CNN’s Sohn Becomes G-20 Spokesperson
By J.R. Breen
Contributing Writer
CNN correspondent for Seoul Sohn Jie-ae has left journalism after more than 25 years for a position in government service.
Sohn, who has reported for CNN from Korea since 1995, started work this month as the spokesperson for the Presidential Committee for the G-20 Summit.
"I am learning a lot about what it feels like to be on the other side of the mike," Sohn said. "From the opposite side, the world (is) different."
The G-20 summit in November puts the spotlight on Korea in a new way. The country is accustomed to hosting large-scale international events, but its role as the first non-G-7 nation to chair the G-20 calls for more intellectual leadership.
While the fourth G-20 summit in Toronto in June will focus on the international economy's exit strategy from stimulus and recovery cycles, the Seoul meeting will explore the creation of a new post-crisis economic order.
The presidential committee is charged with preparing for the event as well as upgrading Korea's national standing.
Sohn's career began with the English-language monthly Business Korea. From there she moved to the Seoul office of the New York Times where she worked for five years.
At CNN, Sohn covered a multitude of stories, from presidential inaugurations to economic meltdowns. But she says that her first story, the collapse in Seoul of the Sampoong Department Store on June 29, 1995, is her most memorable.
"I officially started on the 1st of July, so it began before I had even started working," Sohn said. "It never stopped for three weeks.
"You remember your first, for that reason and for the awful nature of the story it sticks in my mind." Over 500 people died in what was Korea's biggest peacetime disaster.
Another story that is lodged in her memory is the first family reunions between North and South Korean citizens.
"The first reunion of the divided families was very emotional. Every day at the office everybody was crying," the 46-year-old said.
"Every day you heard a story that you couldn't imagine was actually happening."
She says that she still needs to become accustomed to her new position in government service.
"It still feels weird. It's 25 years versus two weeks, so the experience is very much in the former," Sohn said.
But she is already quotable on the G-20. "The G-20 is not a showcase ― it's a thinking case. People get together and (try to) create something to help the world," she said. "It's high time something like this happened with Korea in the middle of it."
"I've really seen Korean culture develop to global significance." Sohn said, adding that recognition of the country lags behind reality. "Korea has so much more to offer than just being that country south of North Korea."
Sohn hopes that her experience as a reporter and a foreign correspondent will help her better serve the needs of the journalists covering the summit.
"I'm hoping I have a better understanding of what a correspondent needs and (I hope) I meet those needs without being asked," Sohn said. "I'm hoping because I've seen it from the other side of the fence I can craft a message that is easy to understand."
Sohn dismissed claims by local media after her move was announced that CNN was closing its Seoul bureau.
"People speculated. Global media around the world are feeling the pinch, maybe they thought CNN must be feeling it as well," Sohn said.
"With me leaving CNN and going to a government job maybe they thought it must be closing down."