Lim is the second of three children born to Korean parents who immigrated to the U.S. before the Korean War and got married there. She graduated from high school in Omaha, Nebraska, and studied cello at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York City. She spent seven years in the city, but missed her hometown.

After graduating from Juilliard, Lim looked for work as a professional cellist in New York. Stymied by the high level of competition, in 1982 she opted to return to Nebraska where eventually she was hired to play for the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

Two years later she began her career with the Buffett family. Lim helped Warren's son Howard in his campaign for commissioner of Douglas County and was hired to a government position when he won the election. After working for the county government for 15 years, in September 2004 Lim took a job with Berkshire Hathaway.

As an international conglomerate, Berkshire Hathaway has about 50 subsidiary companies and 210,000 employees, but its headquarters in Omaha employs just 16 managers and three secretaries. Lim works as the media relations officer during shareholders' meetings, but when things are slower she helps out as a secretary performing all kinds of office work.

On a personal level, Lim said, Buffett is just an ordinary man who is kindhearted and modest. He just happens to have a spectacular talent for investing. According to Lim, Buffett believes firmly that a man is successful in life if he loves others first, and others then love him in return.

The billionaire investor lives a simple and frugal life. Despite his advanced age -- he already has great-grandchildren -- he is full of humor and happiness. Lim has developed a natural respect for Buffett after watching how he lives for many years. From him, she said, she has learned how to live her own life. But has he taught her how to invest? "No," she said with a smile.

Buffett plays the ukulele, a traditional Hawaiian instrument, at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders' meeting in Omaha on the first weekend of May. Lim's job is tune his instrument for him. Throughout the interview, Lim's sense of humor is quite evident, another quality she said she learned from Buffett.

Meanwhile, Buffett, as the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, met with Korean reporters at the shareholders' meeting in Omaha on Saturday where he said he was planning to invest in another Korean company. Only he didn't reveal what kind of stocks he was going to buy, or whether it will be his personal investment or a Berkshire Hathaway deal.

In a letter last March to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Buffett disclosed for the first time that the company has shares in POSCO. He is also known to personally hold stocks in about 20 listed Korean companies.

Asked why he had invested in POSCO, Buffett said, "POSCO is the world's best iron and steel maker. Its stocks attracted my attention because their price was very low compared with the company's performance." He also said he was planning to drastically increase his investments in foreign countries, including Korea.

(englishnews@chosun.com )