HANSAMO: The Korean-speaking Ambassadors’ Club

[성김 대사]

Many of you belong to clubs.  In fact in Korea, it seems almost mandatory to be part of certain groups or clubs.  They can involve classmates, co-workers, people with similar hobbies, or in my case, language.  So here in Korea I am a proud member of HANSAMO, the Korean-speaking Ambassadors’ Club.  The leader of our club is Ambassador Vitali Fen of Uzbekistan, who has been in Korea for more than 13 years and has served as the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps for more than five years.  Our current members include Ambassador Miklós Lengyel of Hungary, Ambassador Dulat Bakishev of Kazakhstan and Ambassador Trần Trọng Toàn of Vietnam.  Everyone speaks Korean extremely well.  Some of my colleagues even sing in Korean.

(From left) Ambassador Vitali Fen of Uzbekistan, me, Ambassador Miklós Lengyel of Hungary, and former National Assembly Speaker Lee Man-seop, Ambassador Trần Trọng Toàn of Vietnam and former Ambassador Muto of Japan

I joined HANSAMO shortly after I arrived in Korea.  Since then we have gotten together about once every two months for lunch.  At these fun gatherings, we hold informal discussions on a wide range of topics involving the Peninsula and the region – all in Korean!  Thanks to our group’s founder and former National Assembly Speaker Lee Man-seop, who established the club way back in 2001, our gatherings are well organized and we take turns hosting, usually at our own residences. 

At the moment there are only five of us, as we recently lost one of our best Korean speakers, Ambassador Muto of Japan.  So we are actively looking for new Ambassadors who speak Korean to join our little group.  I find that this club is a wonderful way for me to practice my “official” Korean on a wide range of topics.  It is also a great gathering of diplomats with extensive experience in Korea and deep respect for Korean culture, history and people. 

So this is one of my regular groups.  I would love to hear about your clubs and any suggestions on ones I might try.