 Welcome, and aloha. My name is Mark Shklav. I am the host of think tech Hawaii's law across the sea program Today, we're going across the sea to do some soul searching With Hawaii Attorney James Lee our soul searching will concern current events in South Korea from the practice of law to the coronavirus to domestic politics and international relations James Lee understands the important issues facing South Korea and its citizens Based upon his unique personal experiences and relationships He grew up in Hawaii but James lived and worked as a lawyer in South Korea for 10 years Before returning to Hawaii where he now lives and practices law James welcome aloha. Good to see you How are you same to you same to you sir aloha? Well, I'll tell me. What is a Korean word for aloha? I guess you'll be like saying hi. How are you? Would you would you would mean? Anyeong ha세요. Okay. Oh, you know that all glad to see you. Welcome. See you. Thanks. I'm ninja Okay. All right. Well before we get into current events in Korea Let tell me a little bit about yourself. What's your background? You know, you were born in Hawaii and grew up here, but how did you learn Korean and how did you get to Korea for 10 years? No, I actually I was a born in Korea. Oh born in my family My family came to Hawaii back in 72 when I was a seventh grader Okay, so I grew up here. I went to junior high school high school some college and I decided to Go to California and finish my college there So ended up getting my BA from UC Berkeley in the political science and you know with the emphasis on the North East Asian politics of all things So covering China Japan and Korea and after that I went to UCLA law school and work and practice law there for almost 20 years before the IMF came along Asian financial crisis as they call it and they had a need for Korean speaking attorneys. So I ended up there working initially at the Samuel PWC Price Waterhouse Coopers And then eventually for law firm pardon law firm in Korea And after 10 years I decided enough of Korea for me. I want to go back to Hawaii to my hometown So I've been back 10 years now Oh, okay. All right. So you so actually you were born in Korea. That's your background and and I guess You learned Korean when you were a young young child and then and then is that what you spoke in your family home? Is that Pretty much and then also when I was a undergraduate at Berkeley We had a lot of graduate students from Korea On national scholarship and I hung out with them So I picked up a lot of Korean then and of course having worked in Korea for 10 years. You also I had a chance to not only brush up, but You know furnish or furnish my Korean language skills, of course Okay, and so and and you liked Hawaii a little bit More you wanted to come back here and live and work. Oh, no, no, no, not a little bit more a lot more For me, you know, Hawaii is my home stay hometown I I grew up here and spent my formative years here. So this is a home to me. Okay And and you you're back here practicing law for 10 years now. What type of law do you do? Is it Korea oriented or? I know I actually I'm not doing anything similar to what I was doing back in Korea You know international business transactions, etc But I'm right now. I'm just mostly doing what you would call a general practice Okay, a little bit of just about everything immigration law, real estate law a little bit of a living trust and liquor license, etc And and you you still have a lot of connections in Korea friends and colleagues Yes, I do. In fact, you know my 10 years spending Korea is actually beginning to bear fruits and that I do have an extensive network back in Korea and you know Having worked with the major accounting firm and also major law firm. So through that connection I'm getting a lot of referrals actually And your language helps I guess in that respect Oh, yes, definitely and and You you you practice different type of law here, but is is the The profession the same in Korea as in Hawaii or is it different in some way? No, it's so It is very different. I mean the legal culture there is just totally different in that Korean legal system is very much somewhat very similar to Japanese in that their legal educational system and legal system, I think is Katers Is set up there to produce You know future judges and prosecutors instead of You know having lawyers engage in transactional work and advisory work so There are you know legal system and legal education system is very different than legal culture to in fact I'm sure it's probably the same case in Japan And when when when I was working in Korea, it will not even let you call a foreign attorney They insisted that you call yourself a foreign legal consultant f.l.c Okay, yeah Is like two three percent Yeah, that sounds like uh, yeah, that does sounds very similar to what I know about uh, japan And uh, how that works Okay, now I want to focus a little bit on current events, uh in in south korea And uh, there's a lot of things happening in south korea and we don't hear about it You know, you know, we don't we don't hear so much here when we Despite our connections. So I want you to tell us. I mean for I mean, of course everybody is talking about the coronavirus Uh You know, but but what happened in korea? Give us can you give us a kind of an update of of korea? What the situation is what's happened? How you know, what's going on and what where we are now? right now the the situation in korea as far as uh, coronavirus is concerned is pretty serious in that Unlike other countries, especially such as the u.s uh, the korean government did not stop travelers from from china From coming in right away And they let they're still doing so in that they continue to let chinese nationals come into korea And also you do have a lot of korean contingent business people working and living in china who goes back and forth And because there was no initial strict restriction of people coming into korea from china There's been a brother Very fast and rampant spread of a coronavirus in korea So the government although they're handling it A lot of people feel that the current government Uh current administration of a moon jain They made a big mistake allowing that to happen so now They're trying to fix the problem after the fact And a lot of people are very upset about it. And there's going to be a upcoming A congressional election in on april 15 next month So they a lot of people are predicting that the current current administration of president moon They're gonna take a Real terrible beating so so When they they they knew about the coronavirus in china, but they still let People come in they they didn't put any sort of restrictions. Are there restrictions now? Has that changed or what what are they doing now to to combat the coronavirus? The uh, well, there are more restrictions now But uh, still a lot of people feel that they should have