The history of Korean studies in Russia goes back many centuries. Its active development begins from the end of the 19th century, and its flourishing - from the second half of the 20th century. However, while the history of Russian Korean studies of the 1940s - 2010s is known relatively well, there are still many white spots in the history of pre-revolutionary (before 1917) Korean Studies. One of these white spots is the life and work of the first teacher of the Korean language at St. Petersburg Imperial University - Kim Byeong-ok. Until recently, nothing was known about this man except his name and the fact that he was engaged in teaching activities and prepared two textbooks on the Korean language. In 2017, the author of the paper managed to find the first bits of new information about Kim Byeong-ok. For example, on the basis of archival documents, it was established that the year of birth of Kim Byeong-ok is presumably 1874. However, 2018 brought a truly remarkable discovery: the text of a unique interview was discovered, in which Kim Byeong-ok unexpectedly appears not only as a professional, but also as a person, a patriot of his country. The article presents a detailed analysis of an interview with Kim Byeong-ok for the first time in Russian Korean Studies.