JANUARY 26, 2016 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
Hyon Kim

Club 10 Business Report

President Carla Hauge brought the meeting to order at 12:16 p.m. on a partly sunny winter day in downtown Saint Paul. Jerry Faletti led the assembled Rotarians in singing God Bless America accompanied by Bob Jones on the piano. Kristin Montpetit provided today's invocation dedicated to the memory of a friend lost recently. John Chandler facilitated the introduction of visiting Rotarians and guests. Today's Greeters were Mindee Kastelic and Cindy DuPont.

President Carla asked John Andrews to come forward to present an Elmer L. Andersen Award to Joe Kovarik for his support to the Saint Paul Rotary Foundation. Jim Delameter then presented a Paul Harris Fellow third pin to Susan Spiers for her support to the Rotary International Foundation. Jason Stern from the Minnesota Wild came to the podium to promote the upcoming joint event between Club 10 and the Wild on Tuesday, February 23rd. The event will raise $2,000 for the Rotary Foundation if fully attended. A Happy Hour at the Wild offices including an address by Jamie Spencer, head of Minnesota Wild new business development will be featured. The game is completely sold out. Register and pay online (can't be billed, sorry).  Jason DeKeuster, rose to discuss the upcoming Winter Carnival and an opportunity for volunteers to promote Saint Paul, Rotary and the Winter Carnival. Winter Carnival Royalty will be present at next week's meeting with introductions and knightings. January Rotarian birthdays were recognized today. John Chandler collected Happy Dollars.

Valdi Stefanson introduced today's speaker, Hyon Kim Founder and President of Freedom for North Korean Refugees of Minnesota. Ms. Kim is an entrepreneur and runs a civil engineering company in Roseville. She wanted to talk to Rotary about two Koreas. This means constant conflict for her homeland. One Korea, the original Korea, had a thousand-year history but was used and invaded by other global powers.  Korea experienced suffering but exhibited perseverance and pride. Ms. Kim was four years old at the peak of the Korean War. General MacArthur is the Korean War hero. The crucial moment for her family occurred when the North Korean Army was retreating north. Her father went north. She had to grow up with stigma of being the daughter of a known Communist. She was "Red" and ridiculed by others, particularly those who had lost family in the war. When she could she joined the (South) Korean Army. Later, she became a civilian employee of the U.S. Army. Eventually, she came to the United States and Minnesota. She is now a proud American. She arrived on Thanksgiving Day. Her first impression was that Americans only ate turkey and ham since those were the meals between Thanksgiving and Christmas when she first arrived.

In 1990, she made a 15-day trip back to North Korea with a delegation organized by Governor Perpich. She was able to meet with some family members but they were heavily prepared with propaganda by the government. At unguarded moments, she was able to learn some of the truth of what was going on. The family asked if she had brought a Bible with her from America (the family had tried to recreate the Bible from memory). At that time, Ms. Kim was not a serious Christian and had not brought a Bible with her. She is a serious Christian now. While she was there, the North Korean government screened everything she said and would have punished her family if she had said anything controversial, so she kept silent.

China has 200,000 North Korean refugees. China does not recognize North Korean refugees. Many are either put into "concentration" camps or deported back to North Korea. Thirty thousand North Korean refugees in South Korea are receiving counseling from South Korea and the United States, going through a "healing process." Ms. Kim believes that Korean reunification may be near. The presence of the United States will be key to making this a reality, however. The U.S. cannot just walk away. Ms. Kim hopes a miracle similar to what happened between Reagan and Gorbachev in Germany can happen related to Korea.



President Carla thanked Ms. Kim for her presentation and noted that a donation would be made in her name to the Saint Paul Public Library's "Reading Together" program. She also presented her with a Rotary Coin and then led those assembled in a recitation of the Four-Way Test inscribed on it ("Is it the Truth? Is it Fair to all concerned? Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships? Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?"). President Carla then rang the bell to close the meeting at 1:15 p.m.

Chuck Standfuss, Scribe