KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik

Alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠.

*Trigger warning: Upsetting content.

• Timeline of KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik:

• See the full KSS Timeline here.

• Image source 1 | Image Source 2

• Trigger Warning: Upsetting content.

• In the only known video we have of him, KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (mistakenly called Mr. Park) appears at the 18:04 mark in this Dutch video about Korean Adoption in the 1970s (see screenshot below this section).
  
  

• Kun Chil Paik born 1922.

  • Source: Article about Kun Chil Paik, page 35

• Kun Chil Paik graduated from Gyeonggi High School in 1940.

  • Kyunggi High School (Korean: 경기고등학교; Hanja: 京畿高等學校) is the oldest modern high school in Korea, located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The school is an all-boys school, and its counterpart is Kyunggi Girls' High School [ko], also located in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

    Kyunggi High School has educated many leaders of the South Korean society. It is the "K" in the so-called "K-S mark," an informal reference to educational credentials said to ensure career success, with the "S" standing for Seoul National University.[1][2] Before the abolition of the high-school entrance exams in 1974, it was the highest-ranked school in the country.

    Alumni associations for the school are widespread throughout Korea and abroad. Famous alumni may be found in all sectors of society and include many past and present politicians (as well as four Prime Ministers), high-ranking government officials, award-winning scientists and scholars, business executives and national athletes.

  • History

    The school was established by an edict of Emperor Gojong on April 4, 1899, and opened its doors on November 10, 1900. The school's original name was Gwallib Middle School (관립중학교). Its establishment was part of a general program of educational modernization. This effort at modernization was swallowed up by the Japanese annexation in 1910, but the school itself survived. Originally chartered as a middle school, it became a high school in 1906, though it continued to offer middle-school classes until 1971.

  • In 2000, the South Korean government issued a commemorative 170-won stamp, marking the school's 100th anniversary.[3]

    • September 1st, 1906: Renamed to National Hansung High School.

    • November 1st, 1910: Annexed Hansung Foreign Language School and renamed to Kyungsung High School.

    • April 1st, 1911: Opened a one-year course for producing teachers and renamed to Kyungsung First Middle School.

    • April 1st, 1938: Renamed to National Kyunggi Middle School.

    • June 4th, 1938: Set the school's flag.

    • October 1st, 1945: Lee Hun-gu (이헌구) was the 15th principal of the school and was also the first ethnic Korean to be a school principal since World War II began.

    Hangul: 경기고등학교

    Hanja: 京畿高等學校

    Revised Romanization: Gyeonggi Godeung Hakgyo

    McCune–Reischauer: Kyŏnggi Kodŭng Hakkyo

    • Source: Wikipedia

    • Source: Article about Kun Chil Paik, page 35

    • Source: Bastiaan Flikweert

• Kun Chil Paik was a public official at the Kyung-gi (Gyeonggi) provincial government and his position in 1949 was the head of the notorious Seongam Academy (선감학원 ). Trigger Warning: Very Upsetting content.

  • Important Update: Please note that we do not know the exact nature of what Seongam Academy was like in the 1940s when KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠), was Vice President and later President of Seongam Academy. We have recently learned that Seongam Academy may have been at its most notorious in the 1970s, which is decades after KSS Founder Baek Gun Chil was in charge of Seongam Academy. At this time we do not have any documentation to support this claim. When that becomes available, we will include it here.

• Kun Chil Paik went to Minnesota to obtain his Master's Degree in Social Work at the University of Minnesota in 1954 and came back to Korea in 1957.

• In 1964, Kun Chil Paik established KSS.

• In 1973, according to the Love Suwon journal article, Kun Chil Paik’s nephew, Kim Won-young established Kyung-gi Social Service (The Kyonggi (Gyeonggi) Social Service Center in Suwon).

• February 3rd, 1985: Kun Chil Paik’s death. He apparently died in the Netherlands during a visit. He died at 63 years of age.

  • Source: Article about Kun Chil Paik, page 35

  • Source: Bastiaan Flikweert

Translated Article About KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (Alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠).

Original Article Link (In Korean) - see page 35.

Source: Bastiaan Flikweert

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Update! ChatGPT has provided a better translation of the above article:

"Children should be raised and nurtured in homes for their growth." Laying the Foundation for the 'Cheongryu Training Center' - Baek Geun-chil, studying in the United States to learn advanced welfare systems...

