This is the fourth in a series of articles introducing foreigners who have chosen to pursue their life passion in Korea. - Ed.



By Bae Hyun-jung



A person can feel at home the first moment they set foot in a country.

For Bob Graff, a partner and advisor of Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers who retired last week, his relationship with Korea was love at first sight.

Though many see him as "the American boss," the Minnesota-born Graff, or Gang Se-jin as written in his official documents, is Korean and is determined to remain so for the rest of his life.

When he first came to Korea back in 1969 as a U.S. army soldier, he was as unacquainted with the country as any American.

"I had even less knowledge than most of my colleagues, who mostly had a negative image of Korea," he said. "Strangely enough, though, the moment I landed at Gimpo Airport, I knew that I was home."

This is how he began his first 13 months in Korea, until he was discharged in 1970.

"I did not want to end my ties with Korea, so I decided to join the Peace Corps in 1971," he said.



After being specially trained in dealing with tuberculosis a common and often fatal disease in Korea back then, Graff served his compulsory service period in public health centers, often visiting isolated neighborhoods to offer medical care.

He then prolonged his service period to work as an instructor on tuberculosis and Hansen`s disease.

"I also taught English in the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies for about a year," Graff said. "I was open to various posts, as long as I could stay in Korea."

By 1974, however, he realized that he could not secure a permanent stay in Korea without a professional career.

"I asked myself these questions - `Where do I want to be and what do I want to be doing?` and my answers were quite clear," he said. "I wanted to be in Korea, and work as a professional."

He then set on a long-term scheme to settle in Korea.

"Among the many things I learned in the country was the importance of education, so I decided to take MBA courses in the States," Graff said. "I also knew that the degree would increase the chances for me to get a job in Korea."

With his master`s degree, Graff was hired by the Wells Fargo Bank in 1986, but he did not stay long in the post.

"The bank was not likely to offer me a chance to go back to Korea," he explained. "This is when I met Coopers & Lybrand, which had the Korean Samil as one of its major branches."

From 1986 to 1995, after joining Coopers & Lybrand, he frequently visited Korea during holidays to offer free counseling services to Samil and convinced the managers there to hire him.

In 1995, his longtime dream came true and Samil offered him a post as a partner.

"It took me a long time to obtain what I wanted, but I always had a clear goal - to live my life in Korea," he said. "The stages of my life, such as my MBA, IT counseling profession and getting a job in a bank were all means for me to be where I wanted and do what I wanted."

When asked why he came to love Korea, a country as foreign as it gets he explained that Korea always made him feel welcome.

"Maybe it is destiny," he said. "I cannot really explain it but have never felt this emotion in any other country."

The mental aspects, such as the culture of respect and the friendliness of the people, are probably what attracted him, he said.

"Some foreigners have negative views about Korea, especially about the allegedly unfair legal systems and the bias of the people," he said. "However, in many cases, this is because they do not know the language and the culture of Korea."

In any given country, it should be the foreigner`s responsibility to learn and understand that country in order to be respected in return, he said.

"Negative feedback is usually based on ignorance," he said.

Having spent 14 years in a prosperous career in Korea, Graff retired last week and retreated to his retirement house in Gangneung, Gangwon Province.

"Luckily for me, Samil has been one of the best Korean firms and I have thus been able to not only enjoy my life in Korea, as I wished, but also lead a successful career as IT counselor," he said. "As I am to spend the rest of my life as a retiree in Korea, I now wish to convey my knowledge in other parts of the Korean society."

Though as a Korean national, he has restrictions, like any other Korean, in visiting the United States, he neither regrets his decision to naturalize nor thinks of it as a sacrifice.

"It is, of course, a pity that Korea would not allow dual citizenship," he said. "However, Korea is the country I chose as my home and I would like to think of myself as a Korean-based global citizen."

(tellme@heraldm.com)