Ham Byeong-chun (咸秉春, 26 February 1932 – 9 October 1983) was a South Korean university professor, diplomat, and legal scholar. He specialized in the sociology of law in Korea. He was the son of Ham Tae-young, the third Vice President, and the younger half-uncle of Ham In-seop, who was 25 years his s
Born~Died Feb 26, 1932 ~ Oct 9, 1983Last edited Oct 15, 2026, 2:51 PM
Details
Born ~ Died
Feb 26, 1932 ~ Oct 9, 1983
Birth name
Ham Byeong-chun
Born
26 February 1932
Died
9 October 1983, Aung San Mausoleum, Burma
Gender
Male
Nationality
South Korea
Career
Professor of law at Yonsei University, Presidential Special Assistant for Political Affairs, Diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, Presidential Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to the United States, Presidential Chief of Staff
Ham Byeong-chun (咸秉春, 26 February 1932 – 9 October 1983) was a South Korean university professor, diplomat, and legal scholar. He specialized in the sociology of law in Korea. He was the son of Ham Tae-young, the third Vice President, and the younger half-uncle of Ham In-seop, who was 25 years his senior and served as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and as dean of Kangwon National University. In 1983, he accompanied President Chun Doo-hwan on a tour of Southeast Asia and was killed by the effects of the Rangoon bombing. His family seat was Gangneung (江陵), and his art names were Changeun (滄隱) and Gosong (苦松).
After studying in the United States and returning home, he taught law at Yonsei University from 1959 to 1970, and again from October 1979 to June 1983, where he lectured and researched the sociology of law in Korean society and Koreans' attitudes toward law. In 1970, at the request of President Park Chung-hee, he served as Presidential Special Assistant for Political Affairs, a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, and Presidential Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs. From December 1973 to June 1977, he served as Ambassador to the United States. He returned to teaching, and in 1983 he was summoned by President Chun Doo-hwan to become Presidential Chief of Staff. That same year, he accompanied President Chun on a tour of five Southeast Asian countries, and on 9 October he was killed in the Rangoon bombing in Burma.
Life
Birth and early years
He was born on 26 February 1932 at the parsonage of Yeondong Church in Yeonmotgol, Seoul, the fourteenth of the fourteen children of Ham Tae-young. His father, Ham Tae-young, had been widowed twice and remarried Ko Suk-won as his third wife. Ham Tae-young had him in his sixties. Before turning 20, Ham Tae-young had a son, Ham Byeong-seok, by his first wife. Ham Byeong-seok died young, and his sons were Ham Byeong-chun's half-nephews, Ham In-seop and Ham Ui-seop, who were 50 years older than Ham Byeong-seok and 20 years older than Ham Byeong-chun. However, when Ham Byeong-chun was born, only his full elder brother Ham Byeong-so, who was four years older, remained.
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He was baptized as an infant at Yeondong Church and continued to attend the church afterward, serving as a deacon. In 1943, his mother Ko Suk-won died in a rented room in Myeongnyun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and he was raised by his father, Ham Tae-young. It is said that after his mother's death, his father personally packed his lunch boxes.1
He graduated from Gyeonggi High School and, shortly after the Korean War, enlisted as an officer in the Republic of Korea Air Force, leaving the service in 1952 as a first lieutenant. In January 1953, he left for the United States and graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in economics. In 1959, he received a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) from Harvard Law School.
Education and political activity
In 1959, he became a law professor at Yonsei University, where he taught jurisprudence, Anglo-American law, and Korean legal history, opening up new fields of research. Afterward, together with Professor Yang Seung-du, he studied Korean legal consciousness and attitudes toward law in Korean society, and he published many papers in English as well as Korean. Although he was a legal scholar, he also researched Korean social traditions and the structure of Korean consciousness. While a professor, he was appointed director of the Social Science Research Institute at Yonsei University and held the post concurrently. In 1966, he went to the United States and conducted research at Yale University for two years before returning home.
In 1970, he became Presidential Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs and Security to President Park Chung-hee, and was subsequently appointed Presidential Special Assistant for Political Affairs. On the afternoon of 31 December 1973, the South Korean government appointed Ham Byeong-chun, then Presidential Special Assistant for Political Affairs, as Ambassador of South Korea to the United States.2 He took up the post as ambassador in 1974.
