His dream is establishing a small museum, so named “MUSEUM OF 3 (or 3 MUSEM)” in the near future. Here is an article that a Korean journalist wrote about Young Kyoon Kim.
“Finding ‘3’ for 20 years; Meet the doctor who solves the value of life with the cosmic symbol of a numeral ‘3’”
A great French writer Honore de Balzac said, “People exaggerate.” People exaggerate not only when they are sad but also when they are happy. I used to think that all the people whom I’ve ever met were special. I confess that I have exaggerated my feelings owing to the self-confidence derived from my own high self-consciousness. But, when we not exaggeratedly but truly see a special person, there is no doubt that the expression ‘special’ is true.
Since he was granted the degree of doctor of medicine, Dr. Young-Kyoon Kim has lectured on his techniques and experiences for aesthetic cosmetic surgery across the world. His curiosity about people has led him to undertake vigorous medical research and, in addition, his sensibility and deep observations of life have compelled him to study the numeral ‘3’ which, he believes, can unlock the symbols of cosmic truth.
When I met Dr. Kim at his <5050 clinic> in Bucheon, I thought at first that he must be very tired of his work. But as I grew to know Dr. Kim and his staff, they seemed to be quite engaged and lively. I was very surprised at Dr. Kim’s energy while he showed me around his office. I could easily find vestiges of his surgeries, including hands-on educational courses and workshops that he jointly ventured with famous cosmetic surgeons from the U.S.A., Australia, China, Japan and France. There was also an impressive lecture room in his clinic. It seemed to be well used. Dr. Kim introduced me to his newly invented instruments for cosmetic surgery. In addition, I got the chance to see many photographs of famous foreign cosmetic surgeons posing with him.
A foreigner came into the lecture room after a little while. His name was ‘Gord’, a Canadian, who has led an English class daily for the entire staff of the clinic. I was very impressed that his staff had the understanding that we are now in a global era. After the English class, I went to Dr. Kim’s home in Ilsan to view his life after work. Although I had already known that he was an unusual person, Dr. Kim’s house was quite extraordinary. It was replete with his many paintings, full of materials on the numeral ‘3’ in the cabinet and in the corridor like a storage facility for a museum. It seemed that the total space of house was prepared for Dr. Kim only. I could understand the deep regard of his family excusing not only his academic works but also moral attainments. Dr. Kim confessed that his lovely family has spent a considerable time in supporting his humanistic activities for more than 20 years. I thought that it was impossible that Dr. Kim has been undertaking his humanistic activities without his supportive family. I was very impressed with Dr. Kim’s study room. After seeing it, I realized that he was one of the most diligent individuals that I had ever met. I admitted that I was ashamed at my own limited ambitions. In addition to being a painter, I discovered that Dr. Kim was also a playwright. His study room was attractive and arranged with the intensity of a dedicated writer, with stockpiles of books about myth, archeology, folklore, and history lining every wall. There seemed to be no limit to his curiosity and thirst for knowledge. “I have fallen into reading as many books as possible on myth, folklore, and history to advance my knowledge about the numeral ‘3’ as background for the book that I am writing on the subject,” Dr. Kim said.
“Twenty years ago I was concerned about ‘Sam-Sin grand mother’, a character who appeared in Korean traditional costume and in our myths.”, Dr. Kim explained. ‘Sam-Sin grand mother’ was depicted as a deity who gives every woman a baby and protects every new infant in Korean myths and costume.Taking charge of a child’s birth results from an instinct for preservation of the human species. That reflects a human’s fundamental will and desire beyond time to pass his or her genes to the next generation.
As part of Korean folk-belief, Sam-Sin offered 3 fruits, 3 bowls with rice, and 3 cups of water during her sacred rite. Since Dr. Kim knew about that, his intuition about the numeral ‘3’ has evolved. There have been two hypotheses to define the meaning of ‘Sam’ of ‘Sam-Sin’. One is that ‘Sam’ means ‘3’. The pronunciation of the number 3 is ‘Sam’ and ‘Sin’ means god( or goddess) in Korean.
And another is that ‘Sam-Sin grand mother’ is regarded as ‘a goddess of birth’ because ‘Sam-Sin grand mother’ plays a role to give every woman a baby. But there were few documents to corroborate the likelihood of these hypotheses as established theories. Dr. Kim began to collect data concerning ‘Sam-Sin grand mother’ and studied all of the myths in connection with the numeral ‘3’ in the world. He began to study Korean shamanism through wide review of the existing literature, including the shaman’s scripture Samsinkyoung with regards to the data concerning the ‘Sam-Sin grand mother’ and he has met many Korean shamans. During his study of Korean shamanism, Dr. Kim wrote the play “Become A Soul, Become The Sea”. Korean shamanism is a central facet to his play. This play won Dr. Kim recognition as a playwright from the “Korean Drama Association” and “The Korean Culture & Arts Foundation” in 1993. The first staging of the play was made in a theater in Daehakro in Seoul in 1993 (directed by Yo-Cheol Ju).
Ten years ago, Dr. Kim met a kindred spirit, Dr. Ja-Ryong Cho who established the common people’s academy and named “Minhak”. Dr. Cho was also immersed in the study of folklore and the collection of Korean folk material. Likewise, he was studying ‘Sam-Sin’. He defined the three gods of Hwanin1), Hwanoong2), and Tangun3)as ‘Sam-Sin'(the three gods in Korean), and insisted that ‘Sam-Sin’ was transformed into ‘Sam-Sin grand mother’ as time went by. But, Dr. Kim assumed that ‘Sam-Sin grand mother’ was ‘a goddess of birth’ originally who played a role of midwife from a medical point of view. So, he was immersed in the study of folk-beliefs, and found an interesting hypothesis from the scholar Nam-Sun Choi. He insisted that ‘Sam’ and ‘Sam-Jul’ both mean umbilical cord. The word ‘Sam’ was used in the old literature as the meanings of ‘fetal’ or ‘umbilical cord’. The word ‘Jul’ is a cord or rope in Korean.
So, Dr. Kim began to study the ‘3 deities’ found in the world myths and history, related to a goddess of birth. In addition, he studied whether Korean ‘Sam-Sin’ was influenced by Chinese culture and costume or not. With greater study, he realized that ‘3 deities’ who existed all over the world were closely related to the numeral ‘3’ and/or a triangle. I made sure that the numeral ‘3’ was the unique symbolic number with relation to various fields such as folklore, religion, architecture, arts, ideology, and mythology. He began to study the mythologies, history, archeology, folklore, grammar, and aesthetics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Hinduism in order to find answers to ongoing questions. Finally, Dr. Kim defined the cultural phenomenon of the numeral ‘3’ as ‘the culture of 3’, and began to write a book about it. He has explored the far reaches of the globe in his quest to find ‘the culture of 3’ and collected many cultural artifacts during his mission.
