Book Reading at The Korea Society

KoreanAmericanStory.org and the Korea Society is proud to present a book reading and discussion with 3 wonderful Korean American women writers: Cathy Chung, Yuliana Kim-Grant and Eugenia Kim.  The event will take place on Monday, February 11, 2013 at 6:30pm at the Korea Society, 950 Third Avenue, 8th floor, New York, NY. There will be a wine reception at the event.

The event is free, but please let us know if you are coming by registering HERE.  

If you register online, you will automatically be entered in a random drawing to win a package of all 3 books by these 3 authors.  We will randomly select 3 winners from the registeration list so don't forget to register, and enter KoreanAmericanStory.org in the Membership Affiliation selection.

The Korea Society and KoreanAmericanStory.org co-host a literary conversation and reception with three accomplished Korean-American writers: Catherine Chung, Eugenia Kim, and Yuliana Kim-Grant. These authors have written deeply personal and moving novels about loss, hope, and heritage and will share both their stories, as well as their characters’, with readings from their books. Each of these debut novels garnered critical acclaim:

Legacy Project Video: Kwon Sook Young

Ms. Kwon Sook Young interviewed by her daughter, Yoon Lee Perera in New York on November, 2012.  Ms. Kwon talks about her love of her first grandchild, her desire to take her grandchildren to visit Korea and how she wants to be remembered by them.

If you are interested in preserving the oral history of your family by participating in the Legacy Project, please CLICK HERE.

Now you can view the Legacy Project videos on your iPad, iPhone and other iOS products.

Legacy Project Video: Dr. Samuel Sang Gook Lee

Dr. Samuel Sang Gook Lee immigrated to the United States in 1973.  As with many physicians who immigrated to the US during the 1970's he had to restart his medical career as an intern in New York.  In this conversation with his son, H. Rok Lee, Dr. Lee remembers the happiest and the saddest memories of his life in the United States.

If you are interested in preserving the oral history of  your family by participating in the Legacy Project, please CLICK HERE.

Now you can view the Legacy Project videos on your iPad, iPhone and other iOS products.

Faith in Action

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to read the book “0 Hour”, an autobiography written in Korean by Mr. Ki-Chang Kim (b. 1917).  The book retells a captivating story of his experiences through much of the dominant events of 20^th century Korea and later immigration to the U.S.  The following is a summary introduction and translation of three portions of the book.

The immigration story of Mr. Kim and his family is itself remarkable, though in certain aspects perhaps familiar.  But it is his entire life story that is absolutely compelling and, it seemed to me, too important not to be told.  Among other things, his story made me reflect how many immigrants to the U.S. must have had such extraordinary experiences and how those personal backgrounds must have played a role in shaping the American experience not only for themselves and their families but the communities around them.

The story begins in 1945 in the area of Mokdan River (Mandarin: Mudanjiang), a city in Northeast China where a Korean diaspora community had formed during the Japanese occupation.  Following the end of the Japanese occupation, Mr. Kim helps to organize a police force of the Korean community.  When the Chinese People’s Army takes over the area, the police force is reorganized as a unit of the Chinese army and Mr. Kim becomes the leader of that battalion.  As persecution of Christians increase in the area, he puts in action an incredible plan to relocate to Korea with several families in the church.  I don’t want to give away the entire story (since I hope one day someone will translate the entire book), but with movement across the Korea-China border restricted, he is able to transport their savings in the form of hundreds of bushels of grain and beans to northern Korea.  There he trades the goods, keeps a promise with Chinese army officials by sending military supplies back to China (with a note that he will follow later), then journeys on to southern Korea with his family and 700 sacks of fertilizer.

Chapters 7 and 35 of the book, which I have translated below, are toward the beginning and end of this first portion of Mr. Kim’s story.

The later part of the book recounts his experiences in South Korea--the Korean War and his escape from almost certain death after interrogation by North Korean command, his printing business and fortuitous experience with dry cleaning.  The final three chapters, roughly half of which is translated below, describe his immigration to the U.S.

