Special contribution: Dr. Junbo Kim's contributions to the advancement of statistics in Korea and implications

Abstract

The very first statistics department in Korean universities was founded in 1962, meaning it has been 57 years since Korean academia has regarded statistics as a wholly independent field of study. Dr. Junbo Kim was the first faculty member hired by Korea University's statistics department. He made a seminal contribution to the development and publication of statistics textbooks in those early years, and in 1971, spearheaded the efforts to found the Korean Statistical Society, serving as its first president. Naturally, Dr. Kim's significant contributions have laid the cornerstones for the advancement of statistics as an independent field of study in Korea. In this paper, I will explore two main subjects: one is the early history of the Korean Statistical Society with a special emphasis on Dr. Kim's contributions, and the other is an analytical overview his publications. Specifically, I will focus on Modern Statistics: A Synthesis of Statistics and Estimates.(Kim, 1954), and.Inferential Statistics: An Introduction to Sample Survey and Experimental Design.(Kim, 1956).