Minutes of the Rotary Meeting
August 23, 2018
By Kathy Miller
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Ernest Ladd at 12:00 p.m. John Pisarkiewicz offered the invocation and Larry Sindel led the Club in song and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Guests: Tommy Blankenship introduced guests and visiting Rotarians.
Announcements: Ernest announced that the rosters for the 2018-2019 Rotary year are ready and asked members to pick one up on the way out.
Program: Claire McCarron introduced Sujin Kim who presented a program about her native country, “Land of Morning Calm (South Korea)”.
Ms. Kim is the founder of KOCAMA Consulting which assists American and Korean companies, institutions and individuals in capitalizing on opportunities for business and economic development in the United States and the Republic of Korea. She also founded Gulf Coast Immigration. She has been a member of The National Unification Advisory Council to the President of South Korea. She is a board member and current Vice President of the Korea Southeast U.S. Chamber of Commerce and has served with various Korean governmental and quasigovernmental entities and Korean trade and industry associations.
Ms. Kim gave a presentation on the geography, language and history of the Korean Peninsula. She summarized the political division between North and South Korea and the extraordinary economic growth of South Korea after the armistice in the Korean War in 1953. She noted that the Peninsula essentially had been reduced to “rubble”, and that all factories were destroyed and national resources were depleted. She outlined the infrastructure that has developed since that time and the drivers of the South Korean economy. She stated that the primary industries in South Korea are semiconductors, ship building and automobiles. She discussed the current state of political relations between North Korea and South Korea. She pointed out that South Korea is one of Alabama’s top trading partners. She also discussed the history of Mobile’s sister city relationship with Pyeongtaek, which is the third largest port in South Korea. At the conclusion of her program, Ernest presented Ms. Kim with a certificate for speaking to the Club.
Adjournment: After announcing members’ birthdays and the program for next week, Ernest adjourned the meeting at 1:00 p.m.