On the occasion of the 53rd National Day and the 23rd Anniversary of Liberation of the State of Kuwait, Ambassador & Mrs. Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi of Kuwait hosted a reception at Hotel Shilla in Seoul on Feb. 26, 2014.
As in the case of some the countries of the Middle East and Africa, there were no ceremonial formalities such as playing of the national anthems and welcome and return speeches from the host side and Korea. However, there cake-cutting ceremony participated in by many ambassadors as well as Korean government leaders.
It had both merits and demerits whereas some people wanted information on the latest development in the host country and its relations with Korea while others enjoyed the absence of long speeches as it dispensed with the need of listening to long speeches on empty stomach. One diplomat confided in The Korea Post, “Well, if the speeches are not too long, like three or four minutes, the guests would not feel tired.”
Another distinction of the party was the presentation of a warm scarf of the pattern of the National Flag of Kuwait which was given to each guest who put them around their neck. The scarf felt very warm.
Still another distinction of the occasion was the attendance by National Assemblywoman Kim Eul-Dong who is the daughter of the brave opposition National Assemblymen Kim Doo-Hwan during the First Republic of Korea of the late President Syngman Rhee. Rep. Kim Doo-Hwan is the son of the legendary Korean Independence Army General Kim Jwa-Jin. General Kim won great victories in various battle in Cheongsan-ri (Korean name) in southern Manchuria over the notoriously merciless Kanto Army of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, especially during the battles on Oct. 21-26, 1920.
Other Korean guests at the party included Minister Mun Hyung-Pyo of Ministry of Health & Welfare (MHW), Rep. An Hong-Jun of Saenuri Party, Director Woon-Chul Pak of the ME Division II & African & ME Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Director Jung HoWon of the Division of Global Health Care of MHW, Publisher-Chairman Lee Kyung-sik of The Korea Post, Professlor/Director Ahn Dong-Keun of Hanyang University Media/Communications Department, CEO Jung Soo-Hyun of Hyundai E&C, Vice Chairman & CEO Charles Y. Kim of Daelim, CEO Kim Taek-Won of S&T Motiv, President Han Suk-In of University of Utah Asia and President Sunny You of Korea American Football Association.
Attendance from the Seoul Diplomatic Corps (SDC) was also large and included many mission cheifrs and other senior diplomats. They included Ambassadors Hocine Sahraoui of Algeria, Jorge Roballo of Argentina, Elisabeth Bertagnoli of Austria, Ramzi Teymurov of Azerbaijan (CDA), Natallia Jhylevich of Belarus, Dato Haji Harun Ismail of Brunei Darussalam (concurrently dean of the SDC), Petar Andonov of Bulgaria, Jaime Alberto Cabal Sanclemente of Colombia , Manuel Lopez Trigo of Costa Rica, Sylvestre Kouassi Bile of Cote d'Ivoire, Grecia Fiodalicia Pichardo of Dominican Republic, Hany Moawad Selim Labib of Egypt, Dibaba Abdetta (Dr.) of Ethiopia, Nikoloz Apkhazava of Georgia, Gabor Csaba of Hungary, Ahmad Masoumifar of Iran, Khalil Ismai Abdul Sahib Al-Mosawi of Iraq, Jad El Hassan of Lebanon, Farhat A. Abdussalm of Libya (CDA), Jose Luis Bernal of Mexico, Kaman Singh Lama of Nepal, Mohamed Salim Alharthy of Oman, Ceferino Adrian Valdez Peralta of Paraguay, Ahmad Y. Al-Barrak of Saudi Arabia, Tajeldin Elhadi Eltahir of Sudan, Mohamed Ali Nafti of Tunisia, Abdulla Khalfan Alromaithi of the United Arab Emirates and Alisher Kurmanov of Uzbekistan. There also were many ‘Number 2s’ and other senior diplomats who included Minister & Deputy Head of Mission Johannes Regenbrecht of Germany.
