Interview with Dr. Choe Jae Chun

Dr. Choe Jae Chun with Scholastic Kid Reporter Josephine Lee

“When you hear ‘Sociobiology’ it’s easy to imagine that it's a combination of sociology and biology,” says Dr. Choe Jae Chun, a sociobiologist and professor at Ewha Women’s University. Sociobiology studies the evolution and behavior of living animals, like ants, bees, and termites. Sociobiologists explore questions such as why animals live together and challenges they face, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Group animals, like humans, every once in a while, suffer tremendously because of infectious diseases, but even then, why do we get together?” said Dr. Choe. “Social living, must have great benefits but there are some disadvantages too.”

 Exploring Nature's Wonders 

For Dr. Choe studying sociobiology happened by accident. Originally from Gangleung, on the east coast of South Korea, he grew up exploring the forests, streams, and ocean near his hometown. It was not until college that he realized his passion could be a career.

Dr. Choe is known in South Korea for his work on ants. He initially studied an obscure insect called Zoraptera. He once believed they were evolutionary cousins of termites until a DNA analysis revealed that termites are social cockroaches. Despite this, Dr. Choe successfully studied the Zoraptera and other organisms. As a college professor, Dr. Choe’s students’ wide interests led him to expand his research. “We ended up studying magpies, Javan gibbons, dolphins, and humans—all kinds of animals,” he says.

A Life Dedicated to Science

He is close friends with Dr. Jane Goodall. “Well, Dr. Jane Goodall has many close friends… but for me, she’s close haha!” he said. He interviewed her for a popular Korean science magazine called “과학동아,” or in English, “Science Stories” Years later, they reconnected at Kyoto University and he shared “It was wonderful to see her again and I asked her if she could visit South Korea when she comes to Japan. She then came to visit us every two or three years..”

Dr. Choe Jae Chun and Dr. Jane Goodall

Inspired by her visits, helped create the Biodiversity Foundation, 생명다양성재단. An inspirational quote that Choe always uses is “알면 사랑한다.” In English, this means “Knowing is loving.” This means that the more you discover about a topic, the more your love grows.

“I used to read a lot of Scholastic books to my kid so I thought, it would be nice to write books for kids,” Dr. Choe stated. Dr. Choe’s recent book “최재천의 동물 대탐험” meaning “Choe Jae Chun’s Huge Adventure of Animals” is a winter-must-read-book. Dr. Choe comes out in the book as an ant specialist. Make sure you read it!

“알면 사랑한다!” “Knowing is loving!”

Choe Jae Chun