Helping Korean school in lap of Luxembourg

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Helping Korean school in lap of Luxembourg

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About 250 people attend a dinner at a restaurant on the Han River on June 26 to raise money for a school for Korean adoptees in Luxembourg. By Kang Wook-hyun

On a classy cruise restaurant on the Han River in Seoul, well-dressed Koreans joined a few foreigners to hear a wine specialist’s lecture, then sip several bottles throughout a multi-course meal.
At first glance it might seem like a typical wine tasting event, but the June 25 dinner was organized around the National Day of Luxembourg, which fell on June 23. And it raised money to help a Korean-language school for Korean adoptees in Luxembourg.
About 250 participants of the celebration, mostly foreign embassy officials and Korean members of Luxembourg Business Club, were asked to buy tickets, priced at 10,000 won ($10.80).
“We have about 20 students, mostly Korean adoptees and children of Korean residents. But because we do not have our own space, we use a church classroom only once a week for a two-hour class,” said Choi Gyeong-ok, principal of the school. “Korean adoptees begin to wonder who they are when they reach adolescence. We want to help them find their identity.”
Luxembourg has the 13th-largest number of Korean adoptees in the world. From 1952 to 2004, 492 Korean children were adopted to the country, according to the South Korean Ministry of Welfare’s statistics.
“While preparing for the celebration, we heard about the needs of the school through Korean businessmen in Luxembourg. So we decided to make the celebration more meaningful by raising funds for the school at our celebration,” said Kim Youn-hee, a representative of the Luxembourg Board of Economic Development in Seoul, which sponsored the dinner. “The school also gives classes to Korean children living in Luxembourg with their parents doing business there. It is very important for Luxembourg to build strong relations with Korean businessmen,” said Lee Kyeong-ah, a board official.
The country does not have an embassy here. The celebration raised more than 5 million won for the school.


By Kim Soe-jung Staff Writer [soejung@joongang.co.kr]
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