New US Homeland Chief Fathered Daughter in Korea

[Judi Lynn]

New US Homeland Chief Fathered Daughter in Korea

(date appears at bottom of article: 12-05-2004 21:51)



Bernard Kerik, left, speaks after he
was nominated as new U.S.
homeland security secretary by
President George W. Bush Dec. 3.
/ Yonhap


By Reuben Staines
Staff Reporter
Bernard Kerik, the man tasked with protecting the United States from the threat of terrorist attacks, fathered a daughter with a South Korean woman while serving on the peninsula in the mid-1970s, U.S. media reported over the weekend.

Kerik, who was selected to replace Tom Ridge as secretary of the Homeland Security Department on Thursday, had the baby with a woman identified as Sun-ja after arriving in South Korea as a 19-year-old military policeman in December 1974, according to several reports.

The baby, named Lisa, was born in 1975. But Kerik deserted her and her mother when he left the country in February 1976.

In his 2001 autobiography, titled ``The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice,¡¯¡¯ Kerik called the decision ``a mistake I will always regret, and I pray to God that one day I can make it right.¡¯¡¯
(snip/...)

12-05-2004 21:51

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200412/kt2004120521494711990.htm