Joungwon "Alexander" Kim

Joungwon Alexander Kim died January 25, 2023. Attorney, politician, writer, and educator, he spent his life promoting the US-South Korea relationship and developing a democratic government in South Korea. Born In Seoul in 1936, he witnessed as a child the horrors of Japanese occupation then Communist aggression, including time living in a refugee camp.

He came to the USA in 1955, where he attended Phillips Exeter Academy, undergraduate studies at Harvard College and Columbia University (B.S.) then post-graduate degrees at School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University (Ph.D.) and Harvard Law School (J.D.). He served professorships in Political Science at Finch College and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Living in New York from 1973 to 1987, His legal work focused on the economic development of US-Korean trade as well as on protecting the rights and interests of Korean-American immigrants. He wrote extensively on US-Korean relations, including the books Divided Korea: The Politics of Development (1975), Korea: The Turbulent Decades (1992), The Development of Korean Diplomacy (1996), and various newspaper articles in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and World Politics. Activities included President, Korean Association of Greater New York, Chairman of American Federation of Korea Association, Director of Korea Fund Inc., President of The Korea Foundation, and research at the Brookings Institution and the Washington Center of Foreign Policy Research.

In 1987, he returned to Seoul to participate in the pro-democracy political movement, joining the Reunification Democratic Party which subsequently became the Democratic Liberal Party. He was Special Advisor for National Security and Foreign Affairs to Kim Young Sam during his first and second campaigns for president. During the presidency of Kim Young Sam, he served as Deputy Director, Agency for National Security, and as Ambassador-At-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He then returned to teaching International Affairs at Sejong University in Seoul and served as Arbitrator, International Court of Arbitration (Paris, France).

He retired in 2017. He is survived by a daughter, Elizabeth Kim (Brian) Mannion, three grandchildren Meghan (Seth Chodosh), Alex, and Peter (Yiyi Zhang) Mannion, and two great-grandchildren, three brothers, two sisters, and several nieces and nephews. Funeral Services will be held Wednesday, February 1, 2023 at 10 a.m. at National Funeral Home 7482 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA.