UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday embraced the 99-year-old woman he calls his “American Mom” on a nostalgic visit to her home, where as a high-school student from war-ravaged South Korea he spent his first days in the US — experiencing culture shock at the country’s riches.
Mary Elizabeth “Libba” Patterson hugged the UN boss back and later had tears in her eyes when she spoke about how 18-year-old “Ki-moon” became her fourth child and part of her family during his eight-day visit in 1962.
“He’s still my kid,” she said in an interview, her voice breaking. “He was just ... like our own, and to me, today, underneath all the glory and names and what have you that he’s achieved, he’s still Ki-moon, our son.”
Ban responded saying: “Yes, I’m still her kid and she’s still my American mom.”
“I have two moms, one in Korea and one here,” he said. “More than half a century I’ve been keeping contact... She’s still very alert, good memory, and I’m very happy.”
Ban, whose family was forced to flee their home during the Korean War, reflected on how he got to the US and the crucial role the month-long visit had in shaping his life.
The Red Cross and the UN were instrumental in helping all Koreans during the war, he said, so in high school he participated in many Red Cross activities. In his senior year, he entered a Red Cross English essay competition to win a place in its program for international students to visit the US — and won.
Libba Patterson worked for the American Red Cross at Hamilton Air Force Base and had a 17-year-old son Michael — close to Ban’s age — so that is why the family was chosen to host him.
Ban said everything in the US was new and shocking for a “very young, poor country boy from Korea.”
He was dazzled by the beauty of nearby San Francisco — the first US city he saw — and shocked at the modern living conditions for Americans compared with those at home.
The US seemed “a sort of paradise,” Ban said.
The 120 students from about 40 countries who went to the US under Red Cross auspices spent their final week in Washington.
“The most life-changing moment came when I was invited to the White House on Aug. 29, 1962,” Ban said. “We were received by [president] John F. Kennedy ... the most admired leader at that time.”
He said one thing that Kennedy said had a huge impact on him.
Kennedy told the students that “world leaders do not get along well, but you do since you are young people, and there are no boundaries among the countries. The boundaries have no meaning. What is important is whether you are ready to provide your helping hand to other people,” Ban said.
When he returned home, Ban applied to the Department of International Relations at Seoul National University, which only took 20 students. He won a place, and that led to his career as a diplomat starting in 1970, rising to ambassador, foreign minister and secretary-general of the UN for nine-and-a-half years.
Patterson will celebrate her 100th birthday in May next year and Ban said he hopes to be there for her party.
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