Article by Kim Beom-su, Professor at Mongolia Huretae University, Director of the Institute of Social Welfare History Studies.

Chairman Baek Geun-chil (白根七), born on February 16, 1922, at 175 Joeup-ri, Seobuk-myeon, Geumcheon-gun, Hwanghae Province, was the youngest of two sons and two daughters of his father, Baek Bok-man, and his mother, Yoo Song-jeong. He passed away at the age of 63 on February 3, 1985. Alongside Kim Hak-mook and Ha Sang-rak, who were known as the three figures in the social work field in the 1950s, how did Baek Geun-chil establish an independent position in the social work field in Korea? This curiosity was answered during an interview with Im Myeong-rim, the Chairman of the Korean Historical Society, Kim Jong-hee, the Director of the Cheongryu Training Center (Baek Geun-chil's wife), and Kim Won-young, the Chairman of the Gyeonggi Province Volunteer Association, conducted at the Cheongryu Training Center established by Baek Geun-chil in Jungri, Hwaseong City in 1977 when he was 55 years old. Baek Geun-chil, who graduated from Gyeonggi High School in 1940, followed his older brother who graduated from Yeonhee College and entered the Keijo Medical College with hopes of becoming a doctor. At that time, the admission ratio for medical colleges was 50% for Korean students and 50% for Japanese students under the internalization policy during the period of Japan's colonial rule. During the three years of studying medicine, Baek Geun-chil fell into deep contemplation because medicine did not match his aptitude. It was a difficult decision to give up medical school, which would have provided a socially stable life after graduation, but Baek Geun-chil left Keijo Medical College against the strong opposition of his parents. Afterward, Baek Geun-chil experienced a period of distress, wandering in Manchuria and other regions, feeling disillusioned with the Japanese colonial rule during the period of Japan's imperial rule. He returned to Korea and lived in hiding with the Salvation Army until he entered the first phase of the U.S. military government period at the Military English School on August 15, hoping for a new path in life. After completing the Military English School, Baek Geun-chil expanded his activities due to the introduction of U.S. military supplies and increased foreign aid organizations with the outbreak of the Korean War on June 25. When the armistice was reached in 1953, he was selected as a research student dispatched abroad with the support of the UN Technical Assistance Program and the government, and participated in a social work training course at Oxford University in the UK for eight months, transferring to a nearby university. He completed his university studies. During the training, the field that interested him the most was group work, which allowed adolescents to solve their own problems based on their experiences with peers. After completing his studies in the UK and returning to Korea, Baek Geun-chil began to take an interest in the education and independence of the numerous orphaned adolescents wandering the streets and living as beggars after losing their parents due to the Korean War. He was presented with an opportunity to study social work.

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Below: Older paid translation (the ChatGPT translation above is better).

A glowing article about KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (called Baek Guen-Chil in the translation below):

English translation paid for by Paperslip

Please Note that we have added in our own notes throughout the article, which are not part of the original publication.

“The children must be nurtured and grow up in homes with their families”

“Baek Guen-Chil - who learnt the modern social service system while studying in USA, he laid the first brick for the Green Hill Youth Center.

Chairman Guen-Chil Baek was born in February 16th, 1922. 

So how did he become a prominent figure in Korea Social Service? 

This question was answered during the interview with Wonyoung Kim, who is the chairman of the institution that Baek Geun Chil founded when he was 55 years old.

When Baek Geun Chil graduated from Kyoung-gi high school in 1940, he wanted to join his brother and join medical school to become a doctor. At that time, according to the rules set by the occupying Japanese government’s policy, medical schools had to accept as their students, 50% Japanese and 50% Korean. While studying there for 3 years, Baek Geun Chil, who was always very much active, realized that medical study was not for him. Even though graduating from his medical school would’ve surely secured his future, and despite his parents’ fierce objection, he dropped out of his medical school. 

(Paperslip Note: this article neglects to mention that Baek Geun Chil / Kun Chil Paik was a public official at the Kyung-gi (Gyeonggi) provincial government and his position in 1949 was the head of the notorious Seongam Academy (선감학원 ), following the end of Japanese occupation in 1945. Trigger Warning: Very Upsetting content.

