School teacher who lost arm during military service calls for better support, education regarding disabilities

Kim Geun-hyo, a teacher at Baeksan Elementary School in Busan who lost his right arm during military service and now wears a prosthetic, poses for a photo in a classroom during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on April 16. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

 

Losing an arm in an unexpected accident may seem like a tragedy that happens only to a few, but for Kim Geun-hyo, who lost his right arm during military service in 2018, this is simply a reality.

 

“A disability is not something that belongs to a special few. Instead, it’s something that anyone can experience,” he said in an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Sunday, ahead of the National Day of Persons with Disabilities, celebrated every year on April 20.

 


 

Kim, now a teacher at Baeksan Elementary School in Busan, said that he still vividly remembers the moment that he opened his eyes in the hospital after the accident.

 

“I knew that it would be difficult to live the same life as I had before,” he said.

 

Right-handed before the accident, he had to relearn how to do everything
— from buttoning his clothes to eating with utensils
— with his left hand.

 

“Mundane actions became a series of tasks,” he said.

 

Kim Geun-hyo, a teacher at Baeksan Elementary School in Busan who lost his right arm during military service and now wears a prosthetic, poses for a photo in a classroom during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on April 16. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

 

At first, Kim found himself asking why this had happened to him. But over time, he resolved to move forward with his life instead of dwelling on the past.

 

“I realized it was a waste of time to keep thinking about any what-ifs,” he said. “You can only live once, so I decided to live without regrets.”

 

His family and fellow soldiers help him on his journey.

 

“I was able to get back on my feet because I wasn’t alone,” he said.

 

Rather than leaving the military as many would have expected him to, Kim made the surprising decision to return and complete his service, even though the site of his accident had become the place that he feared most.

 

“I felt that if I could go back there and finish what I had started, then I could do anything,” he said.

 

After completing his service, he set out on a new path, enrolling in a university of education to become an elementary school teacher.

 

His reason for doing so was clear: “Children see the world without prejudice more than adults do. I wanted them to accept disability as a part of life from a young age.”

 

Another major turning point in his life came in 2023, when he received financial assistance from Walk Together, a social welfare foundation that supports people with disabilities to create “a warm world without barriers.”

 

Kim Geun-hyo, a teacher at Baeksan Elementary School in Busan who lost his right arm during military service and now wears a prosthetic, poses for a photo in a classroom during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on April 16. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

 

The organization helped Kim pay for a robotic prosthetic arm, which cost approximately 100 million won ($68,100).

 

After being equipped with the prosthetic, his daily life became much more manageable.

 

“There were many things that I couldn’t do on my own before, but now I can handle tasks that require both hands, such as tearing open plastic packaging, opening beverage bottles and holding heavy objects,” he said. “The biggest change is that I no longer have to wait for someone’s help. It feels like I’ve been given a new life, a second chapter made possible by this support.”

 

He said that he initially worried that his students would be afraid when they saw him wearing the prosthetic, but they simply approached him with a curious look in their eyes and asked, “How does it move?”

 

“The children accepted me as I am, whether I was wearing the prosthetic or not,” Kim said. “That […] became a great source of comfort and courage for me.”

 

When his students told him, “You’re amazing,” he was reassured that he had made the right choice to become a teacher.

 

Kim also stressed that he did not want his story to be defined solely by how he “overcame” his disability.

 

“I hope that people see individuals with disabilities not as objects of pity but as equal members of society,” he said.

 

He added that more policies are needed to help people with disabilities return to society quickly, along with greater education to improve awareness of disabilities in everyday life.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY RHEE ESTHER [[email protected]]