Naturalized Korean among invitees to presidential dinner

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Thu, November 30, 2023 | 09:24

Multicultural Community

Naturalized Korean among invitees to presidential dinner

Posted : 2022-12-07 15:45

Updated : 2022-12-07 15:47

Lee Doo-yeon, a civil servant at Iksan City Hall, poses during a state dinner between Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc at Yeongbingwan in downtown Seoul, Monday. Courtesy of Lee Doo-yeon

By Nam Hyun-woo

Lee Doo-yeon / Courtesy of Lee Doo-yeon

Lee Doo-yeon, an official from Iksan City Hall, has been gaining attention, following her attendance at a state dinner between Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday. Cabinet ministers, high-level government officials and business moguls of the two countries also attended.

According to Korea's presidential office, it invited a number of people who represent the friendship between the two countries to the state dinner, Lee being among them.

Lee, 41, a naturalized Korean whose Vietnamese name is Nguyen Thi Bich Thao, came to Korea in 2007 as a marriage migrant. She studied Korean language at university in Vietnam.

After working for two years at a local support center for multicultural families, she passed the civil service exam and in 2011 was assigned to the family support department at Iksan City Hall in North Jeolla Province. She is in charge of the city's budget for assisting multicultural families. It was the first case of a naturalized Korean becoming a civil servant in North Jeolla Province.

"It was very meaningful for me to attend such an event marking the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and Vietnam, and it was very moving for me to see Vietnam and Korea promoting their friendship," Lee told The Korea Times. "I came to Korea after marriage. It felt like I was in my mother's home."

Lee said she shared greetings with Presidents Yoon and Phuc and had a brief chat with Yoon's wife Kim Keon-hee.

"She first asked where I am from and how long I've lived in Korea, and then she said she feels so good that I settled so well in Korea and have a good job," she said.

Lee said she decided to work in the civil service in order to do more work related to migrants and multicultural families.

"I loved working at the multicultural family support center, where I did translation and supervised volunteer workers, but I applied for the civil service exam because I wanted to do more work in a position where I can exercise greater influence," she said.

"I thought it would be a difficult job, but my colleagues and seniors helped me a lot, and now I'm in my 11th year there."

During the state dinner, she said she conversed with presidential secretary for industrial policy Kang Kyung-sung over Iksan's projects on supporting multicultural families.

"There are not many immigrants coming to Korea for marriage these days," Lee said.

"Rather, the focus of supporting multicultural families is now on education, as kids from multicultural families are growing up. So we are now concentrating on supporting the upbringing of children in those families and improving public awareness on multicultural families. Fortunately, our mayor has keen interest in the multicultural families issue, so he is also providing a lot of support."

Along with Lee, a number of Vietnamese Koreans were invited to the state dinner in recognition of the two countries' friendship. They include Lee Bo-eun, an assistant inspector at Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station in Gyeonggi Province who is the second Vietnam-born police officer in Korea, and Nguyen Thi Tam Ding, who was the first naturalized Korean to win the top volunteer service award granted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

namhw@koreatimes.co.kr