「Approaching the Korea that abandoned me」 by a Korean-French former minister [SDF Diary]

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Today, I would like to tell you the story of Fleur Pellerin, a French minister and CEO of a startup investment company, whom I met on the 9th.

In 2012, CEO Pelle Lerin took office as France's Minister of Small and Medium Business, Innovation and Digital Economy, and in 2014 served as Minister of State for Trade, Tourism and Overseas Koreans, and Minister of Culture and Communication. co-founded.

Many people probably remember him as the first Asian-French minister at the time of his inauguration, and as a person who garnered a lot of attention as a Korean adoptee.

At the end of October, he was publishing a book of essays, 'Win or Have Fun' for Korean readers. 

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<Last 9th, SBS headquarters>

Q. Nice to meet you.

You recently published an essay with a very personal story.

What motivated you to write the book?

When I visited Korea in 2013 as Minister of France, many people welcomed me and asked me, “Do you feel not only as a French person but also as a Korean?”

At the time, it was my first visit to Korea since I was adopted.

“I feel very French,” he replied.

And I felt that many people were surprised and disappointed by the answer.

At the time, I didn't know how much Koreans value bloodlines or roots.

At the time, of course, I didn't think I had to or could go back to Korea.

It took me time to re-establish a relationship with where I was born.

But for once, I wanted to get it right.

That's what prompted me to write this book. 

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Q. The essay begins with the story of a 6-month-old baby (Korean name: Jong-suk) arriving at Le Bourget Airport in France on March 1, 1974.

As I read the book, I think again, 'what is the identity of an individual made through'.

What do you think influenced her the most before she became the current Fleur Pelle Lerain?

She grew up in a very normal, average French family.

I think that values ​​were probably created through my parents and through the education I received.

As my social status changed, I was greatly influenced by the people around me and my friends.

in the surrounding environment.

It feels very mysterious.

Still, I think that identity is basically what you create.

And in my case (through adoption), I think that I made myself who I am now because the personal factor was different.

“I tried very hard not to define myself by

adoption or birth. ”

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French assimilation-centered education1) is not without its problems.

However, in theory, assimilationist education is to think that anyone who is allowed to live in France, or who is allowed to work in France, should be educated just like the French.

Rather than preserving their own culture, they want to adapt to French society.

Public education, in particular, teaches that anyone should be raised as a Frenchman and be treated like a Frenchman.

As a result of receiving such an education, I was not very aware of the fact that I was different from others, and as a Frenchman, I grew up feeling part of French society.

Recently, as the number of people who want to preserve their traditions or cultural identity increases, politically (French-oriented education centered on assimilationism) causes great controversy and conflict, but for a child like me with a different skin color, French society and environment Assimilation-centered education and universal values ​​were of great help in adapting to the world.

I did not feel particularly different from others or discriminated against.

​​​​ 1) On the other side of the 'assimilation' policy is the 'multiculturalism' policy.

The 'Assimilationism' policy is an education policy that France takes as a representative, and it hopes to follow the traditions and values ​​of French society rather than unique cultural characteristics when settling down.

For example, they insist on using only French rather than their own language in education and do not want to adhere to their own culture.

It is a policy that is at the opposite point of 'multiculturalism', an educational policy in Canada and other countries that respects their own culture and accepts a bilingual policy.

In the case of CEO Pellerin, who was adopted, this 'assimilationism' education was very helpful in growing up as a Frenchman without being discriminated against even though he was of a different race. It is also appearing as a factor that aggravates social unrest by preventing people from adhering to their religion or tradition.

Also, in the field of education, it has been concluded that 'multiculturalism' education is more effective than 'assimilationism' education in terms of children's emotional development and academic achievement, explained Professor Mo Gyeong-hwan of the Department of Social Education at Seoul National University. 

"I was more concerned about social class differences than skin color"

"Behavioral codes and cultural codes are a powerful cause of social discrimination"

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Q. After becoming Minister of Culture, it is impressive how much effort you have made for 'cultural democratization'.

You mentioned in the book, “I am convinced that behavioral codes and cultural codes are a powerful cause of unjust social discrimination today.”

I think the biggest obstacle for those who are trying to move through the social hierarchy or to gain a better social status than their parents' generation through education, job, etc. is the 'cultural code' and 'behavioral code' that they are not naturally exposed to.

If you grow up in an ordinary family and do not learn how to deal with a specific situation, or if you do not naturally know cultural information such as exhibitions or movies that are a recent issue, you will experience difficulties relatively compared to the case of encountering it through the people around you. I have no choice but to. 

"Culture is the privilege of the upper classes.

I wanted to broaden the access to this privilege."

Because I knew that, I especially worked for 'cultural democratization' during my tenure as Minister of Culture.

We tried to ensure that children of all walks of life had equal opportunities culturally, such as making it easy for them to learn an instrument, join a choir, or learn a play.

