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| U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris Yonhap |
By Oh Young-jin
U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris has put his sense of humor on public display.
Last Saturday, the Royal Asiatic Society Korea held its annual garden party at Harris' Habib House residence. The envoys of the U.S. and the United Kingdom take turns in holding this annual "open house" event.
The former U.S. Navy admiral displayed a sense of humor that at times had many guests, me included, in stitches and made his audience think awhile. He put everyone on the block: the audience, the host and himself.
The first was Roman general, politician and historian Julius Caesar. As he started a six-minute welcoming speech, Harris reminded the audience of a book report he read about Caesar, saying, "Julius Caesar lived a long time ago. Julius Caesar was a general. Julius Caesar gave a long speech.
"His best friend killed him," Harris said, promising to keep the general in mind while delivering his speech. It was not just funny, he saved a lot of guests from starvation (of course it is an exaggeration) as the party began at 4 p.m.
As he praised the RAS, he never missed a chance to give it one after he talked about the history-bound organization's calendar last year that included Russian public diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula, North Korea's diplomatic relations with Britain and in between an American movie director talking about Korea's extreme metal underground music scene.
"I have been wondering whether there is any overlap among the three," he said to another outburst of laughter.
Then, he saved one for himself, talking about the first two U.S. ministers or ambassadors to Korea, then the Joseon Kingdom. "The first was fired for failing to improve economic relations between Korea and the U.S., while the second was fired for being a raging alcoholic," he said.
"I always think about those two ministers as I go about my business every day."
Harris proved very attentive to the visitors to his residence, never shying away from many requests for photos or moving around the garden to banter with guests.
Personally, I feel like there were a few of items of unfinished business when I left the premises.
First, I thanked him for making available his residence for the RAS function but he said that only the garden was open to guests. Is the garden not part of the residence?
Second, on a bit of a sad note, I asked him about a little stone cat in the garden and he explained that it represents one of four cats he had that died in Hawaii. But if my memory serves me correctly, he said he is left with two. I wonder what happened to the third.
Finally, one in the conversation about the stone cat referred to "Haetae," a big stone statue of a mythical animal against evils sitting next to it, as a dog. But although it is not entirely false as others refer to it as a "foo dog," I wonder that it is more likely an imaginary cross between a lion and a dog.
The ambassador may sit down with me to explain these things and others.
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