Politics · nobility (pro-Japanese collaborator)
| Life | 1907 ~ 1982 |
| Era | 근현대 |
| Clan | 경주 김씨 |
Kim Jeong-rok (1907–1982) of the Gyeongju Kim clan inherited the Japanese-era barony from his grandfather Kim Chun-hui around 1932, after the death of his father Kim Gyo-sin, making him a member of the Joseon nobility under Japanese rule. He studied Asian literature in China before teaching at Hyehwa Vocational School (predecessor of Dongguk University) in 1939, resigning due to illness.
For inheriting the hereditary peerage he has been classified as a pro-Japanese collaborator by government findings and the Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Collaborators. He turned himself in to the postliberation Anti-National Acts Investigation Committee in 1949 but was not indicted, having been assessed as a naive academic figure. He later became a professor of aesthetics at Seoul National University, specializing in East Asian aesthetics, and counted the poet Kim Ji-ha and art historian Yu Hong-jun among his students.