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바로 앞에 올린 간증의 영어초역본입니다.
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이 변호사는 현재 한동대학교 법학부 UIL과정에서 강의하고 있습니다.
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<HILS Testimony> - 101116 (Draft: Translated by Euna Lee, 3L student of HILS)
How Did the Vision of Lawyers Without Borders Begin? – An Insider’s Testimony
(Prof. Kuk-Woon Lee (Kuyper))
I.
How do you do? My name is Kuk-Woon Lee, a professor of Constitutional and Political Law at the undergraduate
What a joy it is to be able to share my testimony with you during the HILS devotion. As someone who has been working in the area of Christian legal education at Handong for the past 12 years, I have truly been looking forward to an opportunity to share my testimony with you, and therefore today is a very meaningful day.
I would like to take this time to testify about how God has poured out his grace and blessings in the work of equipping Christian lawyers at Handong, especially between the years of 1999 and 2002. Even though this testimony is limited to my own personal experience and knowledge, there is one fact that I would like to clarify at this time, it is that:
“In the past 12 years, it was God who inspired the Handong community with the ‘vision of lawyers without borders’; and in many different ways, God has poured out his blessings of abundance in carrying out the vision.”
Today’s story is centered around my personal experience and I am sure that the others who were here during that time each have their own unique story to share. My hope is that my testimony will encourage them to also share their testimonies with the Handong community.
II.
First of all, let me begin by explaining how the study of law was introduced to Handong. The undergraduate
The make-up of the charter law faculty was quite interesting. There were two Korean law scholars who were trained in Korean and German academic institutions. The remaining two were Korean Americans who had completed law school training in the
Only later did I find out that the university’s leadership had the goal of distinguishing the law programs from any existing law programs in Korean universities. The Korean Law and American Law (or the
At this point, I must introduce to you the story of the more senior of the two American lawyers, Professor Myeong-Seok Choi. In the summer of 1998, while working as the for a District Attorney in California, Professor Choi went to Yanbian University of Science and Technology (YUST) for a short-term mission as a means to give a “tithe” of his time. While he was visiting an area near
After listening to Professor Choi’s story, I felt my vision as a law teacher become clearer. As someone who had completed undergraduate and post-graduate law degrees in Seoul National University (SNU) I was deeply involved with the reformation of Korean legal education since 1995. For instance, I was an assistant researcher for many joint projects between the Supreme Court administration and SNU concerning the introduction of the law school system; my Ph.D dissertation was on a topic related to judicial reform; and I was a research staff working under my then advisory professor, Professor Dai-Kwon Choi (chair-professor at Handong from 2002), for a presidential committee on the introduction of the law school system. However, the more I delved into the process of establishing the Korean law school system, the more hopeless I became when thinking about the vice of
III.
As five legal professionals with completely different backgrounds came together to be a part of the Handong community as law professors, we naturally began to ask the question, “Why did God bring us together here?” At that time we read the book of John together during the faculty meetings, but disregarding which part of the book we would read, we’d end up asking the same question. Even during walks, basketball games, and barbeques – the question never left our minds.
It was around May 1999 when there was a pivotal moment. All four new professors attended a public forum held in Daegu by the presidential committee I had previously worked for in
In a short time, a consensus was formed during the School of Law faculty meeting that Professor Gyeong-Shin Park and I who had been deeply involved with the law school debate in Korea would team up and explore the direction for the future growth of the School of Law. After the summer of that year, and after much debate,
Our proposal went through some essential revision during discussions with other law professors. This was because there was a realization that merely teaching American law in a law school in
In October of that year, the idea of “teaching American law at a Christian law school in
IV.
After that meeting, under the instructions of President Kim, the Handong School of Law development plan changed into the American law school establishment project, and was called the “Handong International Law School (HILS) Project.” I spent the winter of that year working with Professor Han-Woo Choi who was Head of Planning, in drafting the authorization request form that was to be submitted to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MOE). The request was seeking the approval of establishing a professional post-graduate program at Handong. In the following spring, we started the legal process related to the authorization of HILS.
There is one thing that I cannot forget about the authorization process. I remember it was around June 2000 when I was called to President Kim’s office because he had an important request concerning the HILS Project. He told me that although most of the high officials at MOE were in favor of authorizing HILS, only the head in charge and the chief clerk were against the idea, and thus, President Kim wanted me to go up to MOE and persuade them to change their minds. At this request, Professor Han-Woo Choi and I hastily made an appointment to meet with the MOE chief clerk and made our way up to
It was months after that meeting when Handong finally received authorization from the MOE for the establishment of HILS. All the proposals were approved except that the number of admitted students per year was narrowed down to 50 from the proposed 100. Even though we had much-awaited the positive answer, we quickly realized that there were a string of problems to tackle after the approval. Talking is easy, but how easy do you think it is start an American style law school in
It was at this point that one person who made an ultimate contribution to the founding of HILS appeared. He is none other than Professor Sang-Ki (SK) Lee. Professor SK Lee initially came to Handong in the fall of 1999 to visit his relative Pastor Eddie Byun. While he was here he fell in love with the students and had visited the campus several times. In the fall of 2000, he came as the replacement for Professor Myung-Seok Choi who had to make a sudden departure from the university. And while teaching at the UIL program he became a part of the HILS project. Professor SK Lee studied abroad in the
Although with Professor SK Lee’s effort there was some progress in finding the charter dean for HILS, there were no significant results by the fall of that year and the original plan of opening the law school in the spring of 2001 became futile. We later found out that when news of our postponement had reached the MOE, they reacted by saying that the project was “too big for a no-named school in the province to begin with” and announced that the authorization would be revoked if the law school failed to open in 2002. The chain of events that followed receiving authorization had all the professors in a state of constant fear and panic. Although I was inwardly praying that the “vision of lawyers without borders” would not just collapse like this, none of us could see an inch ahead of what was going to happen. One time, at the request of President Kim, one of the professors at the
V.
