Professor Lena Kim majored in History at Seoul National University, and studied Art History at the Graduate School of Harvard University and received her Ph.D. in 1972. A Professor of Korean Art and Buddhist Art at Hongik University, in Seoul, she has since retired, as of February 2007. Today, she actively participates in a variety of art history-related projects, along with serving as a member of the Advisory Committee of Cultural Properties Administration and ICOMOS-Korea.

Professor Kim has written several books and a number of articles, on the comparative analysis of Korea’s Buddhist sculptures, in Korean and Japanese as well as English.