Yunghi Kim

@Yunghi.kim @Yunghi

Yunghi Kim is a photojournalist who has covered conflict and in-depth, issue-driven stories worldwide for almost four decades, including famine in Somalia (where she was held hostage ) and sexual slavery of the South Korean Comfort Women. Kim immigrated to the United States from South Korea at 10 years old. She graduated from Boston University in 1984 and began her career as a photographer at The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA, where she was the first woman photographer hired in the photography department. Kim then moved to The Boston Globe working as a staff photographer for seven years. In 1995 she became a member of Contact Press Images. Kim’s professional accolades include the Olivier Rebbot and the John Faber Awards from the Overseas Press Club, the National Press Photographers Association’s Clifton Edom Award and Joseph Costa Award, Pictures of the Year International (including Magazine Photographer of the Year 1997), the Visa D’Or for News, The White House Press Photographers, and World Press Photo, as well as a Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University’s School of Communication. She was also the 1993 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography for her work of Somalia famine. Kim has also served as a speaker at the Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference at Harvard University. She’s a former member of NPPA’s Board of Directors and a 2012 recipient of the United Nations’ Leadership Award in the field of photography, awarded by The International Photographic Council. Kim’s also served on the faculty of World Press Photo, Eddie Adams and Missouri Photo Workshop. In 2015, Kim instituted a grant to photojournalists – The Yunghi Grant – and in 2022, awarded $18,000 in grants to six photojournalists. Since its inception, the grant’s funded $100,000 to working photojournalists. In 2021, Kim debuted a short documentary film, in collaboration with and directed by veteran photojournalist Bill Frakes, “Unflinching Grace,” which looks back on decades of reporting by three women photojournalists.

IWMF Awards