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| Former U.S. president Barack Obama / Courtesy of tvN |
By Yoon Ja-young
Former U.S. president Barack Obama will appear on a Korean TV program for the first time. The program's producer said that it took a few months of effort to make the appearance happen.
According to the Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, Obama will appear on tvN's "Monthly Connect" on Aug. 6
The former U.S. leader who left office in 2017 will share his personal experiences as a politician and as a family man. The producer told Hankook Ilbo that she was impressed as Obama explained the things his family went through during his journey from ordinary man to the man in the world's most powerful office.
In the interview with tvN, he will mainly talk about the importance of communication, as well as the power of diverse cultural exchanges, touching on K-pop songs and the Oscar-winning movie "Parasite," by director Bong Joon-ho.
Obama will also talk about "A Promised Land," his memoir which sold over 5 million copies in North America and was translated into 26 languages since its publication last year.
The producer said that she was determined to get Obama to appear on her program after reading the preface of the memoir. Obama said that he wrote the book for young people, as an invitation to "once again remake the world."
She said that her team contacted the publisher to invite him to their program, and that it took several months for the appearance to come to fruition.
"Monthly Connect" features online interviews with diverse intellectuals and leaders from around the world on their personal philosophies. Its interviewees so far have included Harvard University professor Michael Sandel and renowned investor Jim Rogers.
Architect Yoo Hyun-joon and international politics expert Kim Ji-yoon are among the co-hosts of the program.
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