been an outright ban from the From the very beginning to get a handle on this problem and for whatever reason, uh You know the government the president go moons government claims that the uh, the reason they cannot you know impose such a restrictive measure Is that because of the uh, you know concern for the economy and that They're afraid that the there may be a backlash from china, but You know china itself doing it internally So I don't I don't really understand why the chinese government would try to punish the korean government for doing What it what a government supposed to do in that protecting its people First I mean you know safety and health of the new people is first before economy Yeah, and you will think and so the president government It sounds like a lot of The citizens of south korea are saying the president government Did a poor job of balancing they They they they were looking at the economics and not the health Correct, but uh, I I have a you know some I have my own pet pet theory in that the reason the current government of a Moon Jae-in is doing what they're doing with the as far as relating to the the you know diplomatic relationship with the china is because of the their concern for South korea's relationship with the north korea in particular because china does have a Substantial influence over the north koreans So they think by being nice to north chinese government They're in turning directly helping their attempt to Have a repression run with the north korea is in some ways So there's another angle to that. Oh, that's really interesting. Um, so is is You know, what is the situation in Seoul right now? What do you hear from your friends and colleagues? What is it like to live there? Is it getting any better? Is it improving or not or are we getting I mean, can you get the right facts? Uh, yes, you are because there's still uh, you know nowadays you cannot step out The facts from getting out totally Unlike china, you know The other there's a sns Network that's still thriving and also you have a lot of youtubers who's free to upload information And it seems that a lot of people are just just basically scared That to go out and engage in economic activity. So people refrain themselves from going out Intermingling with the other people and so they're just pretty much keeping to themselves at home and with the this particular Explosion so to speak of a coronavirus cases in taegu, which is one of the largest Perhaps third largest city In the in korea, uh, in one of the kyeongsang province Uh, that place is just literally without imposing actual quarantine The whole city has become locked down in taegu Oh, you know, okay now if you were advising president trump What would you tell him that we can learn from? What happened in south korea are the way to handle this I guess he did the right thing in that uh, you know, he uh as soon as uh The that's coronavirus broke out in china He stopped visitors from coming in from china but In terms of a preparation We're just totally under underprepared and that we're not ready to deal with the coronavirus in this country I mean to begin with we don't even have enough testing kit to test people To find out whether they have a coronavirus or not. So we're not even at the beginning stage of a preparation As far as I can tell And and that's that is the current situation in seoul and south korea generally and taegu sounds worse Oh, no, they are they are They have been mobilizing And mobilizing fast enough. So now the there's been a rapid decline of new cases Okay Yeah, so that's a fortunate thing But uh, I think initially the korean government made a big mistake not Not intervening fast enough to stop people from coming in and going back and forth between china and korea All right, I we're we're going to take a one minute break Right now and uh, when I come back, I want to talk about north korea Uh, you you mentioned that and I want to kind of go in a little deeper now But anyway, we'll we'll be back in a minute one minute. My name is mitchiewin I'm from the hawaii natural energy institute And I'm the host of hawaii the state of clean energy We're on every wednesday at four o'clock and we hope that we have interesting Guests who talk to us about various energy things that are happening in hawaii all the way from tv The windmills the hydrogen Most of my heart electric buses and electric vehicles So please dial in every wednesday at four o'clock on hawaii the state of clean energy Aloha Aloha, we are back with james lee Doing some soul searching talking about korea I've been talking about the corona virus in south korea and and james Uh, what what what do you think or what do you hear from your friends and colleagues about the status of north korea? and the corona virus i mean What we hear on the news is that everything's fine Is that the truth? I mean they they have connections with china as you mentioned That couldn't possibly be true. Uh, they're doing a good job of uh Blocking any information from getting out of korea But even then we have like well over 30 000 people Who are uh fled north korea one way or the other And they now reside in south south korea and they have their families and connections back in north korea and according to them they're like almost probably Close to seven thousand people who are locked up Who's uh suspected of having corona virus symptoms? so That cannot be true that they have no known case of a corona virus And especially in light of the fact that Up until the sudden closure of the borders between north korea and china There were a lot of a back and forth Of business people going back and forth a lot of trading and you know buying Importing stuff from china bringing into korea And and then selling reselling them in in north korea. So there were a lot of interaction between People in two countries. So It cannot it cannot be that there's no corona virus cases in north korea. There has to be at least some Yeah, it just yeah, it's hard to believe And and and yet in the same time north korea is launching missiles And what what what's is that a part of their strategy also or what what is that all about and how did the south koreans feel about it Well south koreans has become i guess I don't know desensitize. I don't know whether that's the correct word But uh very desensitized over the decades of you know having this Tension military tension with the north korea. So A lot of people are just used to it and and they're added the people in south korea the editors Are here and here they go again sort of attitude, but uh, I guess They're north koreans. They're kind of angry that the Nothing came out of uh two meetings that the president trump had with uh kim jong-un um, they were hoping That the united states and the u.n. Would ease up unsanctions, but that doesn't happen So they're ticked off and with all this corona virus crisis That they're kind of