About Dr. Hubert Lee
- Columnist at WorldKorean News
- Columnist at Koreana News
- President (title) at Korean American Foundation USA
- Vice-President (education) at Korean War Veterans Association Chapter 202
- C.E.O. at Benjamin Hubert Group
- Commissioner at Human Rights Commission of Orange County
- Former Member of the Republican Presidential Task Force at U.S. Senate
- Former Investment Advisor at Anton’s Corporation
- Studied Macroeconomics at State University of New York at Binghamton
- Studied Public Finance & Monetary Economics at The New School
- Studied Economics at Korea University
- Studied Public finance at Northwestern University
The following is an article written about Dr. Lee from the magazine “The Graybeard”
The commemoration of the 69th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War was held on June 23, 2019 at the Town of Wallkill Community Center, Middletown, NY. It marked the 30th “Thank you” party that was initiated in 1989 by Dr. Hubert Hojae Lee, a former KATUSA instructor in the 8th US Army Support Command, South Korea. Dr. Lee was a military interpreter and translator for Col. Bennett, a senior US Quartermaster advisor to the first ROK Army, Camp Long, Wonju, Gangwon-Do, in 1965.
Lee lost a few brothers and an uncle during the war when his hometown, Cho-Am Reservoir, was occupied by communist North Korean soldiers. Dr. Lee reflected upon his boyhood when he would walk down the barbed wire fence of a U.S. signal company near his home to get a pack of coffee and chocolates from American Soldiers and copies of the beautifully colored Life magazine that was never available in South Korea at that time. He enjoyed looking at color pictures of beautiful actresses and actors by turning page after page-without understanding English at all.
The signal company was stationed in the heart of the nearby mountains to monitor movements of North Korean communist guerrillas landing from the Nam Yang bay on the west coast of Seoul. Dr. Lee was always thinking of providing a thank you party to Korean War veterans, vividly remembering what American soldiers did to keep communism from spreading into South Korea and establishing the freedom, peace, and democracy-needed to secure economic prosperity for Korean people today.
After his discharge in 1967, after three years of military service, the U.S State Department selected him for an internship with Northwestern University and Field Enterprises Educational Corp, Chicago, IL in 1969. Two years later he returned to the U.S. to complete his doctorate degree in Public Finance. He worked as an economist with Global Ocean Transportation Company and settled in suburban Orange County, New York.
In his speech Dr. Lee suggested that President Harry Truman had a myopic historical view of the Korean situation, which was why he did not agree with General MacArthur’s desire to unite the Korean peninsula by pushing communist soldiers beyond the Yalu River, even by dropping an atomic bomb in China. That, he explained, is why Korea remains divided today.
Dr. Lee confirmed MacArthur’s plan during his conversation with General Alexander Haig at a dinner party for Congressman Ben Gilman, who was the longest served Chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee. Then a Captain, Haig was a member of General MacArthur’s core staff during the Yalu River battle with the Chinese.
Political and historical views aside, Dr. Lee finally hatched an idea to provide a thank you party for all veterans who served in Korea during and after the Korean War. The party hall was crowded with almost 200 veterans in June 1989 when it was held for the first time at Stony· Ford Community· College, Montgomery, New York.
The original program featured guest speakers NY State Supreme Court Judge Labuda, Korean consul Pahk Sung Hyun, Tom Master, former FBI agent/attorney, and Major General Hahn Sung Chu, who years later came from Korea to inform President Trump and congressional leaders of 600 underground tunnels that are constructed under major government buildings in Seoul. The tunnels were intended to enable enemy operatives to capture South Korean political leaders and the commanding general of 8th U.S. Army to wage underground guerilla war against South Korea, and occupy the Korean territory.
In 2002 Dr. Lee established the Korean American Foundation, USA, along with Sam Tucker, then president of Chapter 202, to help orphaned and handicapped children in Korea. They raised funds and delivered the cumulative $210,000 as of May, 2019. For the past 10 years Dr. Lee delivered the funds for the disadvantaged children in Yang Pyeong region. For that Mayor Chung of the city nominated Dr. Lee as a Peace Ambassador to Yang Pyeong in May 2019. Many children in other cities, e.g., Suwon, Bucheon, Anyang, anc Hwaseong, were recipients before 2010.
A group of Korean opera singers, led by music professor Kim Mimi, has provided musical concerts at presentations for the past fifteen years. Dr. Lee has been invited by Henry Sosa, president of the Smith Task Force Unit in America, as a guest speaker to many veterans meetings in America, especially to the Smith Task Force reunion of 600 vets at the Doubletree Hotel in Virginia.
Task Force Smith comprised the first American troops dispatched from Tokyo to the Osan/Suwon area, near Dr. Lee’s Korean hometown, by commanding General Douglas MIacArthur. Sadly, most of them were killed in action the next day by the well-trained North Korean soldiers. To honor their sacrifice in this battle, the Smith Task Force monument was erected in the center of Osan City, Hwa Seong.
In 2003, Henry Sosa, the commander of Smith Task Force Unit in the U.S., and Dr. Lee traveled to the Smith Task Monument, Osan near the U.S. air base, to pay highest respect in tears to the soldiers who were killed en masse.
To honor the noble sacrifice, Dr. Lee often delivered his English poem, exclusively composed to honor.Korean War veterans, titled “TO OUR KOREAN WAR HEROES!”
On April 27, 2019 Dr. Lee delivered a speech in English at the west wing of the U.S. Capitol at the request of General Hahn. Lee begged President Trump and congressional leaders of America to keep Korea from communism at whatever cost. The building is very familiar to Dr. Lee, because he was there to attend the inauguration ceremonies of President George Bush as a member of the Presidential Task Force in the U.S. Senate.
Dr. Lee strongly urged President Trump and congressional leaders to protect the freedom and democracy of the Republic of Korea that was established as a model case of American policy. He warned that South Korea may be on the brink of collapse due to sudden attacks by North Korean guerilla warfare. President Trump may have to take military options against Kim Jong-un of North Korea before he tries to fulfill his inherited dream from his grandfather. Time is running short.
It is urgent for President Trump to critically evaluate the Korean situation and take military actions soon against North Korea’s hidden underground tunnel war, not only for him to win re-election, but also to stop spreading communism by the force of China in Far East Asia.
“We Korean people never want Trump to make the same mistake Harry Truman made during the Korean War,” he concluded.
