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Robert Laughlin, the Nobel Physics Laureate and KAIST president, does various activities, such as giving addresses and writing columns, in addition to administering KAIST.
The reason President Laughlin, who doesn't know Korean, can do these things is because of his shadow, Hyun-kyung Lee (Harrison Lee · 36), the President's personal aide. Mr. Lee not only translates and interprets for the President but also works with him closely.
The relationship began before he was appointed as President's personal aide. In the summer of 2004, when Koreans just becoming aware that Mr. Laughlin, a Stanford physics professor, might accept the KAIST presidency, Mr. Lee worked as a reporter for the Science Times, the Ministry of Science and Technology's newspaper.
"Stanford University was very close to Palo Alto where I lived in US. The Chief Editor of the Science Times knew this, and so asked me to to cover the story, even though I didn't have any special relation with Prof. Laughlin. I found out the e-mail address through Stanford website and then sent him an e-mail. Fortunately I got a reply. This led to a phone conversation in which I asked him about his acceptance. He told me he had accepted the presidency, which was a big scoop at the time.
After this scoop, KAIST contacted Mr. Lee with the proposal "Will you apply for the personal aide position for the foreign president". He then applied for the position, passed the English test and personal interview, and became the personal aide. His job, however, is not just a translation and interpretation.
"One of my main missions is summarizing daily news and important issues happening inside and outside Korea and reporting it to the president. He writes columns and give addresses a lot. That makes understanding the current situation essential."
Mr. Lee, who is single, now lives in the President's house. He uses first floor, while President Laughlin lives on the second floor. "Honestly, I thought living in the same place would be very uncomfortable at first. But it turned to be an needless worry because the president does not touch my time after work at all. I'm not even aware whether he is in or out."
Mr. Lee started his career at the biggest conglomerate in Korea, Hyundai, after graduating from Korea University. His major was Korean Literature. While he was doing an ordinary salaried job at Hyundai, he became obsessed with going to Japan - a close but far country - to understand the reasons for its power. So he left for Japan, registered Japanese language school and studied there several years. Around the time life in Japan came to an end, his desire going to totally different country - the United States of America - delayed his return to his mother country.
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"I don't think life goes according to plan at all. Look at communist countries. They have extremely well-planned policies, but they simply don't work. I did not make a detailed plan when I decided to go to Japan other than wanting to feel other countries with my whole body. I think opportunities will come if you push yourself to follow your interest. When opportunities come to me, I seize them firmly and don't let go." In US, he worked at San Francisco as a sports reporter, covering professional events of the NBA, NHL, MLB and so forth. He recalls that the period was his golden time - all except for the salary. Because of that problem he moved on to a job from at the Silicon Valley branch of IBM, thus realizing his dream of working in real American company. Unfortunately, 9·11 ruined everything. He got laid off after a year and a half at IBM.
It does not seem like that his life in US was tough, but this is only superficially so. Although he had been proud of his English ability before he came to US, the real English in US gave him a severe hardship. It did not stem from just language difference. Constant misunderstanding and conflict were caused by deficiency of cultural understanding.
A typical example is something that happened when he worked at a company, shortly after arriving in America. "Once I used one of my boss's computers. Later when she asked me if I had deleted some files on her computer, I said "No" because I had not deleted anything. If I had just stayed calm, nothing would have happened. But my Asian sensibility told me that I should say 'I'm sorry' on account of using her computer. So I went to her office later and said 'I'm sorry for causing trouble.' Jesus! As soon as I said this, her facial color changed and she became furious with me. I was embarrassed and so stayed silent. As you know, being silent is also Asian sensibility. But she became even more furious with me on account of my silence, and yelled 'Get out of here' several times. I only understood the problem later. In America, especially in business relationships, 'Sorry' means 'I admit it was my fault.' Also being silent makes the situation worse.
Mr. Lee launched his conversational English book last fall to explain these cultural differences to people. Its title is Let's Talk with Native Speakers Naturally. He added, "Many Koreans don't know that English has a polite form, like Korean. For example, we Koreans don't say 'please' because we don't have to, and because English-Korean dictionaries define 'please' to mean 'for heaven's sake,' `showing mercy'. One day I told a lady `Get in the car' without saying `please'. She stared at me angrily in a way I will never forget. So when you ask something to foreigners, say `please' by all means. This is a just little example the things Korean high school text books don't tell you.
The tenure of the President Laughlin will be over this July. Extension is up to the president. If the president leaves, Mr. Lee's current position will be gone at the same time. I asked about his plans after the president leaves.
"If possible, I want to work in the diplomatic field. Otherwise, I would jump into English education. There are tons of English education schools, but few of them teach really important things like how to make eye contact, how to use friendly slang or how to speak with simple words. Robotic talking gives bad impressions. I would like to teach how to speak comfortably using simple words and with awareness of cultural differences.