their issue What the denuclearization of a You know, north korean nuclear weapon has has put on the back burner. So they're trying to Get some attention. I guess by shooting up loving new missiles and and But notice they're very careful not to not to Launch any long miss long long was a long-distance missiles and may approach Hawaii or mainland mainland u.s They're just sticking with the short ones because Between president trump and kim jong-un. I guess they have an implicit understanding that as long as they're loving or launching Short-range missiles It's not threatening to us. So I guess, uh, you know, we have our military exercise between Bring in bring in our military and us. So I guess they can have their Launching of a short missile. So we just That's the situation so It sounds like kim jong-un wants to get some attention It just it's it just sounds weird and and what I'm sorry getting attention for him is critical at this point because Because of the corona virus nothing is getting in Their situation their hardship is getting worse and worse by the day Uh, you know, so they're in a dire situation so unless He gets he's able to draw some attention on them And and and have some kind of aid from outside The uh, you know, they may be in danger of Implosion. So of course, he needs to get attention one way or the other Anyway, he can what what do the people of south korea think about kim jong-un and and and his sister and the possibility of Reunification is this I mean what what is the real feelings that your friends and colleagues tell you about all of those? there are still Substantial number of people who are from north and who is a family members In north korea, uh, such as myself. I may have a two My father's two younger brothers still Maybe uh, you know alive in north korea Although I never met them. So there's clearly a concern And and and and this eagerness to somehow achieve reunification between two koreas, but uh, uh, you know, we We we've been at this for what last seven decades since the end of korean war And I just don't think that the the north koreans are really interested in uh Two koreas becoming unified because they realize that Given given two korea's current situation I think every north korean would offer the south korean model if they were to become Unified under you know under one system Everybody in the north would prefer and offer the south korean model So north koreans although they give a lip service to reunification I don't think they're serious enough in that They just don't want to open up They're not even A lot of people to go back and forth and not your family members Meet freely they uh, they're being as restrictive as possible So that the the north koreans In north korea they have a minimum access to outside world And and so I see so Really, whatever it almost doesn't matter what I hear what south koreans feel because north koreans You don't think they are they are legitimately Thinking about reunification. That's that's not a real goal No, the their real goal is for the survival of the regime That's their main goal and only goal So I personally doubt that they'll ever give up nuclear weapons because it's still only insurance policy they have And what what is the role of kim jong-un's sister in all of this? You see her every so often making comments What what what is she doing? In fact, uh, she uh, did not appear on any uh, she did not make the news In the last couple of months and all of a sudden her uh, she came on North korean news and started making some harsh criticism Against the uh, the south korean government and which she never did before And there are some commentators And pundits who are saying that it may be because kim jong-un's health Is is is in serious condition so that He's putting his sister in front So that he can stay back and you know, take care of his medical problems uh, and in fact Her role seems to be Uh getting bigger and bigger and she's becoming more influential in north korean politics No, there's also a dispute between south korea and uh, japan What's that about? Oh, it goes it goes back only 1300 years. So Oh This uh this uh and antagonistic relationship between Korea and Japan just just goes way back and way way way deep-seated but I feel like if you just let the two people you know let two people alone they'll get along just fine especially the younger generation post-war generation they don't seem to have any problem getting along people in their 20s 30s it's the for me in my personal view it's the the old politicians in their 70s and 80s in Korea and also in in Japan you know who's just playing the uh this that's so called uh you know the anti-colonialism colonialism card and and and vice versa it's just very unfortunate that sounds like good advice let people let let it be yeah yeah because the young people they have no uh you know memory of uh Korea having been colonized during the early 1900s and of course uh with the end of world war two Korea became a liberated country nation and people in the 2030s they don't remember anything about the war and they have a no animosity towards each other it's just that the the old people they're just prolonging and prolonging the problem between two countries and animosity so you you mentioned I mean you know there's lots going on in Korea you got elections coming up you have this you know this long going dispute with Japan and North Korea and all these things what what are your thoughts where are we going where what is the future for South Korea and Seoul as we do our soul searching what what what are your feelings uh in the minute we have left okay my feeling is that unfortunately the it's just my personal opinion but uh I consider myself you know on a political spectrum moderate moderate or a little bit to the left of the middle but uh the the current government in Korea uh I don't know where they I guess they're far left uh they uh they have taken the position of what a lot of Koreans in Korea South Korea feel that too much of a pro Chinese and pro North stance uh compared to uh you know the pro US and somewhat pro uh Japanese position that the the previous administration administrations used to have so I think there's going to be a substantial change and then shift in policy once the new congress is elected in after the April 15 I think we're going to see more balance uh position taken even by the lame duck you know President Moon's administration they have no choice well you know that'll be very interesting to see April 15th is a big date and we'll look forward to that and uh I mean you know I appreciate your insights into the current situation in in Korea in South Korea and uh we'll we'll wait and see what happens you know thank you James sure thank you uh hope we can do this again yeah well we'll maybe we'll do an update how's that okay sounds good thank you all right James thank you very much aloha everybody