The story of the Korean American community in Los Angeles from a diplomat with 30 years of experience, “The Mask of Naseong”

How about the’Koreans outside Korea’ seen through the eyes of a diplomat with 30 years experience? Kim Wan-jung, head of the Planning and Coordination Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, published 『Naseong Mask』, which describes his experience as a consul general in Los Angeles for about two years and two months from December 2017. As Consul-General of Los Angeles, I recorded the episodes of Korean immigrant society that I saw and felt while living in the United States.

Starting with the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kim worked as a consul in Japan, Myanmar, and New York, and as a councilor and consul general in Peru and Singapore. He said, “I was appointed to the position of undeserved senior consul of LA and made a pledge to write a consular journal from the first day of my appointment to the day I return home.” It was because of my thoughts.” Director Kim took his pledge at the time of his appointment and took action and wrote a journal for the consul for about three years, and published it as a book.

Naseong (羅城) in the title of the book is a transliteration of Los Angeles (LA), a city located in southern California, USA. LA is a representative city where a number of Koreans have migrated since the mid-1900s to create a’Korean Town’, and currently, about 800,000 Koreans reside.

In this book, Mr. Kim personally felt the sorrows of Koreans while visiting the Rosedale Park Cemetery called the Los Angeles version of the National Cemetery, the house where the family of Dosan Ahn Chang-ho lived, and the anti-Japanese flight school historic site. In particular, “Dosan, who devoted his life to uniting Koreans and building an organization of the independence movement, traveled around 150 cities around the world, crossing both the Pacific and the Atlantic six times.” Raised.

Dosan, at the age of 24, went to study in the United States in 1902 and got a job as a farm worker. The author introduced the anecdote that “(Dosan) emphasized that even if you picked an orange, you should do it with a patriotic heart.” In addition, Mr. Kim introduced the story of meeting Ralph An, the youngest son of Dosan, who is over ninety years old, and commented that he is “a wonderful old gentleman who lives as an honest and hardworking person under the maintenance of Dosan.”

Reporter Jeong Jin-woo [email protected]