Self Introduction (Profile)

My name is Ah Reum Kim, and the name comes from a Korean expression that means beautiful. I was born on January 8, 1990 in South Korea. Few years later I moved to California, United States and attended elementary, middle, and high school there. Afterwards, I have returned to Korea and started attending Sogang University, majoring in Business Administration.

Living in Korea once again, after having been away for many years, has left me with many difficulties to overcome. I was faced with cultural differences and language barriers that had to be overcome. The greatest obstacle was living up to the standards of being a Korean, when in fact it is not too much to say that at the time the only Korean aspect about me was my appearance. I use the term “standard” not to refer to some written out criteria, but rather to describe some invisible expectations that people have for other fellow Koreans such as the way a person should behave and speak or the things that one should know as a Korean like Korean history or politics. It takes a lot of time and effort to overcome these difficulties, but I consider this to be an on-going process and am willing to continuously put in more effort to improve.

Having lived abroad had some downside, but there were so many more benefits and advantages that override the bad. I have realized that when I look beyond the boundaries of Korea the world is so much bigger and full of countless opportunities. Thus, I learned to dream big and really reach for the stars. My goal now is to become an international lawyer specializing in areas such as global trade and corporate governance. I aspire to bridge the gap between Korea and the rest of the world, in the field of business. Ultimately, I would work in hopes to help Korea become the hub of Asia, also bridging the gap between the rest of the world and the Asian continent. I plan to do this by first enrolling in a Juris Doctor (JD)/Master in Business Administration (MBA) joint degree program in graduate school. The JD/MBA joint degree program will help me build the intellectual foundations for legal study, and then provide me with the opportunity to focus my studies on areas of my particular interest. Pursuing studies in international legal studies and international business simultaneously will be extremely beneficial in my future career and in reaching my goals.

Up to now I have introduced my background and future goals, and now I would like to share some more personal interests of mine. Until recently, I have never introduced baseball as being an interest of mine, but lately baseball has been my greatest interest. More specifically, I would have to say that it is not so much the sport itself that caught my attention but rather one particular baseball player. The person I am referring to is Shin-Soo Choo, a Korean Major League Baseball player of the Cleveland Indians. He ended the 2009 season with 20 homeruns and 20 stolen base, which put him in the 20-20 club, making him the first Asian ever to set the record. He is also known for the contribution he made in the 2009 World Baseball Classic on the Korean roster.

The reason I am so fond of him is that he had persevered through so many difficulties to be in the position that he is in now. He had to leave his family and friends to move to America when he was only 18. Not only had he moved to a whole new country alone, but he also didn’t speak a word of English. I cannot forget the words he had said over a telephone conversation with his father when he had first moved to the states, “Only if I can have just one person to speak to.” I also have lived abroad alone before when I was young, and even though I had no language barriers, the loneliness I faced on a daily basis was more difficult to bear than anything I have ever experienced. The fact that Shin-Soo Choo was able to persevere through those difficulties for his dreams to become a Major League Baseball player alone is so amazing. However, this was not the end of all the future obstacles to come.

For years, while he was signed with the Seattle Mariners, Choo’s career had stagnated and did not advance to the next level. This was due to the fact that another very famous Asian team member had the same position as Choo did. And finally when he had signed with a new team, the Cleveland Indians, and was on a roll to advance his career he got an unexpected elbow injury. He had to go through an operation and a long period of recovery. Not once had he given up, and finally his hard work is starting to pay off. Not only is he a hard worker, he is also very humble and very committed to his family. In an interview he had once said, “After retirement I plan to dedicate the rest of my life to spending time with my family.” For all these reasons and so much more, I respect him greatly and am very fond of him.