Barbara TS#16

Today’s conversation involved a documentary that Dojun had seen last night about a man who was deported to S. Korea at the age of 41 after being adopted by an American couple.  Apparently, this couple’s motive in adopting him when he was a baby was money.  His mother was very young and poor and so she put him up for adoption.  When the man was told to leave his house as an adult, he returned to pick up some items that he had from Korea.  At this point, his father called the police and had him arrested as a thief.  He was eventually put in prison for 1 ½ years where he faced racial discrimination and unsanitary conditions.  Through a process that I didn’t really understand, the man was never registered as a child and, thus, was not a U.S. citizen.  The judge forced him to return to S. Korea where he had to renew his citizenship.  The difficulties are immense.  First, he met his mother but he was not able to stay with her because her home conditions were so bad.  He went to Seoul City to look for a job but he can’t speak Korean.  His training, before prison, was as a barber but he failed the licensing test so this job was no longer an option.  Dojun said that the man looked Asian but that there was something about him that made Dojun think his father may have been American.  Thinking back 41 years and the problems in North and South Korea, it is entirely possible that he father could be American or at least Western.  We speculated that this possibility may be why he was put up for adoption to an American family.  Of course, I recall seeing a lot of these relationships when I lived in Bangkok.  There were many military members who were involved with Thai women so I understand what Dojun means. In closing, I told him that if he wanted to talk to me to practice his English in the future that I would be willing to. I really enjoyed this part of the class and told him that he has taught me so much about S. Korean and its customs.  We wished each other luck and signed off.