[KS] Key P. Yang (1920-2015)

Frank Joseph Shulman fshulman at umd.edu
Sun Mar 15 02:13:26 EDT 2015


KEY P. YANG, 1920-2015

Key P. Yang [Yang Ki-baek / Yang Key Paik] of Bethesda, Maryland, a well-known area specialist on Korea at the Library of Congress for over forty years, died on January 16, 2015, at a nursing home where he had lived since the previous August. The cause was respiratory failure.

Mr. Yang was born in Naju, Korea, in 1920. He emigrated to the United States in 1949 and earned a bachelor's degree at Monmouth College in Illinois, a master's degree in public administration at American University in Washington, D.C., and in 1960, a master's degree in library science at the Catholic University of America. He lived for most of his life in the Washington, D.C. area.

In 1950, the Library of Congress established a subsection for Korea in its Orientalia Division (now known as the Asian Division) in order to meet the increasing demands for information occasioned by the Korean War. Mr. Yang joined the Korea subsection that year -- he was the first permanent staff member to catalog the growing Korean-language collection -- and he subsequently became a reference librarian and then, in 1972, the library's Korea area specialist.

In 1990, under the Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, the Library of Congress formally established a Korean Section within the Asian Division; it previously had been part of the library's Chinese section. Mr. Yang was appointed as the section's first head. He also served as the acting chief of the Asian Division for eighteen months, before retiring in 1995, and received the library’s Meritorious Service Award.

Mr. Yang was a charter member of the Columbia University Seminar on Korea. He served as chairman of the Korean Materials Subcommittee of the Committee on East Asian Libraries (CEAL) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS). He was a member of the American Council of Learned Societies-Social Science Research Council (ACLS-SSRC) on Korean Studies. Mr. Yang served as a U.S. State Department senior fellow in Korea and as a Fulbright lecturer there. He also was a research adviser and archivist for the South Korean embassy in Washington for five years. He wrote books and scholarly articles, contributed book reviews to numerous journals including the Journal of Asian Studies, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Tongguk (Dongguk) University in Seoul for his scholarly achievements.

Mr. Yang's wife of sixty-five years, Heseung (Hazel), passed away in 2010. He is survived by three daughters, Won Y. Everett (William Wayne), Ellen Latterner (Peter) and Grace Yang as well as by four grandsons and three great-granddaughters.

The following is a chronologically arranged listing of some of his many publications and unpublished writings:

Korean Surname List, Compiled for the Library of Congress Aug. 1951, by Key P. Yang. Revised April 1955. Washington, D.C.? 1955. 15 leaves.

The North Korean Regime, 1945-1955, by Key P. Yang. Washington, D.C., 1958. 130 leaves.

"An Outline History of Korean Confucianism, Part 1: The Early Period and Yi Factionalism", by Gregory Henderson and Key P. Yang. Journal of Asian Studies (Ann Arbor, Mich.), 18, no.1 (Nov. 1958): 81-101.

"An Outline History of Korean Confucianism, Part 2: The Schools of Yi Confucianism", by Key P. Yang and Gregory Henderson. Journal of Asian Studies (Ann Arbor, Mich.), 18, no.2 (Feb. 1959): 259-76.

Reference Guide to Korean Materials, 1945-1959, by Key P. Yang. Master's thesis, Catholic University of America, 1960. viii, 131p.

"The North Korean Educational System: 1945 to Present", by Key P. Yang and Chang-boh Chee. IN North Korea Today, edited by Robert A. Scalapino. New York: Praeger, 1963. First published as part of a special issue of the China Quarterly (London), no.14 (1963): 125-40.

"Source Materials on Korean Political Development", by Key P. Yang. IN A Pattern of Political Development: Korea, edited by C. I. Eugene Kim. S.l.: Korea Research and Publication, 1964: 177-200.

A Guide to Doctoral Dissertations Written by Korean Students in the United States, 1910-1965, and Those Written by Americans on Korean Affairs, by Key P. Yang. S.l., 1965. 139 leaves.

Ch'uryôsô yôkkûn Miguk Kukhoe Tosôgwan sojang Pukkoe charyo mongnokchip. Sôul: Kukt'o T'ongirwôn, 1970. 755p. [Selected North Korean source materials held by the U.S. Library of Congress]

A Glossary of Traditional Korean Institutions of the Late Yi Dynasty, by Key P. Yang. S.l., 1972. 138 leaves. Submitted to the Association for Asian Studies' Workshop for the Standardization of English Translation of Korean Technical Terminology held on January 18-21, 1973, at Berkeley, California.

