Legal scholar and diplomat, ambassador to the US and presidential chief of staff, killed in the 1983 Aung San bombing; pen name Changeun (Gosong)
| Life | 1932 ~ 1983 |
| Era | 대한민국 |
| Clan | 강릉 함씨 |
Ham Byeong-chun (咸秉春, 1932-1983) was a legal scholar and diplomat of the Gangneung clan, with pen names Changeun and Gosong. He was born on 26 February 1932 in the pastor's residence of Yeondong Church in Seoul, the youngest of Ham Tae-young and Go Suk-won's 14 children. His mother died in 1943, and after the Korean War he served as an air force officer, retiring as a first lieutenant.
He studied in the United States from 1953, majoring in economics at Northwestern University, and received a doctorate in juridical science from Harvard Law School in 1959, then joined Yonsei University as a law professor. He was special assistant to President Park Chung-hee for foreign and security affairs from 1970, and in December 1973 was appointed ambassador to the United States, taking up the post in 1974. Wikipedia says he helped persuade Seoul to halt a nuclear-related contract attempt in 1975 and worked to calm US opinion on withdrawing American troops after Koreagate in 1976.
He returned in 1977 as an ambassador at the foreign ministry, was foreign-affairs special assistant in 1979 and foreign and security adviser to President Choi Kyu-hah that December. In June 1982 he was appointed ninth presidential chief of staff and made special missions to Africa, Oceania and Southeast Asia in 1983. On 9 October 1983, while accompanying President Chun Doo-hwan on a Southeast Asian tour, he was killed at 51 in the North Korean bombing at the Aung San Mausoleum in Myanmar, along with many others. His remains arrived at Gimpo on 11 October and he was posthumously awarded the Order of Service Merit; he was given a national funeral on 13 October and buried at the Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong. His book Korean Cultural Tradition and Law survives; assessments praise his English persuasiveness while noting his limited administrative experience.
After earning his degree at Harvard Law School in 1959 he became a professor of law at Yonsei, and researched at Yale for about two years from 1966. He joined the government as special presidential assistant in 1970 and was named ambassador to the US in 1973.
On 9 October 1983, as preparations were under way at the Aung San Mausoleum in Myanmar for the visit of President Chun Doo-hwan's party, a bomb exploded and Ham Byeong-chun was killed. The government posthumously awarded the Order of Service Merit and held a national funeral.
He is buried at the Seoul National Cemetery in Dongjak-dong, after a national funeral on 13 October 1983.
Wikipedia lists his wife as the painter Sim Hyo-sik and his sons as Ham Jae-bong (Yonsei professor, president of the Asan Institute) and Ham Jae-hak (Yonsei law professor).