Chungju, My Hometown

[성김 대사]

In Korea, where your hometown is often defined by that of your parent’s, my home is my father’s hometown, Chungju.  Since my mother was visiting from the U.S., we decided to take a trip down to our hometown.  Our drive through the graceful hills and farmlands of Chungcheongbuk-do took us down memory lane back to my father’s youth.  Upon arrival at the Chungju City Hall, we were warmly welcomed by Mayor Lee Jong-bae, who led me to a lecture hall filled with 300 students, city officials and Chungju residents.  In the audience was also my father’s colleague, who taught alongside him in the years leading up to the Korean War.  It was the perfect occasion to talk about the deep, abiding friendship between our two countries, “jeong” shared among our people.  As a Korean-American, I am a product of the long years of shared partnership between Korea and the U.S.  Looking out at the sea of young faces, I was reminded that the future of the U.S.-Korea alliance is in good hands.

At Chungju City Hall

After enjoying some simple fish soup with Embassy staff at a quaint old restaurant overlooking Lake Chungju, we headed for the historic Chungju Dam.  My mother and I marveled at the size of the dam, built in just 5 short years, half the time it typically takes to build a dam of such a magnitude.

Chungju Dam

In my short trip to my father’s hometown, I was determined to experience the best of Chungju.  The breathtaking sight of Chungju Dam was certainly one of them.  But the group of truly remarkable students I met at Sungshim School later that afternoon trumped this spectacular sight by a long shot. 

I received a warm welcome by Sungshim School baseball players.

The 21 student baseball players at the Sungshim School for the hearing impaired embody the kind of sportsmanship that has inspired not only Koreans, but also Americans.  In Korea, the story of these boys’ commitment to the sport and the dedication of the teachers and coaches to their dream has even been made into a movie called “Glove” (2011).  The baseball team even recently spent a week in the U.S. at Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. – America’s premier university for deaf students – and had a baseball game with the school’s high school team.  Now, one of the players is preparing to study abroad at Gallaudet University.

I was truly proud to have met these outstanding players. To learn a sport means to come face to face with the limitations of one’s physical strength and push those boundaries.  For these players, they had an additional obstacle.  But their hearing impairment has not stood in the way of their charge to become the best high school baseball team in the country.  The players also have great patience.  They even taught this aging diplomat how to throw a curve ball, which I found out is much harder than it looks.  No matter -- it felt good to be on the field with these boys on a perfect spring day.  

Wish you all the best!