In these difficult period, we would like to remember a good friend and lawyer who tried to open up the DPR Korea though engaging with a fickle and challenging legal system: Michael Hay. Michael gave his life to work in the country, spending more than 2 decades working on the issue and more than a decade living in the country. While he did not manage to see the country transform into an open, integrated economic dynamo that he would wish to see, he leaves behind the legacy of having pioneered what many would have thought was impossible. We gave some comments on his passing
Geoffrey See, the founder of Choson Exchange – a Singaporean NGO focusing on business capacity-building missions in the DPRK – said he met regularly with Hay during often challenging visits to the country.
“Working in Pyongyang trying to drive change is a lonely arduous endeavor as I am sure it was for Michael,” said See. “Meeting him for drinks at the Pyongyang Hotel cafe on each visit made my work more colorful and less lonely.
“To know that there is someone there whom we knew from the early days of our work, a constant presence through the past decade, who cared a lot about the people’s potential and believed in a future North Korea that is more open and full of economic opportunities comforted me and gave me strength.
See said he had been impressed by Hay’s passion for North Korea affairs.
“I remember his colleague in Seoul from a distant past when Michael was a high-flying lawyer in the South who greatly respected Michael’s passion for North Korea, but also first mentioned Michael to me as a cautionary tale of the danger of caring too much about the North Korea issue.
“But instead I saw Michael as someone who trailblazed a path and tried to make a difference even when it took so much from him,” See continued.
Andrew Salmon writes in great detail a fitting tribute to this giant in our field. Do read. Some quotes:
First coming to [South] Korea
This writer first met Hay in Seoul in 1998. He was intense and intelligent; in 1999, 2000 and 2001, Asialaw magazine voted him one of the region’s leading lawyers.
“He was very dynamic, highly energetic and very positive… we nicknamed him ‘Mr. Laser’ because he would zoom in and hone his argument with precision,” recalled Shane Hong, a legal colleague. “He kind of prided himself on being like a New Yorker: He was an extremely hard worker.”
Going to North Korea
In 1998, Hay made his first trip to North Korea.
They were heady days. The unprecedented “Sunshine Policy” of cross-border engagement was underway. Hay’s abiding passion was ignited – and Hong believes Hay needed a life mission larger than corporate arbitration.
“I think he became too big for the role he was doing,” Hong said. “He was a visionary.”
Returning to Seoul
And his Northern years spelt missed professional advancement in the South.
“He had been a hotshot and people who had not been as good as him were now powerful, wealthy individuals,” said Douma. “Mike did not choose that, but he had the chance to see what might have been.”
Worse, 2018’s possibilities abruptly dissipated. In February 2019, the Kim-Trump summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, imploded. North Korea’s relations with the democratic world – including South Korea – slid back into deep freeze.
Hay was dismayed. “He’d had higher hopes than reality,” said Douma.
The impact
“The big losers are the people in both North and South Korea,” opined Douma. “They will have no Mike Hay when the road does open up.”
“A lot of those who try and work with North Korea in business and consulting get completely burnt,” said Chad O’Carroll, the Seoul-based founder of NK News. In addition to the cases above, O’Carroll cited “two or three others I am aware of” who are in “difficult circumstances.”