Dr. Rhee's Austrian Wife

[mikey]

K-drama fan Webcolorchart (of the Wang Guhn Yahoo group) pointed out this link to information about Dr. Rhee Syngman’s Austrian (!) wife. The text is Korean, but the photos tell most of the story:

cafe.naver.com/syngmanrhee.cafe?iframe_url=/ArticleRead.nhn%3Farticleid=701

Note: this is a “naver” link, and I know they sometimes don’t work. But, let’s give it a try anyway.

I was frankly amazed that this Korean leader would have married interracially way back then (they were married in 1934) and apparently did so with little or no backlash from the Korean public. And I’m also a bit surprised that the writer/producers of “Seoul 1945” haven’t ever mentioned this fact, either!

[origami]

Hmm, you learn something new everyday:

"I was frankly amazed that this Korean leader would have married interracially way back then (they were married in 1934) and apparently did so with little or no backlash from the Korean public. And I’m also a bit surprised that the writer/producers of “Seoul 1945” haven’t ever mentioned this fact, either!"

Well, they didn't have TV back then. I haven't seen too many K-Drama that handle foreign actors
all that well. They seem totally lost when they hire foreigners to play bit parts. I would love to see them tackle interracial love story with a really good American actor/ actress.

[mikey]

I’m REALLY sick of that German actor guy who keeps landing roles as an American on Korean TV dramas. Jeez, can’t the Koreans find even ONE person to play the role of an American who doesn’t come off sounding like Arnold Schwarzenegger?

You’re right about the lack of TV coverage. Back then, nobody knew that President Roosevelt was confined to a wheelchair, either. But Dr. Rhee’s marriage to a Caucasian woman was unusual enough that I thought KBS might have at least mentioned it.

Heck, I’ve had a long-time Chinese girlfriend (Hong Kong born, but she went to high school in San Diego, so she’s pretty Americanized) and even though we were both living in the United States, and it was the late 1990’s, her getting friendly with a Caucasian guy - even just as a friend - was a big no-no to her parents.

I can only imagine the how the public’s attitude might have been to this kind of thing back in 1930’s Korea.