Son Myung-soon (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...

:손명순,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

:孫命順) (also transliterated as Sohn Myung Soon) (born 29 January 1929) is the widow of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

n President

Kim Young-sam Kim Young-sam (; or ; 20 December 1927 – 22 November 2015) was a South Korean politician and activist who served as the seventh president of South Korea from 1993 to 1998. From 1961, he spent almost 30 years as one of the leaders of t ...

. She was the first lady when Kim Young-sam was in office, from 1993 to 1998.Yonhap news agency, Seoul - March 10, 1997
BBC
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Biography

Son was born in Keishōnan-dō on 29 January 1929 in

Chōsen Between 1910 and 1945, Korea was ruled as a part of the Empire of Japan. Joseon Korea had come into the Japanese sphere of influence with the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876; a complex coalition of the Meiji government, military, and business offici ...

to Sang-ho and Geunyi Kim. She had two sisters who died early and her birth mother died on 1935. Her father later remarried to Gam Deok-soon, and had two more sons and six more daughters. Her father Sang-ho ran the largest rubber factory in Reisan and was called the “

Masan Masan is an administrative region of Changwon, a city in the South Gyeongsang Province. It was formerly an independent city from 1949 until 30 June 2010, when it was absorbed to Changwon along with Jinhae. Masan was redistricted as two distric ...

chaebol.” Son graduated from Jin Young Daechang Elementary School in Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do and Masan Girls' High School in Changwon. She later attended

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational inst ...

, where she took course in Pharmacy and married

in 1951. During her third year in Ewha, a new rule was established, which prohibited marriage of enrolled students. However, with the help of others, even after giving birth to her first child, she kept her marriage secret until graduation and was able to finish her studies. On December 18, 1992, Kim Young-sam was elected

President of South Korea The president of the Republic of Korea (), also known as the president of South Korea (often abbreviated to POTROK or POSK; ), is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Korea. The president leads the State Council, and is ...

. And when he took office as president on February 24, 1993, Son Myung-soon began working as

First Lady of South Korea The first lady of the Republic of Korea (, informally referred to as FLOTROK or FLOSK), commonly known as the first lady of South Korea, is the titled held by the hostess of the presidential residence, usually the wife of the president of South ...

. As First Lady, she helped to build a restaurant or lounge in

Blue House Cheong Wa Dae ( ko, 청와대; Hanja: ; ), also known as the Blue House, is a public park that formerly served as the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea from 1948 to 2022. It is located in the Jongno distr ...

for attendants, drivers, and female employees. Son was praised for being a quiet helper and for emphasizing the traditional role of women.

Personal life

Son and Kim Young-sam had five children: 3 daughters (Kim Hye-young, Kim Hye-jeong, Kim Hye-suk) and 2 sons (Kim Hyun-cheol, Euncheol Kim). Kim Hyun-cheol currently serves as Executive Director of Kim Young-sam Democratic Center.

Honours

*: **

Grand_Order_of_Mugunghwa_(South_Korea)_-_ribbon_bar

Honorary Recipient of the

Grand Order of Mugunghwa The Grand Order of Mugunghwa ( ko, 무궁화대훈장) is the highest order awarded by the government of South Korea. It is awarded to the President of South Korea, and it may be awarded to their spouse, heads or former heads of state of South Ko ...

(1993)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Son, Myung-Soon 1929 births Living people First Ladies of South Korea People from Gimhae People from South Gyeongsang Province South Korean Presbyterians Ewha Womans University alumni