wfn.org | Methodists among guests at state dinner for Korean president

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 11, 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville,
Tenn.    {361}

By United Methodist News Service

Several widely-known Methodists were among 197 guests at a state dinner
at the White House June 9 honoring South Korean President Kim Dae Jung
and his wife, Lee Hee Ho.

Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, James K. Laney, now of Atlanta,
and his wife were among the guests.  Laney, an ordained United Methodist
clergyman and former missionary to South Korea, was president of Candler
School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta from 1969 to 1977 and
the ambassador in Seoul from 1993 to 1997.

Other United Methodists present included Pharis and Jane Hull Harvey.
Jane is a staff executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and
Society in Washington.  Pharis, former executive director of the North
American Coalition for Human Rights in Korea,  is now executive director
of the International Labor Rights Fund.   Jane's friendship with  Lee
goes back to college days when the two were roommates at Scarritt
College for Christian Workers in Nashville, Tenn., in the late 1950s. 

The Laneys and Harveys attended the inauguration for Kim in February.
Kim a Roman Catholic; Lee is a member of the Korean Methodist Church.

Lee Hong Koo, South Korean ambassador to the United States, and his
wife,  both members of the Korean Methodist Church, attended the dinner.
Sam Nunn, a former senator from Georgia and a United Methodist was
present.

Kim, 74, elected president in December, has long been a democratic
activist.  He received a death sentence that was later commuted to life
in prison and later still to life exile. Today he heads one of the most
strategically important countries in the world.  He was narrowly elected
on a platform of a more democratic, market-based society.  His
week-long U.S. visit, which began in New York, June 6, was a bid for
U.S. investment, international loans and trade agreements.

According to the Washington Post, the dinner menu included Oregon Hood
River spotted prawns with sweet potato and onion terrine, honey ginger
glazed lamb with rice cakes, and baby bok choy.  Peaches, raspberries
and peach brandy sabayon  were served for dessert, along with a white
chocolate trellis decorated in dark chocolate with the relief of  a
Korean mountain.

After dinner, guests were entertained by President Kim's own choice,
soprano Hei-Kyung Hong, a Korean native who studied at Julliard School
of Music and now lives in New York.

During his visit Kim and President Clinton agreed to a gradual approach
to improving relations with North Korea. 

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United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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