Important Update: Please note that we do not know the exact nature of what Seongam Academy was like in the 1940s when KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠), was Vice President and later President of Seongam Academy. We have recently learned that Seongam Academy may have been at its most notorious in the 1970s, which is decades after KSS Founder Baek Gun Chil was in charge of Seongam Academy. At this time we do not have any documentation to support this claim. When that becomes available, we will include it here).

Afterwards, exhausted from Japanese colonial ideas and imperialism, Baek Geun Chil had a period of soul searching wandering around Manchuria in China. Once he returned to Korea, he hid himself in the Korean salvation army till 8.15 independence day (Paperslip Note: This is referring to the National Liberation Day of Korea on August 15th, 1945, when Korea was liberated from Japan). And his new life begins as he enters American Military English School, eventually finishing his course. 

Once the Korean War started on June of 25th, (1950) Baek Geun Chil immediately started working to help with receiving military supplies from the US and to reach out to other foreign supports. 

Once the war settled in 1953, he was selected as a part of the research team under the support of UNTAB (UN Technical Assistance Board) and the Korean government. Baek Geun Chil was invited by Oxford University’s social science program and participated in the program during the next 8 months, which eventually led him to finish his degree at a nearby university.  One particular field he was interested in during his study was a group-work theory about how young teenagers resolve their problems based on their own experiences with others. 

Once Baek Geun Chil returned (to Korea from the UK), he saw countless orphans and young teenagers who had lost their parents to the war, wandering around the streets, living without shelters. He took an interest in the education and independence of young teenagers. Fortunately, to Baek Geun Chil - who was deeply interested in night school for young adults and their independence, his PhD program (Paperslip Note: we think he later received a Masters degree in Social Work, not a PhD, from the University of Minnesota) gave him an opportunity to study and work in social service. 

USFOA (United States Foreign Operations Administration) was working to recover Korea’s socioeconomic condition. As a part of the program, the University of Minnesota and the Seoul National University initiated the ‘Minnesota Project’ which aimed to produce (within the fields of agriculture, engineering, medicine and social science) educational and research leaders. To promote this program, the head of (the University of Minnesota’s) School of Social Work Director, John Kidneigh participated in the vetting process for the candidates, and Baek Geun-chil, Kim Hak-mook, Ha Sang-lak were selected. 

With the scholarship from the Unitarian Service Committee and the help of U of M (University of Minnesota), these 3 could study abroad. Ha Sang-lak who completed his masters in 1958, was employed as an assistant professor at Seoul National University. Baek Geun-chil and Kim Hak-mook also worked as full-time professors. However, Baek Geun Chil wanted to work in the field to help the youth so he gave up on the offer to work as a professor at Jungang Christian School (currently Gangnam University) and decided to go where he could work directly with the people.

First, he was a pioneer in helping in Youth assistance program and Adoptees Social Service program. He took a lot of pride in studying ‘Group Work’ which was the core theory for the youth leadership program he was in. He believed that, as much as rebuilding the roads and establishing the medical system were important priorities in rebuilding the country, giving the lost youth an opportunity to educate themselves, with scholarship aids, was crucial. 

As such, another area he took an interest in was adoption work. The history of Korea’s adoption process can be said to have started in 1954, when the government founded ‘Korea Children Welfare’. At the time, there was a strong voice to move KWS from the government branch to the private sector. In 1961, October, the organization changed the name to Korea Social Committee (currently known as Korean Welfare Service) and Baek Geun Chil was invited to become the first civilian chairman of the organization.

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(Paperslip Note - Trigger Warning / Upsetting Content:

A trusted source has told us that major adoptions took place from the notorious (Trigger Warning) Brothers Home Orphanage in Busan through KWS - Korea Welfare Services (SWS). The head of KSS, Baek Geun Chil / Kun Chil Paik, used to be the first civilian chairman of KWS.

The head of KSS, Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) used to work for 탁연택 (Head of KWS).

“Some adoptions went through the normal adoption process where Adoption Agencies handled the matching of adoptive parents to a child and there would also have been cases where children were adopted directly by Westerners who wanted them, as in “named case” or “named” adoptions. I think the “named case” jargon would have been used broadly between Adoption Agencies, not just KWS (SWS), although it is on a KWS paper that I saw it. When that “named case” adoption fell through, KWS processed it through the usual route.

And yes, you are correct that Adoption Agencies relied more on orphanages and other institutions (Nam Kwang and many more) until the 1970s, before agencies completed their network of “foster homes” that would keep the procured babies until they were ready to be flown to the US.”