The Korean Traditional Personality and Its Social and Cultural Milieu, by Key P. Yang. New York: Columbia University Seminar on Korea, 1972. 25 leaves.

East Asia Communist Leaders and Their National Traits: Kim Il Sung, by Key P. Yang. S.l., 1976. 20 leaves. Prepared for presentation at the fifth annual meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Region Association of Asian Studies, Pennsylvania State University, October 31, 1976.

Non-Aligned Movement: Glossary and Bibliography, by Key P. Yang. Seoul: Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, 1980. 182p.

"Library Resources and Needs for Korean Studies", by Key P. Yang. IN Korean Studies in America: Options for the Future, edited by Ronald A. Morse. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America; Washington, D.C.: East Asia Program, Wilson Center, 1983: 129-131; AND Association for Asian Studies. Committee on East Asian Libraries Bulletin (Cambridge, Mass.), no.73 (Feb 1984): 31-33.

"Yônam Pak Chi-wôn's Ûichong sot'ongso", by Pak Chi-wôn, translated by Key P. Yang. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (Seoul), no.57 (June 1983): 33-51.

Publications and Organizations of Korean Residents in the United States, 1979-1984, by Key P. Yang. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1985. 44 leaves.

Korean War Bibliography = Han'guk chônjaeng tosô mongnok, by Key P. Yang. Washington, D.C.: Yang Ki-baek, 1990. 263, xix leaves.

A List of Americans' Records and Papers on Korea = Miguk nae Han'guk kwallyôn kirok mit sôryu mongnok. Yôngmunp'yôn, compiled by Key P. Yang. Seoul: Korea Foundation [Han'guk Kukche Kyoryu Chaedan], 1991. xii, 343p.

Union List of North Korean Serials and Newspapers in Five U.S. Libraries, compiled by Key P. Yang. Washington, D.C.: Korean Section, Asian Division, Library of Congress, 1991-1995. 144 leaves.

Saenggakke hanûn mal kwa kûl = Quotations to Ponder, by Yang Key Paik. Sôul: Bauhaus Pub. Co., 1997. 143p.

Yôndae taejop'yo = Chronological Tables of Dynasty Reigns of Korea, Japan and China, by Key P. Yang. Sôul: Bauhausu, 1997. 78p. (Han'gukhak wihae yôkkûn kûl hanarûm, 3).

Han'guk munhwa wa yesui kwa munmyông ûi saengni: sôji wa sasaek = Physiology of Korean Culture, Art and Civilization: Facts and Thoughts, by Key P. Yang. Sôul: Yang Ki-baek, 2001. 484, 98, 70p.

Han'guk sôji irûmssi p'uri = Bibliographical Lexicon Potpourri, by Key P. Yang. Sôul: Yang Ki-baek, 2001. 546p.

Han, Il, Chung: chônt'ong sahoe mosûp moûm = Korea, Japan, China: Their Traditional Social Molds, by Key P. Yang. Sôul-si: Songhak Ch'ulp'ansa, 2005. 400p. (Yang Ki-baek san'go, 5).

Kukka wa munhwa wa kukhak iran mwôlkkayo = Nationhood, Culture and Koreanology: A Polemic, by Yang Ki-baek. Sôul-si: Sônin, 2006. 503p.

Mi ûisarok Han'guk kwan'gye kirok yoyakchip, 1878-1949 = Compendia of Korean Records Appearing in the U.S. Congressional Records, 1878-1949, by Yang Ki-baek. Sôul-si: Sônin, 2008. 284p.


MAJOR SOURCES: Library of Congress Gazette, no.8, 2015, page 8; Washington Post, January 25, 2015, page C10; Washington Post, February 15, 2015, page C9; Catalog of the Library of Congress; online Bibliography of Asian Studies of the Association for Asian Studies; WorldCat.

Frank Joseph Shulman
Bibliographer, Editor and Consultant for Reference Publications in Asian Studies
9225 Limestone Place
College Park, Maryland 20740-3943 (U.S.A.)
E-mail: fshulman at umd.edu

March 15, 2015



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