▲ Banners celebrating the election of U.S. Representative-elect Dave Ko (Korean name: Ko Won-young) are put up by the Jeju Ko clan's Yeonggok-gong faction clan association and village officials in Hagui-1-ri, Aewol-eup, Jeju, on the 5th.
Banners celebrating U.S. Representative-elect Dave Ko (41, Korean name: Ko Won-young), a 19th-generation descendant of the Jeju Ko clan's Yeonggok-gong faction, have been put up in Hagui-1-ri, Aewol-eup, Jeju, the hometown of his grandfather.
At 3:00 p.m. today (the 5th), three banners reading phrases such as "Pride of the Jeju Ko clan! Congratulations to Dr. Kwang-lim Ko's grandson Dave Ko (Ko Won-young) on his election to the U.S. House of Representatives" were put up in a row across from the Hagui Hanaro Mart.
The banners were posted under the names of the Hagui-1-ri Village Association, Go Choong-hong, Chairman of the Guiril Academy Board of Directors, Go Tae-sik, Go Kwang-bong, and other relatives.
Go Tae-sik, head of the Hagui-1-ri Senior Citizens Association, said, "I am an 8th-degree cousin of Dr. Kwang-lim Ko, the grandfather of candidate Dave Ko, making us 'gwandang' (a Jeju dialect term for relatives). It is a great honor and source of pride for our family that someone from our lineage has become a global figure."
He added, "We are sharing the news with other family members, and everyone is proud. All the residents of Hagui-1-ri are overjoyed."
Go Tae-yong, secretary-general of the main headquarters of the Jeju Ko clan's Yeonggok-gong faction clan association, also stated, "This is an honor for the family. We heard that candidate Dave Ko loves his hometown of Jeju. As we happen to have a clan association event today, we plan to share the news of candidate Dave Ko and celebrate together."
The "Monument to Honor the Family of Dr. Kwang-lim Ko," erected at 525 Hagui-1-ri just across the street from where the banners were hung, is also drawing renewed attention.
Built in 2005, the monument contains the life and family history of Dr. Kwang-lim Ko, the grandfather of the representative-elect.
Dr. Ko was a 17th-generation descendant of the Jeju Ko clan's Yeonggok-gong faction and was born in Hagui-1-ri, Aewol-eup, in 1920.
After graduating from Aewol Sinwoo Public Ordinary School, he went through Gyeongseong Normal School and graduated at the top of his class from the Faculty of Law at Gyeongseong Imperial University.
Later, he earned a Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University and a J.D. from Harvard University in the United States.
Following liberation, he taught at Seoul National University before moving to the United States in 1949, where he served at the United Nations and as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States.
Later, he founded the Boston Korean Association and taught at universities including Yale University.
Dr. Ko's wife, Dr. Jeon Hye-sung, majored in sociology and anthropology and served as a professor at Yale University.
Together with Dr. Ko, she also established the Dongam Research Institute to foster future generations and contribute to society.
Dr. Ko's six children are known to have collectively earned 12 doctoral degrees from Yale and Harvard universities.
The representative-elect's father, Howard Koh (Ko Kyung-joo), a professor at Harvard University, served as Assistant Secretary for Health in the Barack Obama administration.
The representative-elect was born to a Korean father and a Lebanese mother, and uses the Jeju Ko surname after his father.
In September 2013, he also visited Jeju, his grandfather's hometown, in person.
Earlier, the Associated Press projected that representative-elect Ko had secured victory in the U.S. House of Representatives election for Massachusetts' 6th congressional district on the 3rd, local time.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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