Biography, Audio | 
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Biography, Text |
******************** The Early Years 1958 was the Year of the Dog, according to the lunar calendar. I was born in the month of August in Seoul, South Korea - five years after the Korean War came to a "Truce." Unfortunately, the impact of settling for political expediency - instead of finishing the war against General Douglas MacArthur's better advice - is still felt to this day via Kim Jong-Il and the North Korean nuclear menace (and let us not forget the USS Pubelo incident, the killing of U.S military personnel stationed along the DMZ for sake of killing by the Communist state soldiers, selling of arms to terrorist organizations world-wide, counterfeiting US currencies to use for illicit purposes and the list will go on into the future). I've often wondered how different and better Asia would be today had the U.S leadership listened to General MacArthur instead of removing him as the U.N Supreme Commander. Policies - wise and unwise - have lasting impact affecting millions of lives of people. I know; I am one. 1958 was only thirteen years after the thirty-five years of brutal Japanese occupation of Korea had ended when the Allies won the Second World War. The post-war Seoul faced a number of difficulties: economic, political therefore, social. Times were hard >. It was a society of either overcoming the challenges or becoming the victims of circumstance. I was a product of such an era. Compounding life struggles, my mother was a single parent before the term became fashionable in the modern, Western sense. Still, she provided a life for my grandmother and me through the strength of her character, her willingness to work hard, making the necessary sacrifices, and her courage to bear up under a very difficult and abusive personal situation. No silver spoon in my mouth.
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