Reception in honor of Mr. Kihyong Yi.  Click on thumbnails to expand pictures.

The 86-year-old poet and author of biographies of two well-known Korean leaders, Ahn Chang-ho and Yo Un-hyong who led the Korean Independence Movement visited Eugene for three days from February 7, 2003..  He has published many resistant poems against the undemocratic or military regimes of Korea promoting human rights and peaceful unification of Korea.  He was ordered not to publish for two years by the court of Korean military government in 1989.  He serves as an advisor to The Association Korean Nationalists of Literature.  Mr. Yi studied Creative Arts in Nihon University in Japan after graduating high school in Hamhung in the current North Korea.  Mr. Yi is living in outskirt of Seoul, Korea with his wife and his son’s family.  His son is an American educated chemist teaching in Hanyang University, Seoul and his daughter-in-law is a lawyer studying at Tulane University Law School this year.

Mr. Kihyong Yi speaking on Korean independence movements and their relevancies to the current tension in Korean peninsula.  Ki-Won Rhew at left is translating.

2003 Asian Festival

Eugene area Asian community sponsors this annual event in the middle of February or around the new year's day in lunar calendar.  Our commitee has been participating in the festival with an informational booth.  This year several Korean organizations including Korean Consular Office in Seattle also participated.

		Volunteers of our committee were busy to answer questions from visitors to our committee booth.  President Calra Marks, her husband, Steve Marks, M.D., and her son, Lucas worked in the first shift.
			Ken Yi and Minkyung Guardino were two of several Korean volunteers, who made bookmarkers writing names in Korean characters.  It was a popular item at $1.00 each.  Another popular item was taking Polaroid picture in Korean costume at $2.00 each.
		Korean Central Presbyterian Church has been very active in promoting Korean culture in recent years.  Their Korean food booth was drawing the largest crowds during the festival.  A Korean consul, Byung Hwa Chung brought a certificate of award from Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade to Rev. Byung Du Jun, pastor of the church.