Expressions of Mr. Kim’s Christian faith are interspersed throughout the book.  Fellow believers may see how God worked in his life through his faith.  I think others will still see a man whose faith moved him and allowed him to carry on through seemingly impossible situations.  - Hoon Lee

음악 for a Korean American Ear

H.O.T. - Candy - white/pink hats and gloves, long multi-colored hair (1996)
2NE1 - 내가 제일 잘 나가 (I Am the Best) (2011)
Psy - Gangnam Style (2012)

As 2NE1 took the stage, I found myself immediately evaluating their wardrobe - combinations of red-black-gold fabric and jewelry. The outfits seemed rather toned down compared to the more multi-colored and funky ensembles I had seen them wear at other performances throughout Asia. When I saw that the setting for the performance was intimate, with audience members close to the stage, I screamed in my head, “No! The stage is too small. They need a bigger stage that shows how they perform at concerts and other awards shows outside the US!” The performance was probably just fine, as was 2NE1’s wardrobe, but I felt the way a parent might feel, worrying about every detail of their child’s presentation. I wanted them to wow the audience, but the voting result spoke for itself. The girls performed their singles, Fire, Can’t Nobody, Lonely, and 내가 제일 잘 나가 (I Am The Best). On November 10, 2011, 2NE1 was voted MTV Iggy’s “The Best New Band in the World” by means of an online vote. A month later the group performed in NYC and MTV’s first Asian American VJ, SuChin Pak, co-hosted the show.

During 2NE1’s performance the commercial breaks had the word 음악 (music) displayed on the screen. I thought to myself, “Wow” - not the English “wow” but the Korean “우와!” I didn’t see too much  “음악” featured on television as a kid growing up in northern New Jersey. Instead I saw words like “música” on Telemundo while channel surfing, or Yo-Yo Ma playing the cello on PBS. There was Korean news on channel 63 or 64 after a Chinese news program around 9:30pm EST that may have mentioned 음악, but this was the first time I was seeing the word in my face up front and center on MTV in the US. The only other times I would watch K-pop were recordings of shows like Show Music Tank and Inkigayo on VHS rented from the local Korean markets. K-pop was reserved for home viewing and discussions among my Korean friends - definitely not for “the (American) public”.

Eemoboo (Uncle)

I call him Eemoboo for mother’s younger sister’s husband and he calls me Chahmseh for little songbird. He is in every way the extraordinary hero of my life, taking my side when I argued with my parents, never said what I couldn’t do because I was a woman, Korean, or any of those things that seemed to matter to my parents who were fearful for me. I’ve never written about him before now, taking for granted that he will always be around, my ever constant sweet uncle. But now, more than ever, I know we have limited time.

He was born Hyung You Byon in 1937 to a man with one leg (a snake bite had taken the left leg below the knee) and a woman who was the daughter of a Protestant minister a town away. He had an older sister and two younger brothers. They lived on a farm, five miles south of Sariwon, in a time before Korea was divided. It was rich land, on which they grew two kinds of rice, the usual white, plain one and another, rounder variety. They grew cotton and tended silkworms to make their clothes. He remembers that they had cows and chickens and that their pig had ten piglets one year. That was life until 1946 when land reforms under Soviet rule confiscated his family farm and suddenly their lives were in peril.

Legacy Project

What is the Legacy Project?

 Legacy Project is the next phase in KoreanAmericanStory.org’s continued effort to collect and preserve the stories of early Korean American immigrants from the 1970’s and 1980’s.  These individuals are now 70 - 80+ years old and their stories are at risk of being lost.  Our learning has been that while the desire to capture these stories is ever present, many families find it a daunting task to attempt. There is a need to provide a quick and easy way for families to capture a permanent record of the first generation Korean American experiences that enabled their lives to be what they are today.

The Dream: Profiles of Undocumented Korean Americans

By Kimberly So Jin Kim

I came to the United States when I was 2, sleeping on a plane from Korea in my mother’s arms. In the chilly month of October, 1993, she first set foot on American soil, with me wrapped on her back and carrying two sets of luggage. My father received us at the airport. I just stared at him with curious eyes, as I’d do when meeting anybody new. According to my mother, I couldn’t recognize him as my own father for the first year or so of being reunited with him.

My father came to America six years before my mother and I did. He met my mother during a short visit in Korea, got married and came back alone to continue working. He was searching for better quality of life here for his wife and future child. Choosing to find it in America was a daring decision. He ultimately prepared the way to ensure our family a new beginning in America, although many dreams were shattered along the way.

My father’s business failed in bankruptcy that caused our family to move from Delaware to New Jersey when I was 5 years old. On the day we were leaving, expensive belongings were stolen from our truck. My mother’s purse that had our money, green cards, passports and other important documents was also stolen. I still remember that day, the look of devastation on my parents’ face. Those were truly one of the darkest hours our family endured.

Back then, I didn’t have a choice, whether to leave or stay in my country of birth. I didn’t know anything and was obviously too young to have a say. So it was decided for me that I would grow up in America—and that would mean to be immersed in its culture and taught its history and values: Freedom, justice, equality. I spoke English with my friends and teachers, but communicated with my parents in our native tongue. Despite this I was never able to fully understand them.