Ambassadorship to the United States
From autumn to winter of 1975, Philip Habib, who had previously served as ambassador to South Korea and was then Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the United States Department of State, informed him that President Park Chung-hee had to stop attempting to conclude a nuclear weapon-related agreement with France. Ham persuaded Park to do so.
In 1976, South Korean agents were discovered to have provided dinners and political funds to American politicians and to members of the Senate and House of Representatives in an effort to create favorable public opinion toward South Korea. This became the Koreagate scandal, and when calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Korea emerged in American political and academic circles, he persuaded American politicians and intellectuals and prevented the spread of public support for withdrawal.
In June 1977, he completed his term and returned home, was reassigned as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, and on 12 January 1979 was appointed Presidential Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs.
Later life
After the October 26 incident, he returned to Yonsei University as a law professor, teaching jurisprudence, East Asian legal history, and legal anthropology. On 17 December, he was again appointed Presidential Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs and Security by President Choi Kyu-hah. On 2 August 1980, he was appointed a research fellow at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. In August 1981, he again taught as a lecturer at Yonsei University's law faculty, and in June 1982, he was appointed Presidential Chief of Staff by President Chun Doo-hwan. He declined the post, citing the fact that he was a diplomat rather than a political expert, and he even criticized Lee Soon-ja's public activities in front of Chun Doo-hwan. However, Chun Doo-hwan sent Presidential Secretary Lee Hak-bong to persuade him.
From 28 January to 14 February 1983, he was appointed a presidential special envoy and toured Africa before returning. From 20 May to 4 June, he was again appointed a presidential special envoy and toured New Zealand, Indonesia, and Australia before returning home.
In June 1983, he became Presidential Chief of Staff, and in October of that year he accompanied President Chun Doo-hwan on a tour of five Southeast Asian countries. On 9 October, he died in the Rangoon bombing in Burma and was honored as a martyr. Before the arrival of the vehicle carrying President Chun Doo-hwan, while more than 80 cabinet ministers and journalists were rehearsing with him, agents of the Korean People's Army heard music and pressed a detonator, killing him along with more than 80 aides and journalists.
Ham Byeong-chun was the youngest son of Ham Tae-young, an independence activist and former Vice President of South Korea. His eldest son, Ham Jae-bong, served as a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Yonsei University and as the Korea Chair at the RAND Corporation, and is currently president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. His second son, Ham Jae-hak, is a professor at the Law School of Yonsei University.3 His half-nephew Ham In-seop served as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and as the first, second, fourth, and fifth dean of Chuncheon Agricultural College (a predecessor of Kangwon National University).
The Cultural Tradition of Korea and Law (Korean Academic Research Institute, 1993)
Papers
Study of Law and Society in Korea
On Korean Legal Culture
Family
Ham In-seop and Ham Ui-seop, who were 20 years his senior, were the sons of his half-brother Ham Byeong-chul, and were therefore his nephews. His father, Ham Tae-young, was widowed three times and had 14 children, most of whom died young.
Grandfather: Ham U-taek (咸遇澤, 2 December 1837 – ?)
Grandmother: Lady Byeon of Wonju (10 December 1850 – 1 September 1886)
Father: Ham Tae-young (咸台永, 22 October 18724 – 24 October 1964)
Half-brother: Ham Byeong-cheol (咸秉哲, 4 August 1889 – ?)
Half-sister-in-law: Lady Gang of Jinju (10 February 1890 – ?), daughter of Gang Seong-heum (姜星欽)
Nephew: Ham In-seop (咸仁燮, 3 May 1907 – 15 September 1986, dean of Chuncheon Agricultural College, served as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry)
Nephew: Ham Ui-seop (咸義燮, 1 April 1910 – 1995, also known as Ham Jae-ui (咸在義))
Mother: Ko Suk-won (高淑媛, 1887 – 1943)
Elder brother: Ham Byeong-so (咸秉照, 1928 – 2023, businessman)
Son: Ham Jae-bong (咸在鳳, 5 September 1958 – ), chairman and president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies
Son: Ham Jae-hak (咸在鶴, 1963 – ), professor at the Law School of Yonsei University
Evaluation
Within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is an assessment that he was a figure who could persuade Americans and Britons in English, while another view holds that his insufficient administrative experience made him somewhat less distinguished.
