Robert Holley

Robert Bradley Holley (born December 2, 1958), also known by the Korean name Ha Il (하일), is a naturalized South Korean lawyer and television personality. A native of California and a former U.S. citizen, Holley relinquished his birth citizenship in 1997 in order to take South Korean citizenship.[1][2]

For the American biochemist, see Robert W. Holley. For the American cartoonist, see Robert M. Holley.
Robert Bradley Holley
BornDecember 2, 1958
Rancho Cucamonga, California, United States
CitizenshipSouth Korea
OccupationLawyer, founder and president of Gwangju Foreign School
Known forSpeaking in Busan dialect during television appearances
Korean name
Hangul
하일
Hanja
河一
Revised RomanizationHa Il
McCune–ReischauerHa Il

Career

Holley first came to South Korea in 1978 as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, remaining there for two years.[3] He returned to the country in 1982 to study at Yonsei University, and after graduating from West Virginia University in 1987 with a J.D. degree, began pursuing a legal career in South Korea.[1] He founded the Kwangju Foreign School in 1996.[4] He began his rise to television stardom in the early 2000s, becoming well known for his spoken Korean which shows heavy influence from the Gyeongsang dialect spoken in his adopted hometown of Busan.[5]

Personal life

Holley is a descendant of William Bradford, one of the signatories of the Mayflower Compact.[6] He is married to a South Korean woman, with whom he has three sons; the eldest was born in 1988.[2][7] He decided to naturalize as a South Korean citizen in 1997, which required him to give up his U.S. citizenship. He has described this as a difficult decision, especially since at the time South Korea was not a member of the U.S. Visa Waiver Program; a U.S. consular official tried to discourage him from giving up citizenship, warning that he might not be able to get a visa to return to his country of birth, but Holley nevertheless decided to go through with it.[1] A notice confirming his loss of U.S. citizenship was published in the Federal Register in February 1998.[8] He is a close friend of Lee Joon-gi, who rose to fame in the mid-2000s as a film actor.[9]

Holley was arrested by the Cyber Investigation Division of the Gyeonggi-do Southern Region Police Department on suspicion that he had used methamphetamines pursuant to the Narcotics Control Act of South Korea on April 10, 2019.[10] He was released on April 10, 2019 following a ruling from the court stating that they felt there was a low chance of him destroying evidence.[11] His case was referred to the prosecution on May 1, 2019.[12] On August 29, 2019, at the Seoul Western District Court, Holley was given a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years of probation and 40 hours of drug treatment for violations of the NCA.[13] The sentence took into consideration the fact that Holley had expressed regret for using methamphetamines.[13]

References
  1. Wallace, Ross (2001-03-23). "Robert Holley: Pusan's favorite son". Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
  2. "로버트할리, `꽃미남` 아들 공개 '누나들 열광'". Korea Economic Daily. 2009-12-11. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  3. York, Rob (2011-11-15). "Many Mormon missionaries come to Korea, some stay". Korea Herald. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
  4. "Welcome Messages". Gwangju Foreign School. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
  5. "Robert Holley, hoping for a happy multicultural society". Korea Magazine. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
  6. Baker, Michael (1999-12-06). "Ex-Americans embracing Korea find gesture returned". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2013-12-21.
  7. "로버트 할리, 뚝배기 아저씨 아니라예! '하일'로 불러주이소". InLive. 2010-03-16. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
  8. Doug Rogers, Internal Revenue Service (1998-02-09). "Quarterly Publication of Individuals, Who Have Chosen To Expatriate, as Required by Section 6039G". Federal Register. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
  9. Danbi, Grace (2012-07-12). "TV Personality Robert Holley Calls Lee Joon Gi Ugly". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
  10. Herald, The Korea (2019-04-09). "TV personality Robert Holley's conservative background highlighted after drug admission". www.koreaherald.com. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
  11. http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20190430000357&ACE_SEARCH=1
  12. http://www.newsworks.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=357241
  13. https://www.soompi.com/article/1348660wpp/robert-holley-receives-sentence-in-1st-trial-for-drug-use
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