Byeon Yeong-ro

Byeon Yeong-ro (卞榮魯, May 9th, 1898 in lunar calendar ~ March 14th, 1961) was a poet, English literature scholar, educator, essayist and translator of Korea.

He was a professor at Sungkyunkwan University. He was a real younger brother of Byeon Yeong-man, a former professor at Sungkyunkwan University, and Byeon Yeong-tae, a former Prime Minister. His original name was Yeong-bok but it was later renamed as Yeong-ro. His family origin is Miryang.

Life His real name was Yeong-bok (榮福) but he often used the name Yeong-ro later. In 1958, he was officially renamed to Yeong-ro through a lawsuit for renaming. His pen name was Suju (樹州). He was born in Hoehyeonbang, Namseo, Hanseong-bu. The place of his domicile was Gori-dong, Haoheong-myeon, Bupyeong-Dohobu, Gyeonggi-do (currently 313, Gogang-dong, Ojeong-gu, Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do).

After having dropped out of Choong Ang School (currently Seoul Choong Ang High School) and taught at Choong Ang School, Ewha Womans School, etc., he went to the United States to study in the Department of English Language and Literature at San Jose State University, California but finally he dropped out of the university. As a pioneer of the modern poem at the beginning stage of modernism literature, he introduced techniques that put lyricism and symbols into the compressed phrases.

He expressed the national consciousness in his poems and he also has talents in writing essays. After the liberation, he became a professor at Sungkyunkwan University and the Republic of Korea Naval Academy. As the chief director of Korea Information Service Inc., he issued an English-language daily. In 1951, he was awarded the 2nd Seoul City Cultural Prize. In 1955, he was elected as the First Chairman of the Korea P.E.N Club.

He died of throat cancer on March 14th, 1961.

Academic Background Completed the course of Gyeongseong Jaedong Elementary School Graduated from Gyeongseong Gyedong Elementary School Dropped out of Gyeongseong Choong Ang High School Graduated from Gyeongseong YMCA English School Dropped out of San Jose School (Department of English Literature) of California State University, USA

Works His representative works are “Nongae”, “Sabyeoksong”, “Myeongjeong 40 Years” (a collection of his essays), etc.

Popular Words and Meaning “No one can surpass Suju (Byeon Yeong-ro) in drinking and no one does Gongcho (Oh Sang-sun).” It is a popular sentence that had been on everyone’s lips in the mid-1950s in Seoul area. It means Suju Byeon Yeong-ro was second to none when it came to drinking and Gongcho Oh Sang-sun was second to none when it comes to smoking.