James Lindgren is an ethnic Korean who was adopted at age five by an American couple in the U.S. state of Minnesota.

He began in May to teach English as a volunteer at the youth protection center Salimteo in Seoul's southwestern Bongchun district.

Lindgren studied graphic design at the University of Minnesota and worked in software marketing for six years before coming to his motherland in 2001 to seek his birth mother, whom he eventually met.