To all the students of the law listening to this testimony, please stay even more attentive to what I am about to share with you from now. I would like to share with you an amazing story that fills me with thanksgiving of God’s wonderful grace each time I think of it.
At the end of 2000, when all our aspirations of starting HILS in 2001 had been stunted, my family and I went to Daejeon to attend the end-of-year service in the church my father was pastoring. My father, who was a revivalist preacher and reverend of a small church his whole life was curious about what his eldest son from rural
“The only Christian group that would be willing to come all the way to
Actually I didn’t take my father’s advice too seriously when he first shared them. However, his words resounded in my mind as we were driving back to
The day after we arrived in
A few days later, President Kim suddenly appeared at my office door around 11 am. Even though I had occasion to see him quite frequently due to some legal work for his office, never before had he showed up at my door so unannounced. With a huge smile on his face, he started telling me how he had just finished a phone conversation with Reverend Billy Kim that morning. Reverend Kim had actually called to ask President Kim to take care of a bunch of students from his church who were to enroll as freshmen in the spring. President Kim also told me that he shared the HILS project with Reverend Kim and that Reverend Kim replied by saying that he happened to be the President of the Baptist World Alliance; and that he might know of a law school in North Carolina that Handong may be able to ask the assistance of; but that he wanted to know more about the HILS project first. President Kim finished the conversation by instructing me to visit Reverend Kim and give him a detailed explanation about the HILS project.
With the growing feeling that ‘something new might be happening,’ I immediately contacted Reverend Kim’s office and sent him the documents about the HILS project that we had submitted to the MOE. Through his secretary, Reverend Kim sent a message asking us to come by the Far East Broadcasting Company in Mapo,
A few days later, I left for
“Of course, I can do it!”
However, I almost died of fright at the next thing the secretary said,
“In that case, could you just give us the presentation now over the phone?”
At this incredibly unexpected request, I tried to buy as much time I could get.
“Ah, hm… you see, I’m on the bus right now and it’s a little loud. Do you mind if I call you back in a few minutes after I find a quiet place to talk?”
In a hurry I got off the bus and looked for a suitable place to make a phone-call. The only place I could find was a small space between two buildings next to a little supermarket. There, I took a few deep breaths and looked over my notes before making the phone-call to the secretary. The next thing I knew, I was making an English presentation over the phone with all the strength in my body and soul. As I recall, that presentation over the phone lasted for about 10 minutes. When I thought I had explained the essence of the project, the secretary told me that that was sufficient and that Reverend Kim was waiting to meet me. So I hung up the phone after what seemed like a rehearsal and caught a taxi to get to the Broadcasting Company. However, in the taxi, I got another phone-call from the secretary saying that Reverend Kim had been fully informed about the project and so it was unnecessary for me to come and see him. After that third phone-call, I felt deflated, as if the actual performance had been canceled after a full dress rehearsal. However, I was also overcome with a strong feeling that perhaps Reverend Kim was listening in on that
VI.
About a month after that incident, I received a long awaited response from Reverend Kim. In that response Reverend Kim told us that he had informed the Dean of a law school in
After gaining an American partner, the HILS project really started to take flight. In addition to Professor SK Lee, who was already pouring in so much of his effort, Professor Jae Won, who had just joined Handong and was in charge of international affairs, also contributed in the HILS project. Professor SK Lee, who already had a good relationship with the
Everything seemed to be running smoothly, until out of the blue, we were met with a sudden catastrophe. Around May, President Kim was convicted in a criminal trial before the
Coming back to the story about HILS, President Kim’s incarceration was a disaster for the project. This is because the date for the
At President Kim’s instruction, Professor SK Lee visited
When an old professor from an unknown Christian university in
My guess is that the only way for the Dean of Campbell School of Law to resolve this rather unwonted situation was to hand it over the one and only man he could possibly think of who would be adequate for the job. You may all know that this person was none other than the one who would become the charter dean of HILS – Professor Lynn Buzzard. The first thing that Professor Buzzard heard about the HILS project was through a phone-call from the Dean of Campbell School of Law saying that there was a “crazy evangelist” from Korea that he might be interested in seeing. This is how the two most influential lawyers in the founding of HILS, Professor Lynn Buzzard and Professor SK Lee had their first conversation. (They later said that they weren’t able to meet in person at the time but shared their ideas by telephone). During that phone conversation, Professor SK Lee demonstrated the most unusual negotiation skills possibly imaginable. In the course of trying to explain the situation about the HILS project that any lay person would have a hard time understanding, Professor SK Lee merely proclaimed one thing by saying, “I could talk to you all day and you will never believe it, why don’t you just pretend you believe me and come to Handong! Just as God established the undergraduate school in the past six years, he will establish the HILS project!” In other words, just like the woman who met Jesus by the well, Professor SK Lee used the “Come and see!” reasoning.
