#98 Out with the Old, In with the New!

[스티븐스 대사]

I’m often asked if I ever wear hanbok.  The answer is yes, but rarely.  The last time I wore hanbok was at this New Year’s party.  I thought wearing it helped my Korean speaking.  But I had trouble walking in the long skirt!

With 2010, and the first decade of the new millennium coming to a close, a lot of people have been asking me to reflect on Korean-American relations and the work of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul over the past year.  Others have asked me what my resolutions and goals are for 2011.  I am not keen on New Year’s resolutions.  As the Korean proverb goes, “jak sim sam-il (작심삼일)” or “resolution lasts three days.”  Like so many people, I’ll start this January 1 determined to get more exercise and more sleep,  and to write more in this blog, but I can’t promise that resolve will last too long, as I get pulled – as we all are – by all the demands on our time.

2010 was an eventful year for U.S.-Korea relations, and for this Embassy.  We did all the things that make Seoul such a busy and fulfilling diplomatic assignment: Managing high-level visitors from the President and numerous Cabinet officials on down, preparing for the G20, responding to the many challenges North Korea posed, and in the midst of it all continuing our day-to-day work serving Americans and Koreans alike in providing visa, passport, commercial, and a host of other services.

In the midst of all this, I am glad we made time in 2010 to reflect upon and mark the 60^th anniversary of the start of the Korean War on June 25, 1950.  We all became amateur historians.  I especially thank all those who joined us in our biking trip in August and September, including the fifty-plus students who joined us and all the local officials, veterans, and residents we met along the way who extended us such warm hospitality.  I will never forget our exploration of the battlegrounds along the Nakdong Perimeter, where South Korean, American, and UN troops held the line in some of the fiercest fighting in a terrible war (Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5).  It was as unforgettable for all of us at the embassy as I think it was for the students.  We learned so much from our hosts in some of Korea’s most remote – and heavily fought-for – terrain, and from each other.

The events of the past year have strengthened our relationship.  While our work together on North Korea and the G-20 made the headlines, there were a lot of other things going on that didn’t get as much notice like working together on green growth, space technology and education.  I covered at least some of these issues throughout the year in this blog.

President Obama said it best during the G20 Summit in November when he said: “The alliance between our two nations has never been stronger.”

Now what about 2011?  First, I hope to see the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement ratified in both countries.  Then we can begin to implement an agreement that will bring important economic benefits to Korea and the United States, and that will take our relationship to a new level.

I also want to expand and deepen our work with the Republic of Korea in development.  South Korea, a former aid recipient, is now a donor country with its own version of the Peace Corps (KOICA).  It put aid on the G20 agenda, and will host in November 2011 a major international aid conference in Busan.  2011 is also the 50^th anniversary of the Peace Corps.  As a former Peace Corps volunteer in Korea, I look forward to being in Korea for that anniversary, because the Republic of Korea has made real what President Kennedy imagined in 1961 when he established the Peace Corps and said, “Let us hope that other nations will mobilize the spirit and energies and skill of their people in some form of Peace Corps – making our own effort only one step in a major international effort to increase the welfare of all men and improve understanding among nations.”

Let us continue to work together in the New Year for a more peaceful and prosperous world.

Happy New Year!

 

[duicleme1]

Today is far distance lunar at 3th
I went to kyo-bo book store.
After bougt a book that "Electronic Basic Practice".
I have a cup of coffee from bending mechine.


somepeople and I performed a small cool weather bow to Dong-Jang-Gun.
..................................... walk to between building in seoul.
I have think to some that shiny too.

[duicleme1]

The winter vacation is over,: cool lived 10 year and 1:
but I didn't finish my vacation personal work.
I copied a japan's person's report at here.
What did I do during the vacation!
I am ashamed of myself.

Japan's Person's Name Kawai hyde-yoshi . He was making firmware : device driver :.