Korean’s Passion for Education Pays Off

In 1974, when Moon Il-ryong (49) was a junior in high school, he immigrated to the U.S., where he graduated from Harvard University and the School of Law at the College of William and Mary. He then worked as a lawyer for Korean businesses for 11 years.

In 1995, Moon could not resist his urge to escape from his comfortable life after reading a news article saying that his county would choose education committee members through elections rather than appointment.

He ran for a political post in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Washington D.C., where many highly-educated, high-income Americans live. The school district is famous for providing a high level of education.

During his campaign, supported by the Democratic Party, Moon tried to get the message across that “when I came to the U.S. when I was 17, I started empty-handed, but I tried hard and achieved many things. That is the result of education. I will pour a Korean passion for higher education into the future education of children in this county.”

To everyone’s surprise, he won the election and became the first Asian education committee member in Virginia.

His post on the Fairfax County School Board is an honorary one. He gets paid $12,000 to $13,000 a year for about 30 hours of work a week. Yet, he deals with important responsibilities like setting priorities in spending a $2.1 billion education budget and adjusting school districts in a region where people have a high interest in their children’s educations.

Moon holds a one-year chairmanship that the 12 board members elect. He lost his bid for the chairman’s post in 1999, and he re-ran for the post in 2003.

On the question why he ran for election three times, he answered, “As a graduate of Harvard University, I found myself becoming complacent working as a lawyer whose clients are Korean-Americans, and I felt ashamed in a way. I could not tell new immigrants to follow such an easy path.”

On the question, “Are you a lawyer or a politician?” he answered, “I am a politician. I earn a living by practicing law, but deep down in my heart, I am a school board chairman. I’m more interested in school board work,” added Moon. When he was asked whether he would try other elected offices, he answered, “I will take every opportunity, but I will wait for the right time.”

The interview was conducted in a high school gymnasium, not at his office. This reporter thought his choice of venue fit in well with his post as school board chairman, but he had an ulterior motive: his son was playing basketball in the gym at the time. “I watched every game out of the dozen my son has played in,” said Moon. He seemed happy despite the absence of his wife, who teaches piano at a high school in Washington.

Seung-Ryun Kim srkim@donga.com