New York State, Seoul and Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Associations Offer Mutual Support in Face of Crisis

New York State, Seoul and Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Associations Offer Mutual Support in Face of Crisis

4.21.2020

By Christian Nolan

The New York State Bar Association recently exchanged letters of support with the Seoul Bar Association in Korea and Japan’s Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

“South Korea started a war against COVID-19 ahead of New York,” wrote Seoul Bar Association President Jongwoo Park. “Therefore, we fully sympathize with the situation and difficulties facing New York City, and as a colleague of this long war, the Seoul Bar Association will actively support the New York State Bar Association and get through immediate problems together.”

“While this worldwide pandemic may bring about great fear, it will not hold us back from actively helping our friends and neighbors, such as the Seoul Bar Association,” responded NYSBA President Hank Greenberg in a letter dated April 14.

That same day, Greenberg also penned a letter to the Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association.

“During this trying time for all, I want to extend my sincere best wishes of good health to you and your colleagues at the Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association,” wrote Greenberg. “We are grateful that we were able to come together only four short months ago to support our joint efforts of collaboration through our signing of a memorandum of understanding.”

“The situation is challenging everywhere on our globe, but we are very concerned about the serious development in your country, especially in your very state,” responded Takashi Teramae, new president of the Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association.

During Annual Meeting in New York City, NYSBA President Hank Greenberg signed historic memorandums of understanding (MOU) with both the Seoul Bar Association and the Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association.

In Park’s letter he said the Seoul Bar Association deeply appreciates its relationship with NYSBA.

“…[W]e hope that COVID-19 will soon be over and our precious life will be restored as soon as possible,” wrote Park. “We also hope that various projects between two bars including the young lawyer’s exchange training program, which we had set as joint goal, will be implemented at the earliest possible moment.”

Greenberg’s letters noted that NYSBA looks forward to beginning its joint projects with the Seoul Bar Association and Dai-Ichi Tokyo Bar Association when the crisis is over.