S. Korean Politician Breaks With Tradition

When South Korean politicians visit Los Angeles--the capital of Koreans in the United States--they routinely meet with first-generation immigrants at fancy restaurants and conduct their business as they would in Korea.

“Like frogs in a well, they don’t know how the outside world is going,” said Howard Y. Ree, a Korean American banker who has lived in Los Angeles since the early 1960s. “Language [inability to speak English] really hampers them.”

But on Friday, a different breed of lawmaker from Seoul named Lee Bu-Young shattered the immigrant community tradition by mixing with younger Korean Americans and engaging in a spirited discussion with them in English over Korean beefsteak and rice in a Koreatown hotel.

His target--American-born Koreans and those who came here as youngsters--loved it.

“It really helps when it’s in English,” said attorney Tammy Chung Ryu, who feels more comfortable in English even though she speaks Korean.

Ryu said she found the exchange with Lee refreshing because he brought a first-hand perspective about what’s happening in South Korea.

“So much of the news about South Korea comes through the mass media,” she said. “After hearing him I feel much better equipped to explain [South Korea] to my colleagues and friends who are not Korean,” she said.

Charles Kim, executive director of the Korean American Coalition, who has worked in Koreatown for more than two decades, called the meeting of the lawmaker and younger Korean Americans historic.

“This is the first time a politician from Korea has ever met with a bunch of young people and spoken to them in English,” he said.

Lee, a former newspaperman who studied English while serving a seven-year sentence for opposing two South Korean dictators in the 1970s and 1980s, said he was leery about speaking in English.

“Like most Koreans [who learned English in Korea], my English is poor,” he said. But he took the plunge because he wanted to reach out to young Korean Americans in the mainstream.

Lee, vice president of the opposition Grand National Party, made a brief stopover in Los Angeles on his way to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, where he will speak to the North American Friendship Council on the U.S. role in bringing the two Koreas closer.

Dubbed a “leader for the next generation,” Lee has a sizable following in the United States. His classmates from high school and Seoul National University have formed Friends of Lee Bu-Young committees in seven cities, including Los Angeles. They consider Lee, who is 57, a rising star and presidential material.

Under Fire From Media

Fiercely independent, he was assailed by the news media and many politicians in 1994 when he suggested that South Korea send a “condolences delegation” to Pyongyang after North Korean leader Kim Il Sung died.

But during his session with the Korean Americans on Friday, he said that if then-South Korean President Kim Young-Sam had taken his advice, it would have not taken an additional six years for the leaders of the north and south to meet. South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il held a summit meeting in June, the first such contact between the north and south in more than half a century.

In response to questions from the audience, the legislator said marked progress in South Korean politics will not come until the “three Kims”--Kim Dae-Jung, Kim Young-Sam and Kim Jong-Pil, a former prime minister who is now a lawmaker, “disappear from the scene.”

“Wait another 2 1/2 years and we will have real progress,” Lee said, referring to the end of Kim Dae-Jung’s term.

There were moments during the 90-minute exchange when Lee had trouble expressing himself as eloquently in English as he does in his native tongue.

That didn’t make any difference to Julie Han, a University of Michigan sophomore who is working as an intern at a Koreatown nonprofit group.

“I don’t think it’s so much what he said,” she said. “I saw it as a challenge to myself, to be involved in furthering not only the Korean American community but also bridging Korean Americans and Koreans in Korea. That’s one of the main things I got from him.”

Lee said he asked his friends to arrange the meeting with the younger generation because he sees them as a valuable resource.

“It’s important for us to have a connection and dialogue,” Lee said. “When Korean Americans become established in the mainstream there is a tendency to forget their motherland,” Lee said. “I want them to remember Korea.”

Charles Kim said Korean Americans have come of age.

“We want to be [influential] like American Jews--and learn from them,” he said. “Young Korean Americans can play a significant role. They are not kids anymore.”

Lee said it felt good to see so many young Korean Americans actively pursuing their careers in the mainstream.

“It was very exciting,” said John Lee, another young lawyer. “It was nice to get someone who is actively involved in Korean politics interested in reaching out to the Korean American community here.”

Jessica Jung said now that she has met Lee Bu-Young, Korean TV news programs that her parents watch every night have more meaning for her.

“Now I can actually look out for him,” she said. “There is a relationship now because I’ve met him.”