”From documents and what former workers told me, KWS (SWS) seemed to have worked fairly closely with Brothers Home, but I do know for a fact that Holt and Eastern adopted from that facility too. No one has been able to confirm a KSS adoption from Brothers Home yet. It has been years since KSS stopped processing international adoptions (in 2012), so the government is even less willing to force them to open up (even when getting three different lawmakers to pressure the Health Ministry, the ministry couldn’t get any confirmation from KSS about adoptions from Brothers Home).”

Paraphrased from our trusted source -

“After KWS - Kun Chil Paik established KSS (in 1964). Most of the adoptions of Brothers Home were through KWS. Often adoptions from such places as Brothers Home would be “named adoptions” where a name of a child would be scribbled down, and a foreign visitor would pick up a child from the orphanage directly. In such “named adoptions”, Adoption agencies would just set up a visa and send the child away for adoption. If one type of adoption fell through, it would be processed through KWS. US evangelical people visited Brothers Home - it was pretty easy to adopt back then. Until the 1970s, Adoption Agencies would have relied on Choon Hyun Babies Home in Gwangju and Nam Kwang Orphanage in Busan as sources of children. They were the major orphanages and hospitals who supervised the birth by unwed mothers in the 1970s. In the 1970s, Adoption Agencies became more reliant on orphanages. From the 1980s onward, Adoption Agencies hired neighborhood moms to be foster moms. The reliance on orphanages reduced after the 1980s. In US adoption paperwork, there was usually no Korean address apart from KSS in Seoul - in other words, the original source of the children was obscurred / erased. *Please note that to date, no one has been able to confirm an adoption from Brothers Home Orphanage in Busan through KSS. However, Brothers Home likely destroyed most of its files relating to adoption).”

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Baek Geun Chil struggled and felt sad whenever he’d hear people say “We have no food and are starving. The more children we send to be adopted overseas, the more food would go around here”.

Baek Geun Chil would often claim, saying that “Our current socioeconomic state is bad so we are in this adoption business, but it’s nonetheless a business that has to be stopped once Korea’s economy recovers.” And he’d always emphasize on having a fair adoption process. (Paperslip Note: See the Academic Papers page for more information about actual KSS adoption practice and KSS’ emulation of Holt adoption procedure which aimed “to process the maximum numbers of children with minimal protection”).

In February of 1964, at age of 42, Baek Geun Chil founded KSS and initiated the Youth Scholarship Program and Adoption Program, finally at the scale he wanted. The children he especially looked after were kids that were ‘mixed’ - who were discriminated against severely.  Many of them had harsh lives living in Korea. Baek Geun Chil would visit 동두천, 파주 법원리 용주골, 송탄 쑥고개, 성환 탄약고, 평택 안정리 (Paperslip’s Translator’s Note: all addresses) to find the displaced mixed children and would help them with the adoption process. 

(Paperslip’s Translator’s Note: 동두천 Dongducheon, 파주 법원리 용주골 Yongjugol, Paju-si.  성환 탄약고, Seonghwan-eup, 평택 안정리 Anjeong-ri, Pyeongtaek

*Many of these places are known for their red-light districts, especially in the 1970s.

Dongducheon and Pyeongtaek were both next to US military bases*).

Secondly, he was a de-institutionalist. He voiced strongly against the idea of expanding more adoption facilities. The fact was that, after the war, the numbers of buildings built for orphans were increasing very quickly. Baek Geun Chil would voice against this trend whenever there were conferences or meetings, saying “the children were not born to live in the facilities. They must be nurtured and grow in families”. Many people took this in the wrong way, saying “what an arrogant fool, he thinks he knows better because he studied a little in the USA”. 

In 1960, an American professor Joseph Halpern put forward his theory on deinstitutionalization which caused a big impact even in USA. The claim was that institutions were only necessary evils so that only the absolute necessity should be built. Baek Geun Chil believed that no well-equipped institutions can provide better environments than a home with a family but he was met with fierce resistance. His nickname at the time was ‘Orphanage killer’. 

In 1964, starting from the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada (USC Canada), the numbers of social service centers in Mokpo-city, Mapo-district, Incheon-city and Icheon-si were founded while the debate on deinstitutionalization was going on. 

