The US government recently appointed a Korean born to be their envoy to the Philippines. He was nominated by President Barack Obama.
I say that’s a smart move considering that President Duterte seems to dislike some American ways. When we were in Beijing, he mentioned in his speech that Asian’s are better. We’re shy and not arrogant daw like the Americans. I hope Pres. Duterte gets to like Ambassador Kim unlike Kim’s predecessor, Amb. Philip Goldberg whom Duterte called bakla. Goldberg earned the President’s ire kaya iyun natawag tuloy syang bakla. I’ve met Ambassador Goldberg a couple of times, the first was at his official residence in Forbes Park.
Let’s sincerely hope Ambassador Kim earns Duterte’s respect. He seems to be a very nice guy. He told me he was born in South Korea. He was ten years old when his family moved to the US. Then after a few years they moved to Japan where they lived for a couple of years. He went to college at the University of Pennsylvania and did advance studies at the London School of Business and Economics. Prior to his appointment to the Philippines, he served as the US Ambassador to Korea. Kim has been here in Manila for almost 4 months now. I also hope he gets to like our country and people.
H.E. Kim, Annie C. Tan-Yee, Dr. Zhu Feng, Executive Director, China Center for Collaborative Studies of the South China Sea. Dr. Feng is also a director and professor at Nanjing University.
