Cardinal Cheong Jin-Suk Receives Seoul National University Honorary Diploma


▲ Cardinal Cheong Jin-Suk Holding Hands with Believers in front of Seoul Myeongdong Cathedral in June of 2012


▲ 72^nd Graduation Ceremony Held on February 26^th 2018
 

SNU College of Engineering (Cha Kook-Heon) presents “Seoul National University Honorary Degree” to Cardinal Cheong Jin-Suk at the 72^nd Graduation Ceremony held on the 26^th.
 
SNU is granting honorary degrees to people who have not graduated but have made large contributions to the country, people or development of the school. Since the start of the year, SNU has been preparing for Cardinal Cheong’s honorary diploma for the ceremony on 26^th.
 
Cardinal Cheong, who is the former Archbishop of Seoul, has been elevated to become the second Korean cardinalate of the Roman Catholic Church in 2006 following Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan. Cardinal Cheong entered SNU Department of Chemical Engineering in 1950, but, without finishing his studies, switched to the seminary in Seoul in 1954 to graduate in 1961. Initially, he admitted to the Department of Chemical Engineering wanting to become an inventor. However, after being shocked by the brutality of human destruction during Korean War, he has switched his path to become a priest.
 
The former Governor of Bank of Korea (BOK) Choi Chang-rak, who was a close benefactor to Cheong, has supported Cheong’s honorary diploma by sending recommendation letters to SNU. Choi who is the 9^th graduate of SNU Department of Political Science, former Senior Secretary to the President for Economic Policy, former Vice Minister of the Economic Planning Board, and former Governor of Bank of Korea past away last December after writing his recommendations.
 
In the recommendation letter, Choi states, “I have a close friend (Cardinal Cheong) whom I have known since young. Cardinal, as a priest, has always stood on the side of the weak to fight against injustice and social irrationalities. The memorial hall named after him is full of remains of ill wayfarers without family and relatives. His mind and life are worthy for him to become a paragon of Korea’s younger generations, especially our SNU students. He fits the type of talented individuals SNU aims to raise. Thus, I recommend Cardinal for the recipient of honorary diploma at my proud alma mater Seoul National University.”
 
Cardinal Cheong, in his written congratulatory message, states that he is deeply overwhelmed to receive a diploma after 65 years. He says that everything that has happened in the past 70 years seems like yesterday. Cheong recalls, “When SNU College of Engineering was still in Taereung, there was a military academy nearby. I still remember the chitchat and laughter of SNU students and military officers on vacation leave that filled the air of the train coming back to downtown on the Saturday afternoon of June 24^th, 1950. I never knew that would be the last day for me to go to and fro SNU. At the dawn of next day, the Korean war began as North Korean army clashed into South Korea and on the 3^rd, North Korean forces captured Seoul. Many young men and women on that train died fighting for the nation.” Cardinal, through his reminiscence, asked for graduating students to have courage against adversities, to not lose hope, and to have faith and love in themselves.