Third, he founded the base for Green Hill Youth Center.  In 1977, at age 55, KSS purchased an area within Greenbelt Forest in Dongtan-myeon, Hwaseong-si. For the next 8 years, Baek Geun Chil would direct the workers on site to build the foundation for the center. Unfortunately, after attending an international conference in the Netherlands in 1985, Baek passed away due to overwork at the age of 63. 3 years after his passing, Green Hill Youth Center opened in May of 1988. 

KSS which was founded in 1964, in the memory of Baek Geun Chil’s vision, decided to stop the overseas adoption process first in 2011. (Paperslip Note: It’s much more likely that KSS ceased overseas adoption operations because it was far less profitable in the wake of the massive slowdown of international adoption from Korea following negative press coverage during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul). KSS currently is dedicated to help and assist the adoptees, single-moms, youth center programs and local welfare business.”

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Green Hill Youth Center  

https://www.instagram.com/greenhilltraining/

https://kssghtc.modoo.at

Notable Info. Related To The Article Above About KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (Alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠).

• John Kidneigh of the University of Minnesota School of Social Work
  ”Biographical Sketch of John C. Kidneigh (1907-1986)

  John Christopher Kidneigh was born on April 28, 1907 in Nyssa, Oregon. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Utah and his master's in social work from the University of Denver. He joined the faulty at the University of Minnesota as associate director of the School of Social Work in 1946. In 1949 he was promoted to director and professor of social work. Before coming to Minnesota, Kidneigh worked in community service organizations, was a supervisor in pubic welfare in Utah and Colorado and was a consultant and director of the Social Security Board in Minneapolis. He retired from the University of Minnesota as professor emeritus in 1975.
  
  Professor Kidneigh was a leader in the social work movement and freely gave of his time to national organizations, including serving as president of the National Association of Social Workers (1959-1961) and of the American Association of Schools of Social Work (1949-1951). He was involved in various committees and advisory groups, many of which he served as chair. In Minnesota, he was president of Group Health Association (1969-1971) and a board member (1966-1971). In addition, Professor Kidneigh conducted research, taught or consulted social work programs in Canada, Korea, Mexico and South Africa. John Kidneigh died on July 5, 1986.”

KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠), Kim Hak-mok,  and Ha Sang-rak.

All 3 of these men were Seoul National University (SNU) Social Work students who were invited to study at the University of Minnesota as part of the Minnesota Project. Prior to studying at the University of Minnesota, all three worked at the notorious (Trigger Warning: Very Upsetting content) Seongam Academy (선감학원).

Important Update: Please note that we do not know the exact nature of what Seongam Academy was like in the 1940s when KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠), was Vice President and later President of Seongam Academy. We have recently learned that Seongam Academy may have been at its most notorious in the 1970s, which is decades after KSS Founder Baek Gun Chil was in charge of Seongam Academy. At this time we do not have any documentation to support this claim. When that becomes available, we will include it here.

All three became high ranking in the field of Social Work after returning to Korea following the Korean War. One established the graduate department of Social Work at Seoul National University; another became high ranking within the Korean Government (possibly the Ministry of Justice). Of course, Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) founded KSS in 1964.

A Tight Network of KSS “Feeder Orphanages”.

KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠) reportedly had a close relationship with its network of “Feeder Orphanages”. Not until the 1980s did KSS begin to work with Foster Mothers, at least, not according to KSS. According to a trusted source, KSS had the physical space to house children in “Feeder Orphanages” on its own prior to the 1980s and KSS’ Founder, Kun Chil Paik, preferred to rely on “Feeder Orphanages” rather than Foster Mothers to take care of children.

Won S. Paik, KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik’s Son.

We know very little about Won S. Paik, the son of KSS Founder Kun Chil Paik (alternately: Baek Geun-chil / Paik, Kun Chil / 백근칠). We know that Won S. Paik was Director of KSS at some point, but not the specific dates he was Director. We know that Won S. Paik is deceased and this his wife, Kun Chil Paik’s daughter-in-law, currently owns KSS. Kun Chil Paik’s daughter is rumored to live in the US.

Below: Photos.

Photos of Mr. Young Hee KIM who was KSS Director from 1975 to around 1994 or 1995. Prior to his becoming Director of KSS in 1975, he was a Social Worker at KSS (we don’t know when he first began working there). He is now deceased.