Dan Koh’s election to the US House of Representatives brought celebrations to his grandfather’s home village on Jeju Island, where residents put up banners congratulating the Korean American Democrat.
Residents and relatives put up the banners on Nov. 5 in Hagwi 1-ri, a village in Aewol, Jeju City, where Koh’s grandfather was born, to celebrate his election to represent Massachusetts’ sixth Congressional District. One banner described him as the grandson of diplomat Koh Kwang-lim and “the pride of the Jeju Koh clan.”
Across the road from the congratulatory banners stands a monument erected in 2005 to honor Koh’s grandfather’s family, reflecting their ties to Hagwi, a coastal village in Aewol-eup, Jeju City. Koh visited Jeju in September 2013.
The US politician's family belongs to the Yeonggokgong branch of the Jeju Koh clan. Korean clans are defined by a shared surname and ancestral place of origin, preserving family ties across generations and borders.
The celebrations reflect the strong familial and societal ties in Korean villages, where a descendant’s success can be a source of pride for the whole community.
For some villagers, those ties are personal.
Ko Tae-sik, head of the village’s senior citizens’ association and a distant cousin of Koh’s grandfather, told Yonhap News Agency that relatives had been sharing the news. “The whole village is delighted,” he said.
Koh was born to a Korean father and a mother of Lebanese descent. His grandfather, an international law scholar, served as a senior diplomat and acting ambassador at the South Korean Embassy in Washington in the early 1960s.
Koh has returned the gesture with a message of thanks and hopes for a visit.
Speaking to Korean correspondents at the US Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, the 41-year-old thanked Jeju residents for the banners, expressing hopes to visit the country after taking office early next year.
junheee@heraldcorp.com
