Haegwan Kim (HK): What is your personal definition of success?
Chan-Mo Park (CP): My personal definition of success may be summarized as follows:
- To achieve the goal set by considering one’s desire, capability and environment.
- To be able to contribute to the society by working for well-being of mankind.
- To attain the status of self-esteem and gain respects from others professionally, morally and ethically.
It is important to have a “Possibility Thinking” to be successful.
HK: Does the term "success" important to you?
CP: Yes, the term “success” is important to me since I do not want to be a social burden but to become a person who will live for the welfare and happiness of human being as well as for the World Peace through “Science Diplomacy” especially through IT.
HK: When and how you've decided the path you're currently walking through - the world of Information Technology?
CP: From the elementary school days I liked mathematics and science. My role model was Thomas Edison since he contributed so much to the mankind. When I graduated from Kyunggi High School in 1954 with the top grade, many of my teachers recommended me to go to a medical school since my family was poor and I was the oldest one among the seven children of my parents. However, I went to the College of Engineering of Seoul National University majoring Chemical Engineering because Korea needed engineers to recover from the Korean War. I continued to major chemical engineering at the graduate school of University of Maryland, College Park from February, 1960. In Fall, 1960, because of my ability in mathematics my advisor recommended me to take the first computer course at the University of Maryland taught by Dr. Roberts of Naval Ordinance Laboratory for the faculty members and a few selected graduated students. Right away I fell in love with computers and worked full time as a Research Programmer of Computer Science Center since 1964 and became an Assistant Professor of Computer Science after I received Ph.D. in January, 1969. Since then I have taught computer science courses at the universities in U.S.A and South Korea for 30 years. Now I am working at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology as a professor and Chancellor in North Korea. IT is my life and my destiny.
HK: I'm sure that the landscape of computer science has changed drastically during your 30-year career. What's the biggest change and what'd be "the next big thing"?
CP: As a person who has worked with computers for more than 50 years since 1960 I would say the biggest change is the marriage between computers and network, in particular with the Internet. Of course there have been drastic developments in hardware as well software such as extremely high speed, tremendously reduced size, advancement in multimedia technology, reliable and reusable software and so on. However, the effect of internet is so huge that our daily life has been changed so much and our society is becoming ubiquitous and globalized.
Next big thing will be converging IT with other technologies and humanities to make everything ‘smart’ and ‘secure and safe’. Super high speed computing and embedded software will also be important.
HK: Many people outside of North Korea are thinking there's no freedom on information. Would you tell me how people in Pyongyang and other parts of North Korea are living with the web and information as the chancellor of Pyongyang University of Science and Technology?
CP: Each country has her own rules and regulations. It is my understanding that many people never visited DPRK and conjecture that there is no freedom on information dissemination. Of course DPRK is one of few countries which do not allow people to use the Internet freely. However, foreigners in DPRK normally have access to the Internet and the Intranet in DPRK is very efficient for her people to use. Graduate students in my university, PUST have access to the Internet for their research and study. Other universities also have some restricted access allowed to the students, I heard. More than 800 thousand people in DPRK use cellular phones and the number of users is increasing rapidly. This may contribute to more dissemination of information in the future.
HK: How importnat to know how-to interact with information in the 21st century, especially for young people? And what'd be advice for them to attain information literacy?
CP: The 21st Century is an era of ubiquitous, knowledge-based and globalized society and information plays an important role in achieving personal success and national prosperity. In particular young people are pillars of a nation and their knowledge on information is very important. Information literacy can be attained through education, books, media such as news papers and TVs. However, most effective way in this information technology era is through Internet such as Google search and Wikipedia.
Like other S&T there are two sides with IT, bright side and dark side. For example there are correct and incorrect information, useful and harmful, up-to-date and obsolete, private and public, so on. Therefore I would like to advise to young people to nurture capability of choosing right information and learn about computer and internet ethics.
HK: As the final question, this is again about success. And I actually am asking this to all the interviewees so far. What is your advice to achieve success?
CP: There are many factors to achieve success. The following items are what I think important beside normal factors such as studying hard, etc..
-Vision (Big dream)
-Possibility thinking
-Honesty
-Faithfulness
-Patience
-Diligence
-Humbleness
-Considerateness
-Global mindset
-Unselfishness
-Soft outside but strong inside (외유내강)
HK: Thanks, I'd love to go to Pyongyang in the future and see you in person again! Hope it comes true soon.
CP: I hope to meet you in person too, maybe in Pyongyang?
Chan-Mo Park is the Chancellor of Pyongyang University of Science & Technology (PUST)
