as a guest speaker/panelist for our research project’s one-day seminar, our project team appreciated his insights on our project’s methodology that will help to strengthen our future research directions.
I miss Kyujin’s kindness and conversation. I hope that his friends and colleagues can cherish and reflect upon his energy and commitment to inspire us. I remember him like the photo below.