Hajin Lee



Professional Baduk Player

I have played baduk since I was five. I loved this game, and wanted to become a professional player ever since I learned that I could have a such career. It was a tough journey, but I managed to get the professional certification at 16. Baduk used to be a war to me. It was always a battlefield, and I had to win for my own survival. I believed winning was everything--just as Machiavelli argued the end justifies the means, and Milton Friedman wrote the only responsibility of business is to make profits so long as it complies with the rules. 

As time passed, though, my perception of baduk has changed a bit. You don't have to win to enjoy it. Baduk is about discipline. You study, train, and practice to improve your level. Your overall strength depends on all three competency domains of the KSA model: knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Victory is just a byproduct of your well-executed disciplines, and should be used as a driver for further improvement. Baduk also gives you powerful tools, such as a sense of independence, a holistic view, a habit of constant assessment of changing environment, an intuitive pattern recognition, and an ability to control emotions. I believe in baduk's educational value, and want to contribute to the promotion of this wonderful game.    

Undergraduate Student

The baduk training was intensive and demanding. You have very little time for anything else. Unfortunately, I was always a curious girl. Literature, Science, Mathematics, History, English, Ethics, Tennis, Piano, and everything out there seemed so interesting. My parents or teachers would tell me that I could do anything I wanted to once I became a professional player, and I believed it. It was true, but also not true. Though I had no one to tell me I didn't have time for taking violin lessons, I still needed to focus on playing matches and studying baduk in order to perform well in professional tournaments. Advancing in tournaments was exciting, but I couldn't help thinking something was missing.

I knew i wanted to go to a university at some point, but didn't know when. In February of 2009, I played the best-of-three final of female Kuksu title against Rui Naiwei 9P, and lost by two to zero. I was frustrated, and decided to apply for universities to pursue a bachelor's degree. A year after, I was walking around my school as an incoming freshman. I entered SolBridge International School of Business, and am specializing in Human Resource Management and Finance.

Being a university student was much nicer than I have imagined. My school became my favorite place to stay. I like taking classes, reading textbooks, writing papers, and making presentations. SolDoree cafe has good coffee and sandwiches, the school library has a nice environment, and the computer lab is almost always open. I like my schoolmates, the faculty members, student council members, and administration officers. Of course this place is not free of problems, and I am not ignorant about them. What I also know, however, is that there is no perfect school in the world. I don't believe it's possible. So, I don't complain. I like my school, I am proud of it, and grateful to the school for my new life. 

Book Lover

I love reading books more than anything. My wish list for birthday was always full of book titles, and my dream place to live used to be Washington DC just because I heard the place was home to the world's biggest library. Classical literature is my favorite genre--Wuthering Hights, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Romeo and Juliette, Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, Invisible Man, The Great Gatsby, East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, The Sound and the Fury, Walden, and Catch-22 are some of the books I liked a lot. Outside literature, I also like to read books about history, philosophy, psychology, and economics. I am still finding my old kindle absolutely magical, and I would love to purchase newer version of kindle if anything happens to my current kindle. By the way, my kindle even has a name--The Thousand and One Nights. 

Lifelong Learner

I believe in continuous improvement. My goal of life is to become wiser everyday. Learning can occur everywhere; from reading, studying, talking, observing, thinking, or even drinking beer. I try to draw lessons from my experiences, and take corrective actions when it's applicable. It is easier said than done, and I do make the same mistakes over and over again. Yet, I am committed to trying to be better, and wiser everyday.