Kilnam Chon

Kilnam Chon (Korean: 전길남; born 3 January 1943) is a South Korean computer scientist widely recognized for his pioneering contributions to the development of the internet in South Korea. His work led to South Korea becoming the second country in the world, after the United States, to establish an IPv4 network connection. Often referred to as the father of the Korean Internet, Chon played a key role in connecting Seoul National University and the Korea Institute of Electronics Technology in May 1982, marking a significant milestone in the country's technological advancement.

Chon earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Osaka University in 1965 and later obtained a M.S. and Ph.D. in systems engineering from UCLA in 1967 and 1974, respectively. He worked as a computer system designer at Rockwell International and as a technical staff member at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory before returning to South Korea in 1979. There, he joined the Korea Institute of Electronics Technology (later known as the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) as a researcher. From 1982 to 2008, he served as a professor of computer science at KAIST, where he continued to influence South Korea's digital infrastructure and the broader development of computing and networking technologies.