CHINSUNG CHUNG 정진성

Portrait of Chinsung Chung. Se is wearing a gray suit and standing in front of a bookcase.
Chinsung Chung

Yŏsŏng sinmun article on Chung Chin-Sung being awarded Republic of Korea Human Rights Award in commemoration of 65th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights

KFAS Fellowship 1st Term (1978)

PhD, Sociology, University of Chicago, 1984

Thesis: Colonial Migration from Korea to Japan

Work & Experiences 

  • Assistant Professor, Sociology, Duksung Women’s University (1985-1996)
  • Professor of Sociology, Seoul National University (1996-2018)
  • Member, UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (2008-2013)
  • President, Korean Association of Women’s Studies (2012)
  • President, Korean Sociological Association (2012-2013)
  • Director, Human Rights Center, Seoul National University (2012-2015)
  • Presidential Order for Human Rights in Korea (2013)
  • Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Award for Women Leaders (2014)
  • President, Korean Association on Human Rights Studies (2017-2018)
  • Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Seoul National University (2018-present) Member, Vice President, UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2018-present)
  • President, KOICA Human Rights Management Committee (2019-present)

Chinsung Chung’s research has focused on human rights and women, beginning in the 1990s with research on the Korean “comfort women.” Chung has worked actively for human rights issues for women, including marriage migrant women, and publishing numerous books and research papers related to human rights and Korea-Japan relations, including UN and Formation of Human Rights Norms (2019) and “Comfort Women” in The US Records on the Japanese Military. Chung was the first Korean member elected to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.