Source: The Korean Times
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The Korean name of U.S. President Barack Obama has become a talk of the town as a Korea-U.S. friendship body plans to give when he visits Seoul for the two-day G20 summit, which will open Thursday. Suh Jin-hup, head of the ROK-US Alliance Friendship Association, has named the U.S. president “Oh Han-ma” in Korean. O meaning nation, Han means Korea and Ma is a horse. “ ‘O(吳)’ from the first letter of Obama has been chosen as his family name, Han (韓) from ‘H’ pronunciation of Obama’s middle name Hussein as his middle name and Ma (馬) which is a symbol of the United States has been chosen as his last name,” Suh said. “Gangnam(southern Seoul) has been selected as family clan as the G20 summit is held in the southern part, or Gangnam-gu of Seoul.” “The full name means our hope that the Korean and U.S. leaders will exert their efforts to strengthen Korea-U.S. solid alliance made during the Korean War, to iron out the negotiation of the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) and to reactivate the sagging world economy by actively galloping like horses at the bilateral summit on the sideline of G20 summit,” Suh said. The friendship body is seeking to give the Korean name plate along with the naming reasons to President Obama via the United States Forces Korea. The friendship association has named State Secretary Hillary Clinton Han Hee-sook (한희숙: 韓熙淑), former State Secretary Condoleezza Rice Ra Hee-soo (라희수:羅梨秀), Gen. Burwell B. Bell, former commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), Baek Bo-guk (백보국: 白保國) and former U.S. Ambassador to Korea Alexander Vershbow Park Bo-woo (박보우: 朴寶友). |
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