The first Korean leader to head a U.N. agency

The 6th Director-General of WHO, Lee Jong-wook. Although Lee became the first South Korean to head a U.N. agency, unfortunately he is regarded more highly in the international society than in Korea. As soon as the COVID 19 broke out, prompt action was taken by Strategic Health Operations Centre (SHOC, so called SHOC room), known as a core platform that facilitates international response to infectious diseases within the walls of WHO headquarters in Geneva. And Lee created this facility. That’s why his English initial name ‘JW LEE’ was added in front of the name of the center.The life of Lee Jong-wook was full of ups and downs. Four months before the liberation of Korea, Lee was born in Bukahyeon-dong of Seoul city 12 April 1945 as a 4th child to a family with 4 sons and 2 daughters. The 5 year old child, Lee had to endure great hardships during the Korean War. Grueling hardships, in the cold winter of 1950, on his long journey from Seoul through Cheongju to Deagu during the Korean War marked Jong-wook’s early years. His father started his career as a low-grade government clerk in Keijyo (old Seoul after liberation) during the Japanese colonial period, and later became the Mayor of major districts such as Mapo-gu office, Seodaemun-gu office, and Jongno-gu office. Thanks to his father, his family was well off. Jong-wook enrolled the most prestigious schools in Seoul, Kyungbock middle school and high school, meeting his parents’ expectation. And he was popular among his friends. He was the president of his class for the entire three years thanks to his outstanding social skills and leadership although he was a small boy. Misfortune came without notice. His father had to resign from the public office, as he was embroiled in political turmoils that followed the April 19 Revolution triggered by the March 15 rigged election of Syngman Rhee's regime in 1960. And in August of the same year, his father suddenly passed away from laryngeal cancer. Extreme stress and long smoking led him to death. After that, his family barely made ends meet. His mother had no choice but to sell a large house in Cheongpa-dong and move to a small house to pay for her children's tuition fees and to reduce living expenses. First, Lee’s family moved to hongje-dong Munhwachon Street, and then they were pushed out of the inner city to cheaper areas such as Bulgwang-dong, Nokbeon-dong, Susaek-dong, and Jinkwan-dong.Shock and reversal during this time affected his life, and his failures of college entrance were often attributed to such experiences. Initially he wanted to enter Seoul National University's College of Engineering, but he found it difficult to break through in the most fierce nation-wide competition. After completing military service and trying 4 times to enter Seoul National University's College of Medicine, he finally got in on his 5th try in 1970. He was 7 years older than his class mates. He chose college of medicine because his mother convinced him to do so as she had noticed that during the war even communists did not kill doctors.Though he started his campus life a bit later than peers, he prepared to study in the US throughout the entire college years. If he had succeeded in going abroad and studied in the US as planned, he would have been one of those typical Korean doctors in the foreign land. But his life completely changed when he happened to meet a Japanese woman like destiny while working as a volunteer at ‘the St Lazarus Village’-- a care center for people with leprosy-- located in the city of Uiwang in Gyeonggi-do Province. Reiko Kaburaki, who had studied English literature at Sophia University in Tokyo and dreamed of becoming a nun, was working as a volunteer for 4 years at the village.Why did he choose a Japanese woman when the relation between Korea and Japan went extremely bad? Despite strong opposition from people around him, he chose her as his life partner and consequently had to go through a lot of unexpected bumpy roads.

Spanish King Juan Carlos’ visit to WHO with Director General Lee Jong-wook.

Lee, having extraordinary social skills, forged great bond with global leaders.

As Reiko gave birth to a son, registering his nationality faced obstacles. Since Reiko was not entitled to permanent residence in Korea, his family was not able to stay together in Korea nor Japan. Jong-wook, who worked as a doctor of emergency room at Gangwon Provincial Medical Center (currently Gangwon National University Hospital), left for Hawaii of American territory in 1979 thanks to his American friends. There, Jong-wook studied for a master's degree in public health at the University of Hawaii and dived into research of leprosy which he had been frequently exposed to when working as a volunteer doctor at the St Lazarus Village. In June 1981, he started his career as a clinician at the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medicine Center in the American Samoan Islands in the South Pacific. Then in June 1983, he dived into the path towards global public health by advancing his career as a leprosy consultant to WHO in Suva, Fiji. Instead of comfortable life as an assistant lecturer at the University of Hawaii or as a clinician in American Samoa, he chose a rough path to treat patients and prevent leprosy by travelling remote villages in the South Pacific islands.For treatment and eradication of leprosy in the South Pacific region, Jong-wook went on a business trip for four to as many as six months a year. He made huge contribution to keeping leprosy prevalence rate ‘under 1 case per 10,000 people’ not only in the South Pacific, but also all over the world.Then he moved to the Western Pacific Regional Office in Manila to serve as ‘the Regional Adviser on Chronic Diseases’ and later became the director for communicable diseases, after which he focused on polio eradication. He focused on vaccination. Vaccines, used to be accessible mainly in advanced countries, were supplied to developing countries, resulting in great impact on fighting the polio virus. Dr. Lee relocated to the WHO headquarters in Geneva, first serving as the director of the Global Program on Vaccines and Immunization and later as the executive secretary of the Children’s Vaccine Initiative. His position held absolute power as it was called ‘Vaccine Czar’.But he was very down to earth, quite far from the image as someone with such a title. Regardless of superiority in the office, he was always smiling, witty, and passionate while having free and open communication with everyone. He assigned the right person to an important position, leaving him full authority, and intervened only if necessary. He always took a clear stand to fish or cut bait. Thanks to his leadership, the global polio eradication project, expanded by the WHO headquarter, achieved great results especially in developing countries. Among polio virus type 1 to 3, type 2 was eradicated as of 1999. Type 3 has disappeared since it was last reported in November 2012. Type 1 cases are still reported only in Afghanistan and Pakistan where vaccine supply and inoculation are near impossible due to prolonged armed conflicts. As such, it’s almost near to declare the end of polio. In January 2003, Lee became Director-General of WHO, the head of a UN agency. And what he has shown as a leader was just enough to impress global leaders. He gave hope to hundreds of thousands of underprivileged people who were left behind in developing countries through ‘3 by 5’ campaign which ensured that 3 million people with HIV/AIDS would have access to the medicines by the end of 2005. Despite strong opposition from people around, Lee pushed ahead with establishing the Strategic Health and Operation Center to respond to the worst-ever viral pandemic in advance. His extraordinary social skills helped him build close relationships with global leaders. And he is appraised to have significantly contributed to elevating WHO’s profile as the international public health and disease control tower. If he were alive, would WHO have better handled the COVID19 pandemic? Then this horrible disaster might have been put to an end already.