N. Korea S. Korea Family

Family. We all have family, one way or another. It's odd to imagine family you are not allowed to visit, especially in this day and age. Not just visit physically, but using technology, no email, no FaceTime or Skype, no phone calls, nothing.

Today is the final day of reunions that start last week and were the first since 2010. They are unlikely to happen again soon and most have not seen each other since the Korean War ended in 1953. The Korean War ended with a cease fire, not a peace treaty, technically leaving the two Koreas still at war.

The reunions are part of a key inter-Korean deal meant to improve bilateral relations that worsened last year due to the North's third nuclear test and its threats of war against Seoul and Washington. After the North demanded that Seoul postpone its yearly military exercise it backed down in a rare concession.

"The time has come to tear down the wall that has separated the two Koreas over the last 70 years," Lee Chung-bok, North Korea's vice chief of the General Guidance Bureau.



South Korean Lee Oh-soon, 94, left, weeps with her North Korean brother Jo Won Je, 83, after the Separated Family Reunion Meeting at Diamond Mountain in North Korea



Tearful: South Koreans hold hands with their North Korean family members (pictured inside bus) before they are separated again.



South Korean Lee Yong-sil (right), 87, cries after meeting her North Korean daughter Dong Myung-suk, 66, during their family reunion.

Ambassador

Being an American citizen and living in a foreign country makes you nothing less than an Ambassador of your country. It always surprises me when foreigners complain about how something is less than, in my case, American or behave badly, litter or disrespect common curtesy. Living in a foreign country is an amazing opportunity that you as the foreigner should embrace.

As an Army wife I feel I represent America two fold. I represent my country as a citizen and as a military wife.

Being in the military is a juxtaposition of sort because Army bases in foreign countries are considered American soil. However, most of the service staff is from the foreign country and in my case Korean. By being friendly and sincere this affords me an informal way of learning customs and sayings to help me along in the outside world off base.

I also get wonderful opportunities to do things most American citizens don't get to do like visiting The U. S. Ambassador Residence.

Karen Devins and me outside of the U.S. Ambassador Residence to the Republic of Korea

Ambassador Residence

The Ambassador Residence is part of an awesome artists program started in the 1960's and formalized by President John F. Kennedy. Art In Embassies (AIE) curates temporary and prominent exhibitions for the representational spaces of all U. S. chanceries, consulates, and embassy residences worldwide, selecting and commissioning contemporary art from the U.S. and host countries. 

This landscape is by Kyung-Min Nam, Seoul, South Korea

During this past week Secretary of State John Kerry was visiting Seoul and meeting with President Park Geun-hye. Korea was his first stop of a multi-nation trip to Asia meant in part to solidify efforts for dealing with North Korea and its increasingly sophisticated nuclear weapons programs. 

Ambassadors come in various forms, but all represent a belief.