Commencement Address by the President Dear respected parents and guests of honor! And proud graduates! I would like to sincerely congratulate you proud Yonsei graduates for the rich harvest of your diligent study as you receive your bachelor’s, master's, and doctorate degrees. I would also like to express my thanks to the professors for their dedication and to praise the devotion of the parents. Now you will leave this school you have become so familiar with to go forward to the world at large. I have no doubt that you will become global leaders who will work not only for Korea, but also for the whole world. You may, however, start your experience in the world outside of university with frustration instead of meeting with what you have been hoping for. We are going through hard times, as we hear all around us. Not just as the president of this university, but as a member of the older generation, I feel sorry to see you walk into the uncertainty of the current situation. I share the overall sense of regret of my generation that we could have served as a better stepping stone for you. Dear graduates, In a time like this, what one needs most is to equip ourselves with a cool courage rather than to exaggerate problems one is facing. Nowadays, young people in Korea are easily frustrated, feeling that the world does not open doors to them. Yet they should first open their own doors to the world. That is the reality you are facing now. There are certain tasks given to each generation to solve. If we take a look back at the history of Yonsei’s past 124 years, there was no time when graduates were not faced with the problems unique to their generation. Graduates in the early days of Yonsei, who studied medical science and pharmacy while people in Korea did not open their mind to modern science itself, had to enlighten our nation while being suspected of being agents of Western imperialism. The fact that our nation had lost sovereignty weighed heavily on their lives. The rapid-paced history packed with wars, reconstruction, economic development, democratization, and globalization gave no quarters to each new generation, often demanding sacrifices of the young people of the time. In meeting these difficult challenges, the Yonsei graduates of the past have been the leaders of their times. Honorable graduates of Yonsei, One thing that is clear is that you, like those who went before you, will overcome the problems of your generation and stand up to the challenge. You will gratefully recollect in the future that the current hardship was a valuable opportunity as well as an ordeal. What then is the spirit that can make this come true? The most important spirit the times are expecting of us Yonseins is self-reliance. It is the spirit of serving society and country rather than waiting them to help ourselves stand up. A long running tradition in Korea regards entering government service as the most stable, if not the most honorable, option. But the pioneers of Yonsei chose to disagree, for pursuing career in the government officialdom for its own sake was less important for them than devoting one's life to social justice and public welfare. They were the first Koreans to confirm that participation in society in the spirit of self-reliance is the first step towards curing the ills of family, workplace, and community. We, the people of Yonsei, have never been mere success seekers. We do not feel ashamed of a noble failure due to our holding on to the noble principles, but we feel ashamed of a failure due to wasted time and resources. Yonseins do not define success as defeating and crushing our competitors. While we do not fear competition itself, our pride lies in the fact that we have overcome ourselves before taking the victory in competitions. This is the spirit of self-reliance shown in the lives of earlier Yonsei graduates, the spirit of first standing on your feet, and then turning to people’s difficulties to help them be self-reliant, too. You proud and esteemed graduates of Yonsei, You will soon become members of various organizations. You will have chances to succeed as you take part in the success of the community you belong to. To accomplish the success, don’t be a critic of your organization but find pleasure in taking responsibilities even if you are criticized by others. Be the seed corn that will lead to ample harvest. The difference between a successful family, enterprise, or country and the unsuccessful ones is the presence of the seed corn willing to sacrifice itself. There are many people in your organization who would like to complain and criticize but never sacrifice themselves. A genuine seed corn is hard to find. That is why companies look so carefully to recruit the right worker even though there are so many jobless people queuing up to be hired. Be a person whom companies and society need. And taste the fruit of success. Grow into a great person who meets the demand of our time, though there would no doubt be some hardships. Yonsei will support you, and will strive to better ourselves in carrying on our mission as the first and the best private university of this nation. Let’s encourage ourselves together and raise our voice to shout, AKARAKA! 23 February 2009, Kim Han-Joong, President of Yonsei University