Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

[성김 대사]

Last week was very busy for me.  As you all know, there were some developments of concern.  But one of the unique things about serving in Korea is that no matter what is happening all around us, life in Seoul goes on in a very dynamic way.

Korea often hosts large international events, including one held here last week called the Asan Plenum.  Events like these are part of the reason why the U.S. Embassy has a constant stream of visitors.  The Asan event attracted not only many of my old friends and colleagues, but also two of my former bosses!

Christopher Hill and James Steinberg

You all remember former U.S. Ambassador to Korea and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, with whom I worked closely for the past three years.  They are now both academics, with Ambassador Hill serving as the Dean at the Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver in Colorado and Deputy Secretary Steinberg the Dean of the Maxwell School at New York’s Syracuse University.  Now that both of them have entered academia, they both seem very relaxed and willing to talk about anything, so I decided to have them over for dinner.

To make it more interesting, I invited their old Korean friends and colleagues.  Well, this was a very impressive group of senior and accomplished current and former Korean officials including two cabinet members.  I didn’t want Chris and Jim to have all the fun with their old friends, so I also invited some of my best Korean-American friends who are also quite prominent in U.S. academia.   

The dinner table awaits our guests!

It was such a high-profile group that coming up with an appropriate seating arrangement was a big challenge.  You see, I’m pretty simple when it comes to meals.  I just want good food and fun conversation.  But I know that protocol actually matters in events like this dinner, so I asked my protocol experts to come up with a good seating arrangement that would make everyone happy.  They had to work very hard.  As far as I could tell, all of the guests seemed happy – or, at least, I don’t think anyone complained.  Of course, as Ambassador and host of the evening, I had the best seat, right in the middle of the table.

The dinner turned out to be wonderful.  The conversation was lively and everyone seemed to really enjoy the company.  We shared some great stories from our diplomatic adventures and exchanged views on many different issues and developments.  More importantly, for me, the evening was another testament to the growing prominence of Korea around the globe.  Very few places in the world attract such a consistent stream of the world’s best and brightest, and I was again reminded how fortunate I am to be here as the U.S. Ambassador.

[스트롱]

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[재훈탁]

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