이채훤 Copyright Steve Smith

And so it was last night, as two of my awesome students (이채훤 and 백용규) served as interpreters at The Korea Observer and the Foreigner Entertainers Association (FEA)  rooftop party for foreign entertainers in South Korea with the support of the Senior Public Diplomacy Group under the Foreign Ministry. They both did “public” interpretation of speeches and whatnot and also did “personal” interpretation when individuals needed assistance. Two awesome interpreters and if you even need to hire relatively inexpensive interpreters with high skill levels? Just contact me.

The “party” had a serious theme. Foreign entertainers are playing an increasingly important role in Korea’s TV and film industry but remain

Mr. Baek turns on the personality. Copyright by Steve Smith

vulnerable to wage theft and other labor law violations. Serious issues of this sort were discussed, but spicy-food contests were also held, food and beer was free, and a wide variety of networking opportunities where present. Here’s a short list of some attendees

• Jesse Day, Canadian actor and Hip-Hop MC, hosted the Spicy Korean Food Eating Contest to spice up the event.
• Jason Lee, the first Asian Sportscaster in Canada, hosted a]a panel discussion with the theme, “Maximizing your talents in Korea.”
  Susan Macdonald, professor at Seoul Institute of the Arts and former MC of the talk show INNERview, hostedt another panel discussion with the topic, “Insight into the entertainment industry.”
  Panelists included aactress-turned lawmaker Jasmine Lee, Bronwyn Mullen, Ida Daussy, Mahbub Alam, David No, Louis Sun, Matt Rutledge, Alex Jensen & Jesse Day

[ M Garden, the location, is one of the most scenic rooftops to party in Seoul! and all proceeds from the sales of tickets will be donated to the Foreigner Entertainers Association and used to improve safe and equitable working standards in the Korean entertainment industry.

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NOTE: AWESOME COVER PHOTO (and really all the good shots here) IS COPYRIGHT OF STEVE SMITH. He can be found online at]  http://www.compassheadingphotography.com  and also on instagram at compass_heading_photography

AND ALSO MAD PROPS TO Tae-hoon Lee