Because my parents weren't exposed to much musical knowledge or cultural things, but they taught me to learn the piano or take drama classes from a young age, which opened up opportunities for me to experience those cultural skills.

In France, in order to get into a particularly good school, you must pass an oral exam, and at that time, a topic to find out your cultural literacy is usually presented.

We believe that basic cultural education is important to prevent discrimination based on class.

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Q. Let me ask you a little more about the hierarchy.

The CEO is a person who has succeeded in climbing the social ladder by graduating from the ESEC Business School, the Paris University of Political Science, and the National School of Public Administration with excellent grades.

“I was more concerned about social class than skin color.”, “Even now, the issue of class is very important to me.

How to make layer mobility a little easier?

How to reduce discrimination?

This question never left my mind.”

I understand that because of this thought, I entered the '21st Century Club', an organization established to improve the diversity of leadership in the fields of media, economy and politics.

I think 'social (class) movement' is one of the most important issues that a society should pay attention to.

Because we believe that everyone should have the opportunity to stand on the same starting line.

If the differences between classes are too great, it is inevitable that harmony will be difficult.

So I think the government or regime should put social class issues as the most important priority for a society.

The social class issue is thus a collective issue, but on the other hand, it is a personal issue.

If you're successful climbing the social ladder, there's of course the joy of achievement, but you can't help but feel alienated from the parents, family, and friends who funded and encouraged you to succeed.

In the book, I also tried to honestly express the feelings of a personal perspective that I felt due to class mobility.

Personally, I feel sad because of the past or people I have no choice but to leave behind.

Not only me, but anyone who has experienced class mobility must feel this feeling.

But on the other hand, I think those memories also play a role in putting your feet on the ground and not losing your original intentions about where you came from.

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<Interview with Fleur Pellerin, CEO of Corellia Capital, and Jeongae Lee, Head of SBS Future Team>

"The emergence of minorities is an anachronistic point of view"

Q. You are also famous for rejecting the first offer to take on diversity issues when you entered politics.

Can you talk to me then?

Yes, I was really angry at the time.

I studied economics and majored in public policy, finance, taxation, and public law, so I had expertise in various fields, but I felt that I was not recognized.

It's not because I think the issue of 'diversity' is not important.

I agree that it's a very important issue, but it felt insulting to ask someone from my background to do that.

It's like they think that only women can deal with gender-related issues.

As if if any of the French ministers had to stand up for the Lunar New Year, I would definitely recommend me with an Asian face.

I thought that idea was anachronistic.

So I said that, and fortunately, I was able to take on economic issues with sympathy.

I didn't think it was right to highlight my minority when there were other things I could do better.

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<The François Hollande government was the first cabinet in French history to achieve complete gender equality, with 17 women and 17 men appointed as ministers.>

Q. You are now co-representative of a global investment company that discovers and invests in startups.

What startups are you interested in?

Investments in startups are diverse, such as early stage, late stage, growth stage, and just before IPO, depending on the time period.

We are interested in late-stage tech companies.

We are interested in cases that have already started to generate profits but need to scale up.

So far, we have mainly looked at French companies, but now we are going to start investing in Korean companies as well.

This era of crisis is also an opportunity to discover proper startups.

Since we view our investments on a 10-year cycle, we are interested in long-term trends, such as digital health or e-commerce.  

It is true that startups have been more interested in the United States or China, where the market is single, rather than in Europe, where the language is different and regulations differ from country to country.

However, the advantage of Europe is that there are many 'highly educated consumers' and there are many skilled technicians, and it is much cheaper to set up an R&D center than the United States.

It also guarantees a high quality of life.

In particular, at a time when the Korean wave is in the limelight like now, the affinity for Korean brands, IPs, and companies is very high.

That's why I think now is a good opportunity to enter the European market.

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At the end of the interview, I directly asked what they thought of the 'adoption system'.

CEO Pellerin said that although he thinks it's basically a good thing, he feels that it's a very personal journey, and that it's not an easy question to answer because each country has different policies and knows a lot of failed cases.

At the same time, he said that he respects his parents for making such a choice because raising a child who is not his blood relative and having to help him overcome the psychological trauma he may have suffered is never an easy task.

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CEO Fleur Pellerin said there are no plans to publish this book in France.

It is entirely for Korean readers.

At the same time, I did not want to emphasize that you can achieve 100% of anything you want or that everything is possible regardless of your environment or social class, but it is also important to disregard other people's expectations without being swayed by your own class or environment or being swayed by others' stories. I said I wanted to tell you that sometimes it is necessary. 

In particular, he emphasized that young people should directly participate in more decision-making processes as subjects in order to challenge the hurdles in front of their future, whether it is the climate crisis or diversity issues in an era of uncertainty.

Representative Pellerin concluded the interview by saying that that method would ultimately be the way to develop the power to shape one's own destiny.