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Korean community celebrates Thanksgiving festival
The Korean Association of Saipan celebrated their Thanksgiving holiday, Chuseok, at the Saipan World Resort last Sunday, with hundreds sitting down to a festive dinner party with family and friends.
The Korean Association of Saipan gathered Sunday night for a festive dinner and party in celebration of their thanksgiving festival, Chuseok, at Saipan World Resort. (Frauleine S. Villanueva)
Chuseok is the Thanksgiving and harvest festival of Korea, which is traditionally celebrated for three days.
In his welcome address, KAS president Hong Kyun Kim acknowledged the hardships that their members went through after Typhoon Soudelor.
“I, as the president of KAS, am truly sorry for whatever you had to go through to try to save and restore what we had in our lives on Saipan before it hit us. Even though KAS has tried its best to be there for our Korean community as much as it could, I do understand that it wouldn’t be enough,” Kim said.
“We still have a long way to go, but we have to be one and we will show everyone the Korean power and dignity in rebuilding and restoring what we accomplished here in the CNMI,” he added.
Aside from song and dance numbers performed by various individuals and groups, an awarding ceremony was also held to recognize certain key individuals.
Plaques of appreciation were given to the former president and founder of KAS, Tony Lim, to KAS member YongGeun Jin who contributed a lot to the Korean Athletics and Soccer Association, and to Asiana Airlines Saipan general manager SungNam Park.
Firefighters and police officers were also given plaques of appreciation: Police Officer ll Peter Aguon Alan, Police Officer ll Catherine Basa Pangelinan, Fire Fighter ll Patrick Ogo, and Fire Fighter l Joaquin T. Camacho.
KAS also officially appointed Janet H. King as their legal counsel.
Among the guests who attended the event were representatives of the Korean Consulate in Guam, including general consul Sang Don Yoon and officer NeungGab Park. Former KAS presidents such as Tony Lim, Young Chan Kim, and MinHee Won were also present.
ChangHo KI’m from LaoLao Bay Golf and Resort, KwangJung Kim from Tan Holdings, SoYoung Hong from T Galleria Saipan, and YongChan Kim and ByungChul Kim from Korean Community School of Saipan also attended.
