Jonathan, who was born in South Korea and lives in Mississippi, have been granted visas by North Korean officials and will be flying to Pyongyang from Beijing with his parents. And somehow, young dude is going bring a little slice of peace to the Korean peninsula.
Reports by South Korea's Yonhap news agency say Jonathan met former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung three years ago and suggested planting chestnut trees on the Korean peninsula and that he went to see the then-ailing former president again last year.You have to admire the kid's audacity. When I was 13, I was just trying to muster up the guts to ask girls to slow dance. This kid wants to plant a peace forest in the frickin' DMZ. That's cute. I wonder when reality will finally set in. At least he didn't try to illegally cross the border to deliver his letter. More here: US schoolboy to visit North Korea.
In a letter Jonathan hopes to give to Kim Jong Il, he wrote that Kim Dae-jung talked with him about his "sunshine policy" of peaceful coexistence with the North.
"He promised he would take me with him the next time he went to the DPRK, but sadly he passed away last year," the letter says. "I'd like to carry on his dream."
The idea for the visit to the North startled Jonathan's father, Kyoung Lee, who was born and raised in South Korea and now lives with his family in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
"When growing up, I was always taught, don't talk to or associate with any North Korean people, so this is kind of shocking for me that my son wants to go in," Kyoung Lee said.
