First vote for president at 43

By Kim Tae-gyu

On Dec. 5, Lim Seung-kwan cast an absentee ballot for the Dec. 19 presidential election of Korea in Buenos Aires. For most 40-somethings, voting is not a big deal but the event was special for Lim as it was his first time.

After moving to Argentina in 1977 with his parents at the age of seven, Lim kept his Korean nationality and as a result he has not been allowed to vote either Argentina or Korea.

The 43-year-old received the right to take part his homeland’s presidential election in 2009 when the Korean government granted voting rights to Korean residents abroad.

“The absentee ballot for the new Korean president took place last week in Argentina and our family including my mom, wife and younger brother went to the polls on the very first day,” said Lim who operates a company named M&L International Trading.

“I am very happy to vote. As a part of Korea, one of my utmost roles would be to pick our president. Now I feel that I am a genuine Korean.”

As Lim refused to become a naturalized Argentine and resides in the South American state on a denizenship, he has faced some difficulties in carrying out business as no matter how long he has stays there, he is an expatriate.

But he opted to brave such hardships and so did other family members including his wife, another ethnic Korean who still maintains her original nationality.

“My parents are Korean and I am a Korean too. I am proud to be a Korean,” he said. “Under the relevant law, my two sons are Argentines. But if they hope to be Koreans, I plan to respect their decision, too.”

After working for a family apparel wholesale business, Lim launched his own enterprise in early 2009 along with a native Argentine, which deals with trade-related jobs including customs clearance.

He prepared to start his own business for a long time including three years to become certified and another year and a half to find the right partner with the right experience.

“I was interested in global trade. After getting an associated certificate, I started my own company with a very nice Argentine, whose annual turnover is just above a half million dollars,” he said.

“Most of our clients are Koreans and we are expanding our customer base to Chinese clients. Our major segments are textiles and accessories.”

The providers of products to M&L International are mostly Chinese manufacturers and Lim’s company is striving to find suppliers in Korea in the future.

Lim is also a proactive member of the World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Association (OKTA), an institute for successful or promising Korean merchants from around the world.

He quite often crosses the Pacific to join the World OKTA events in Korea, a journey which takes more than 20 hours.