North Korean Missed Opportunity

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North Korea may not sound like a dream destination for most people, but then globe hopper Mickey Kantor isn’t most people.

The former Commerce secretary and current partner with law firm Mayer Brown was recently elected co-chairman of the Pacific Council on International Policy, an L.A. non-profit focused on foreign policy. In addition to hosting big-name speakers, the group regularly arranges international missions to countries as diverse as South Sudan, Afghanistan and Chile.

Kantor, who has traveled extensively and recently returned from Europe, said he has yet to travel with the council, but counts those opportunities as a perk of the position. But unhappily for him, Kantor, 72, said prior obligations will force him to miss perhaps his only chance to see one of the world’s most rarely visited countries.

“We’re taking a trip to North Korea, but I can’t go, unfortunately,” he said. “I’d love to go. I think that would be fascinating.”

Carless in L.A.

Andy Fuzesi is general manager and part owner of the L.A. Auto Show, but he’s not what you’d call a gearhead.

In fact, he said he doesn’t do much driving at all.

“It’s almost embarrassing,” said Fuzesi, 61. “I live in West L.A. and my offices are (nearby), so I really don’t drive that much. The car I just had, it only had like 16,000 miles on it.”

The car he had? For the time being, Fuzesi, overseer of one of Southern California’s biggest autocentric events, is without wheels of his own. The lease on his Lexus GS 350 Hybrid was up, so for now he’s driving his wife’s Honda Element.

Of course, he has his eye out for his next car, which will probably be sportier than the Lexus.

“I’m thinking about a Porsche Panamera,” he said. “It’s a four-seat, four-door sports sedan. I’m into sports cars, but I needed a sedan. Need and want are always difficult things to balance.”

Staff reporters Richard Clough and
James Rufus Koren contributed to this
column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at
[email protected].

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