Lee Guk-jong

Lee Guk-jong was born in Gangseo-gu, Seoul in 1969. His father was a disabled Korean War veteran. As a child, Guk-jong's family was so poor that they had to subsist on government food rations. Due to the negative social views in Korea surrounding disabled veterans, he hid the fact that he was a son of national merit until middle school.

Young Guk-jong went to the hospital with a medical welfare card given to the people of national merit, but often got rejected for being unremunerative. He had to walk a long way because there were no big hospitals near his home. He decided that he would treat people better when he grew up.[2]

However, one hospital, Kim Hak-san Surgery, treated Lee Guk-jong the same as a regular patient. The doctor of the hospital refused to charge Guk-jong and would often give him pocket money.[3]

• Graduated from Ajou University College of Medicine
• Doctor of Medicine degree from Ajou University Graduate School of Medicine.
• Surgical Research Instructor of Ajou University Medical College
• Training at the University of California, San Diego, USA
• Full-time lecturer in the emergency medical class at Ajou University Medical College
• Training at The Royal London Hospital Trauma Center, UK
• A director of the Regional Trauma Center at Ajou University Hospital
• Head of Ajou University Medical Center's Trauma Research Institute
• Professor of Surgery and Emergency Medical Classes at Ajou University Medical School [4]

In January 2011, the Samho Jewelry of Korea's Samho Shipping Co. was hijacked by Somali pirates.[5] Republic of Korea UDT/SEALs were sent to retake the boat and wipe out the pirates. During the operation, Captain Seok Hae-gyun was seriously wounded by a gunshot. He underwent surgery at Oman University Hospital, but soon fell into critical condition. After news got back to Korea, professor Guk-jong was immediately dispatched to Oman. After checking Hae-gyun's condition, he made the judgement that Hae-gyun would die if left in Oman and insisted on escorting Captain Seok back to Korea using an air ambulance.[6]

However, the air ambulance intended to be used for the evacuation cost about US $380,000 to rent. As the Korean government stalled in providing payment, Guk-jong stated that he would pay for the rent, and that they needed to transfer him immediately. The situation was settled with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs eventually agreeing to pay for the expenses.[7]

After transferring Captain Seok to South Korea, Lee Guk-jong successfully conducted surgery on him. After the recovery of Captain Seok, both Seok and Guk-jong received medals for the incident,[8] bringing Guk-jong and Ajou University Hospital national recognition.

On November 13, 2017, Oh Cheong-seong, a North Korean soldier, crossed the Military Demarcation Line and attempted to defect to South Korea at one of the North Korean guard posts in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom. He was shot by another North Korean soldier pursuing him.[9] The soldier who defected to South Korea was seriously wounded and was rushed to Ajou University Hospital in a state of unconsciousness.[9] Lee Guk-jong was in charge of emergency surgery for the soldier, and after several operations, the soldier regained consciousness.[10]

The work environment of Korea's trauma surgeons is extremely intense. For example, Professor Chung Kyung-won, a colleague of Professor Lee Guk-jong, who went to Oman with him in Operation Dawn of the Gulf of Aden, went home only four times a year.[15] They said, "After the Operation of the Gulf of Aden, no one worked in trauma surgery, so three people had seven operations a day."[16]

Professor Guk-jong works 120 hours a week. He has worked 36 hours in a row consistently for 15 years in trauma surgery while occasionally taking short naps.[17]As a result, his right shoulder broke while going to the scene of the Sewol Ferry disaster and his left knee broke after he jumped out of a helicopter. His left eye became almost blind after capillaries in his eyes ruptured while he was treating Captain Seok Hae-kyun.[18]People around him tried to stop him, but he said he would rest after completing treatment. Even when surgery was over, he operated again and again when the patient came, and eventually almost went blind.[19] He discovered this issue in a medical checkup in 2015.

Most of Korea's trauma surgeons, including Professor Lee Guk-jong and Ajou University Hospital's trauma clinics, are in red and are maintained by government subsidies and sales from other departments.[20] Professor Lee Guk-jong expressed his feelings about the poor medical system in Korea. While participating in Ulchi-Freedom Guardian military exercise, he realized that Ajou University did not have a helicopter landing site. To solve this issue, he wrote a big 'H' on the street between the medical school and the hospital building and used it as a helipad. He said that rather than complimenting him, people treated him as a "crazy guy".[21]