VII.
If Professor Buzzard had declined Professor Lee’s offer at the time, the HILS project might not have developed into what it is today. But thankfully, he did not decline the offer, and in the heat of August 2001, he came to visit Handong. According to Professor Buzzard, he was supposed to take a domestic flight from Gimpo to
Due to another business trip, I was only able to meet Professor Buzzard a few days after his arrival. Professor Doo-Shik Kim who had met Professor Buzzard in advance told me that there was a professor from Campbell by the name of “Booz-Zard” and that we’d probably hit it off quite well. I first met Professor Buzzard at the temporary HILS project office which was located on the first floor of the main building. As soon as he saw me, he treated me as if we had been long time acquaintances and said, “So you must be Professor Kuyper? I have heard so much about you.” Later on I found out that this wasn’t the first time I had known about Professor Buzzard either. Up until he took the teaching position at
Just like his reputation as a work-a-holic, from early in the morning till late at night, he drilled us with many questions about the HILS project and made many suggestions of his own. During this time, I felt a deep peace of assurance that ‘Finally! The man for the job had come.’ This feeling, however, was coupled with the question, “What could it have been that attracted him so deeply to this project?” As we talked further, my curiosity was quickly answered. One of the printed handouts that he passed around included documents for a Christian law school that the
A while later, Professor Lynn Buzzard was appointed as a candidate charter dean for HILS and he traveled back and forth between Korea and America in preparation of the law school’s opening. Thankfully, Professor Buzzard was on a sabbatical from
VIII.
During the recruitment period near the end of 2001, around 60 or so students applied to enter HILS. After the interview process, 32 students were selected and out of the 32, four students deferred enrollment and the charter class of 28 students gathered in the spring of 2002. For the next three years – until the first batch of students graduated – there was much trial and error, and numerous problems that were confronted in the process of crystallizing the “vision of lawyers without borders.” Language, identity, class, space, dormitory, budget, career plan, examination, prospect – not a single one of these things were set in stone. However, how each and every one of these trials were overcome by the grace of God and how HILS has grown into what it is today is a testimony that I’m sure Professor Hee-Eun Lee and other HILS faculty, along with the graduates of the beginning classes can share in more detail.
From now on I will wrap up my personal experience of this ten-year journey of HILS by introducing two scenes that I was able to witness.
The first scene takes us back to February 2002. Unlike the undergraduate semester, the HILS semester began in mid-February. One afternoon during the One L orientation, Dean Buzzard and Mrs. Juanita Buzzard were taking the One Ls around campus. Dean Buzzard was wearing a leather jacket and he towered over the students who were following behind him. From a distance, the juxtaposition of this tall and lean dean with the small Korean students that followed behind looked as if a father duck was taking its ducklings out for a walk. As I watched this scene from my office on the second floor of the main building, I wondered what God’s purpose was for making such a scene like this on the Handong campus in rural
The second scene takes place in December 2004 at the first HILS commencement. I’m guessing that there is still talk among the graduates and students of that year about how there were epic moments that were so unexpected throughout the commencement ceremony. For example, the was-to-be 5-minute student testimony continued for over an hour; also, each order of the program was a little off time to the point where participants felt somewhat uncomfortable. As I was up on the stage throughout the commencement in order to hand out diplomas as the then Dean of the School of Law, I couldn’t help but compare the rather disorderly procession of the program to the past 3, no 6 years, which played like a panorama in my mind. The events of the commencement ceremony in a way reflected the whole process of trial and error, going back to and fro, that we had experienced in order to fulfill this “vision of lawyers without borders.”
Now, the second scene that I wanted to share actually happened after that commencement ceremony. After all the participants had left and the school fell into absolute solitude once again, I started my way over to the fourth floor of Nehemiah Hall. I went past the administration office and into the faculty meeting room where I saw Mrs. Juanita Buzzard sitting there, all by herself. I briefly said hello with my eyes and made my way over to the Dean’s office and gingerly opened the door. There, Dean Buzzard was sitting on his chair, with his back to the door and facing the window. He was sitting there for a long time, and I also stood there looking at his back for a long time. I think that in that moment he was probably overcome with deep gratitude for the grace of God that had fulfilled the vision that was placed on his heart ever since his early thirties. I will never forget the picture of his back that day. There in front of me was the back of a lawyer who had himself become a lawyer without borders in order to fulfill the “vision of lawyers without borders.” There in front of me was a true follower of Jesus Christ.
This was one insider’s story of how the vision of lawyers without borders began here on the Handong campus. Thank you for staying so attentive throughout this rather long story.
첫댓글 Thank you so much for your testimony professor!