Did you have a healthy and happy week?

On the wall next to my desk is a note I received from a friend working at another media organization right before the launching of The AsiaN as well as a sentence poet Park No-hae (朴勞解) wrote for me in the autumn of 2010. Park No-hae, whose real name is Park Ki-pyung made his pen name No-hae, an abbreviation for the liberation of workers. He played a big role as a labor activist, working for the improvement of labor conditions as well as democratization during the late 1980’s.

“You have been working very hard. Congratulations on launching The AsiaN. I hope The AsiaN will help many see Asia from a new and wider perspective.”

“Lee Sang-ki, flowers don’t try to stand out, but just wait to be seen.”

After returning to Korea from Kuwait, I suddenly came across these two sentences and they brought me serenity and peace during my busy weekend.

In this week’s newsletter, one of the passages in the article of an interview with the Israeli Ambassador Tuvia Israeli left a deep impression on me. Israeli’s family members were victims of the Holocaust. Fortunately, his parents survived, but both of his grandparents died in the concentration camps. Israeli was born in Romania, but his family moved to Israel when he was young and they changed their last name to “Israeli” to signify a new beginning.

Last week in Kuwait, The AsiaN signed an MOU with the 121-year old Egyptian Al-Hilal Magazine to promote exchange between the journalists of the two organizations as well as to share articles and material. I’m very happy that we will be able to share content from the Al-Hilal Magazine, which has been introducing the history and culture of Egypt and the Arab world for more than a hundred years.

See you next Wednesday.

March 13, 2013

Sincerely,
Lee Sang-ki, CEO & Publisher of the AsiaN

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