Chapter 59 Loving father and mother - Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his wife

I believe that many people will think that there are various norms and etiquette in diplomacy, which should be very cold and blunt, but diplomacy is also an exchange between people, so sometimes friendship blossoms in these processes.Since the time when I acted as the acting mother as the first lady, I have met countless foreign guests, including those who still maintain friendship, some who have known each other for a long time, and some who have not met a few times but have the same ideas and want to meet again. people to meet.These people have achieved something in their own fields, and some were even leaders of the country, so for me, these connections are the greatest asset in my life.

Former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his wife are like parents to me.Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and my father were leaders of the country in the 1960s and 1970s, and they were like rivals.I first met Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew during his visit to South Korea in October 1979, exactly a week before my father was shot.At that time, my father wanted to show them the status quo of South Korea's industrialization development, and wanted to take them to Pohang Zhitie Railway and Gyeongbu Expressway for on-site inspection, but Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew didn't really want to go at that time.I think this may be a kind of competitive mentality among leaders.In the end, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who inspected the Pohang Railway and the Gyeongbu Expressway, said that he was deeply impressed by the development and growth possibilities of Korea.

On the day of my father's meeting with Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, I served as an interpreter for their meal.Both are full of heroic masculinity, leading the difficult country to the road of development, full of enthusiasm and ideas.From the dialogue with each other, you can feel the taste of mutual competition between masters; but the two people's compliments for each other also made the atmosphere of the meeting harmonious.A week after the talks ended, his father was shot and died. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was deeply saddened and sent a condolence message. At noon on May 20, 2006, I met Lee Kuan Yew and his wife again in Seoul.After a long time, his eyes are still piercing, and he can feel the calmness and kindness under the meticulous appearance, as well as the demeanor of a leader full of knowledge. "If my father is still alive, would he look like this?" At that moment, such thoughts suddenly came to my mind.

The two who hadn’t seen each other for a long time treated me as kindly as their own children, asked me if I had any difficulties, whether I was in good health, etc., and mentioned that when I was in my twenties, I worked as an interpreter for them.During the conversation, Ms. Ke Yuzhi, the wife of the Prime Minister, suddenly took out a can of candy from her bag and said, "When you go around and give speeches, the most important thing is to take good care of your throat." She said As he spoke, he handed the lozenges to me.I thought to myself, "If my parents were still alive, they would take care of me like this", and I couldn't help feeling sad.

That afternoon, when I was giving a campaign speech for the Seoul mayoral election in Sinchon, I was attacked by unknown persons.In the morning, I had a good meeting with the former prime minister and his wife and greeted each other, but I didn’t expect to stand at the moment of life and death in the afternoon. One can imagine how frightened the two were at that time... I heard afterwards that the two heard my words The news, very sad, also sent me a letter of condolences for a speedy recovery.I will never forget the two who treated me like parents. The eldest son of the two, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, is now the new leader of Singapore.If it is said that in my father's era, it was a competition with former Prime Minister Lee, then I hope to discuss with his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the principles and routes for the common development of the two countries.