Yang Sung-sook

In this Korean name, the family name is Yang.
Yang Sung-sook
AllegianceSouth Korea
Service / branchRepublic of Korea Army
RankBrigadier-General

Brigadier-General Yang Sung-sook was a South Korean army officer.

Yang was born in 1949/50 and attended Chonnam National University from which she graduated with a bachelor's degree in nursing science. She joined the Republic of Korea Army in 1973 as a second lieutenant.[1] By 2001 Yang had reached the rank of colonel.[2] That year she was promoted to brigadier-general upon assuming command of the Military Nursing Academy.[1] Yang was the first woman in South Korea to become a general officer.[3] Yang was quoted at the time as saying: "As the nation's first female general, I will do my best for the military and the country. I hope this promotion will encourage other female officers"[1]

The press coverage around Yang's appointment has been used as an example of gendered news reporting: South Korean press reports complimented Yang on her skill at making kimchi soup and in applying her make-up, rather than any military expertise.[4] Yang retired from the military in 2004.[3]

  1. ^ a b c "S.Korea Names First Female General". People (China). Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  2. ^ Hoare, James E. (2015). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 508. ISBN 9780810870932.
  3. ^ a b "Army names nation's first female combatant general". Korea Herald. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  4. ^ Narayan, Hriday (June 2015). "Women's Participation in Korea since the Late Nineteenth Century: Dichotomy of Development". Journal of Contemporary Korean Studies. 2 (1): 138. Retrieved 24 September 2019.