Rod met Jongsoo Chang (holding the flag in the picture at the top of the blog) many years ago through their mutual scientific connections and at various conferences. We got to know him, and his family, much better in 2009. We went to a JRS symposium in Seoul, Korea, that he helped to organize and after the conference he took Rod and I, with his wife and two sons, on an amazing road trip. They were so excited and happy to share parts of their country with us, and we were happy to learn more about the Korean culture and history.
We have been friends ever since—they came to our university for a short stay one year, and in 2015 we were back in Korea for another conference and we stayed at their home for a couple of days. And over the years we’ve met up with him at other conferences in other places.
So, it was with great sadness that we learned of his tragic sudden death from cancer at the end of 2022. When we were back in Seoul this year for the JRS symposium many of us reminisced about Jongsoo and what a lovely person he was. One of his colleagues shared this short commemorative video with us, and wish I could share it here, but I’m not sure how to insert a video. We also met with his wife, Mi Kwon, and spent the afternoon and evening her, reminiscing about times spent together, crying and laughing. Thank you, Mi, for making the time to do that. We will always remember Jongsoo with great fondness, and hope to keep in touch with Mi.
I’m posting a few photos that we took over the years, many from the 2009 road trip.
Below are the links to some of the stories I’ve posted about experiences with Jongsoo.
This is about a special eel restaurant that he and Mi took us to.
And this is about the great road trip in 2009.
https://viviennemackie.com/Korea_2009/Road_trip_summary.html
Experiences in Korea and Japan 
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