{"id":1302,"date":"2025-11-06T14:20:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T19:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/voices\/?p=1302"},"modified":"2025-11-06T17:01:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T22:01:51","slug":"bridging-worlds-a-korean-american-perspective-on-modern-korea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/voices\/2025\/11\/06\/bridging-worlds-a-korean-american-perspective-on-modern-korea\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging Worlds: Negotiating Korean-American Identity, Family, and Belonging Across Borders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Geunghyul<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Interviewee<\/strong>: Geunghyul Park<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interviewer<\/strong>: Henry Landay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Synopsis<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geunghyul Park is a 18 year old freshman at Colby College who was born in South Korea and raised in Arlington, Massachusetts after his family emigrated to the United States when he was just 2 years old. He grew up speaking Korean at home and attending Korean Church with his family as his dad was a missionary \u2014 the reason for the family\u2019s emigration in the first place. Otherwise though, Geunghyul had a normal (as much as any childhood can be \u201cnormal\u201d) American childhood in the suburbs of Boston and identifies that as his home. He stayed in Arlington until his Junior year in high school where a storm of economic issues and the COVID-19 pandemic forced him, his mother, and his siblings to move back to South Korea \u2014 at three weeks’ notice. The interview covers such topics as identity formation in the U.S. as an American-Korean, adversity and isolation in a new place, and mixed stories growing up and living in post-war reconstruction era South Korea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was introduced to Geunghyul Park through Alexis Shepardson, a friend of mine who was Geunghyul\u2019s leader on his freshman orientation trip. The interview was conducted in person in the common room of my suite in the Foss dormitory on the Colby Campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This interview was conducted by Henry Landay. I am a senior at Colby College looking to graduate with a major in computer science with a concentration in artificial intelligence and a minor in environmental science. I am passionate about the human aspect of history and oral histories are a perfect medium to pursue that interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n