Walker (7 May 2003). "Ham Byeong-chun, a treasure of Korea... a true public servant who longed for the lecture platform". Hankook Ilbo. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2007. In fact, we were all delighted when Ham Jae-bong, professor at Yonsei University and eldest son of Ambassador Ham, gathered his father's unpublished writings with several scholars and published them in October 1993. The English unpublished manuscript, titled "Law, Politics and Culture in Korea," had already been published by the Yonsei University Press in 1986. I believe this book is a masterful work that is well worth reading for Westerners who want to understand modern Korea. His second son, Jae-hak, is also active in the legal field, following in his father's footsteps. ↩
Ham Byeong-chun (咸秉春, 26 February 1932 – 9 October 1983) was a South Korean university professor, diplomat, and legal scholar. He specialized in the sociology of law in Korea. He was the son of Ham Tae-young, the third Vice President, and the younger half-uncle of Ham In-seop, who was 25 years his senior and served as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and as dean of Kangwon National University. In 1983, he accompanied President Chun Doo-hwan on a tour of Southeast Asia and was killed by the effects of the Rangoon bombing. His family seat was Gangneung (江陵), and his art names were Changeun (滄隱) and Gosong (苦松).
After studying in the United States and returning home, he taught law at Yonsei University from 1959 to 1970, and again from October 1979 to June 1983, where he lectured and researched the sociology of law in Korean society and Koreans' attitudes toward law. In 1970, at the request of President Park Chung-hee, he served as Presidential Special Assistant for Political Affairs, a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, and Presidential Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs. From December 1973 to June 1977, he served as Ambassador to the United States. He returned to teaching, and in 1983 he was summoned by President Chun Doo-hwan to become Presidential Chief of Staff. That same year, he accompanied President Chun on a tour of five Southeast Asian countries, and on 9 October he was killed in the Rangoon bombing in Burma.
Life
Birth and early years
He was born on 26 February 1932 at the parsonage of Yeondong Church in Yeonmotgol, Seoul, the fourteenth of the fourteen children of Ham Tae-young. His father, Ham Tae-young, had been widowed twice and remarried Ko Suk-won as his third wife. Ham Tae-young had him in his sixties. Before turning 20, Ham Tae-young had a son, Ham Byeong-seok, by his first wife. Ham Byeong-seok died young, and his sons were Ham Byeong-chun's half-nephews, and Ham Ui-seop, who were 50 years older than Ham Byeong-seok and 20 years older than Ham Byeong-chun. However, when Ham Byeong-chun was born, only his full elder brother Ham Byeong-so, who was four years older, remained.
He was baptized as an infant at Yeondong Church and continued to attend the church afterward, serving as a deacon. In 1943, his mother Ko Suk-won died in a rented room in Myeongnyun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, and he was raised by his father, Ham Tae-young. It is said that after his mother's death, his father personally packed his lunch boxes.1
He graduated from Gyeonggi High School and, shortly after the Korean War, enlisted as an officer in the Republic of Korea Air Force, leaving the service in 1952 as a first lieutenant. In January 1953, he left for the United States and graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in economics. In 1959, he received a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) from Harvard Law School.
Education and political activity
In 1959, he became a law professor at Yonsei University, where he taught jurisprudence, Anglo-American law, and Korean legal history, opening up new fields of research. Afterward, together with Professor Yang Seung-du, he studied Korean legal consciousness and attitudes toward law in Korean society, and he published many papers in English as well as Korean. Although he was a legal scholar, he also researched Korean social traditions and the structure of Korean consciousness. While a professor, he was appointed director of the Social Science Research Institute at Yonsei University and held the post concurrently. In 1966, he went to the United States and conducted research at Yale University for two years before returning home.
In 1970, he became Presidential Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs and Security to President Park Chung-hee, and was subsequently appointed Presidential Special Assistant for Political Affairs. On the afternoon of 31 December 1973, the South Korean government appointed Ham Byeong-chun, then Presidential Special Assistant for Political Affairs, as Ambassador of South Korea to the United States.2 He took up the post as ambassador in 1974.
Ambassadorship to the United States
From autumn to winter of 1975, Philip Habib, who had previously served as ambassador to South Korea and was then Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the United States Department of State, informed him that President Park Chung-hee had to stop attempting to conclude a nuclear weapon-related agreement with France. Ham persuaded Park to do so.
In 1976, South Korean agents were discovered to have provided dinners and political funds to American politicians and to members of the Senate and House of Representatives in an effort to create favorable public opinion toward South Korea. This became the Koreagate scandal, and when calls for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Korea emerged in American political and academic circles, he persuaded American politicians and intellectuals and prevented the spread of public support for withdrawal.
In June 1977, he completed his term and returned home, was reassigned as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters, and on 12 January 1979 was appointed Presidential Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs.
Later life
After the October 26 incident, he returned to Yonsei University as a law professor, teaching jurisprudence, East Asian legal history, and legal anthropology. On 17 December, he was again appointed Presidential Special Assistant for Foreign Affairs and Security by President Choi Kyu-hah. On 2 August 1980, he was appointed a research fellow at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. In August 1981, he again taught as a lecturer at Yonsei University's law faculty, and in June 1982, he was appointed Presidential Chief of Staff by President Chun Doo-hwan. He declined the post, citing the fact that he was a diplomat rather than a political expert, and he even criticized Lee Soon-ja's public activities in front of Chun Doo-hwan. However, Chun Doo-hwan sent Presidential Secretary Lee Hak-bong to persuade him.
From 28 January to 14 February 1983, he was appointed a presidential special envoy and toured Africa before returning. From 20 May to 4 June, he was again appointed a presidential special envoy and toured New Zealand, Indonesia, and Australia before returning home.
In June 1983, he became Presidential Chief of Staff, and in October of that year he accompanied President Chun Doo-hwan on a tour of five Southeast Asian countries. On 9 October, he died in the Rangoon bombing in Burma and was honored as a martyr. Before the arrival of the vehicle carrying President Chun Doo-hwan, while more than 80 cabinet ministers and journalists were rehearsing with him, agents of the Korean People's Army heard music and pressed a detonator, killing him along with more than 80 aides and journalists.
Ham Byeong-chun was the youngest son of Ham Tae-young, an independence activist and former Vice President of South Korea. His eldest son, Ham Jae-bong, served as a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Yonsei University and as the Korea Chair at the RAND Corporation, and is currently president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. His second son, Ham Jae-hak, is a professor at the Law School of Yonsei University.3 His half-nephew Ham In-seop served as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and as the first, second, fourth, and fifth dean of Chuncheon Agricultural College (a predecessor of Kangwon National University).
The Cultural Tradition of Korea and Law (Korean Academic Research Institute, 1993)
Papers
Study of Law and Society in Korea
On Korean Legal Culture
Family
Ham In-seop and Ham Ui-seop, who were 20 years his senior, were the sons of his half-brother Ham Byeong-chul, and were therefore his nephews. His father, Ham Tae-young, was widowed three times and had 14 children, most of whom died young.
Grandfather: Ham U-taek (咸遇澤, 2 December 1837 – ?)
Grandmother: Lady Byeon of Wonju (10 December 1850 – 1 September 1886)
Father: Ham Tae-young (咸台永, 22 October 18724 – 24 October 1964)
Half-brother: Ham Byeong-cheol (咸秉哲, 4 August 1889 – ?)
Half-sister-in-law: Lady Gang of Jinju (10 February 1890 – ?), daughter of Gang Seong-heum (姜星欽)
Nephew: Ham In-seop (咸仁燮, 3 May 1907 – 15 September 1986, dean of Chuncheon Agricultural College, served as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry)
Nephew: Ham Ui-seop (咸義燮, 1 April 1910 – 1995, also known as Ham Jae-ui (咸在義))
Mother: Ko Suk-won (高淑媛, 1887 – 1943)
Elder brother: Ham Byeong-so (咸秉照, 1928 – 2023, businessman)
Son: Ham Jae-bong (咸在鳳, 5 September 1958 – ), chairman and president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies
Son: Ham Jae-hak (咸在鶴, 1963 – ), professor at the Law School of Yonsei University
Evaluation
Within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there is an assessment that he was a figure who could persuade Americans and Britons in English, while another view holds that his insufficient administrative experience made him somewhat less distinguished.
Walker (7 May 2003). "Ham Byeong-chun, a treasure of Korea... a true public servant who longed for the lecture platform". Hankook Ilbo. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2007. In fact, we were all delighted when Ham Jae-bong, professor at Yonsei University and eldest son of Ambassador Ham, gathered his father's unpublished writings with several scholars and published them in October 1993. The English unpublished manuscript, titled "Law, Politics and Culture in Korea," had already been published by the Yonsei University Press in 1986. I believe this book is a masterful work that is well worth reading for Westerners who want to understand modern Korea. His second son, Jae-hak, is also active in the legal field, following in his father's footsteps. ↩