Tag: Korean-Americans

Here is a documentary I will need to check out once it is available on Netflix:

Korean American Kim Yong-man and his video rental store, Kim’s Video and Music, served as a cultural cornerstone in New York City’s East Village during the 1980s and ’90s.

It was an iconic destination for cinephiles due to its extensive collection of rare and eclectic movies, and it became a favored spot for renowned directors such as Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Todd Phillips, and the Coen Brothers.

Kim’s store, which began as a small section of his laundry in 1985, expanded into a chain of 11 stores with 300 employees and 250,000 members at its peak.

Following its premiere in Korea last September, the documentary “Kim’s Video,” released Friday in New York and Los Angeles, delves into the story of the legendary “video king” and the peculiar destiny of his collection of 55,000 video tapes. It is also scheduled to debut in China on April 19 and in Japan on May 1.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The Korea Times has article published that Korean-Americans fear gun violence more than any other Asian ethnic group. Some Korean-Americans are now arming themselves because of the gun violence in America:

As fear escalates to new heights, some Korean Americans have decided to take their safety matters in their own hands. How? It’s simple. Owning your own gun.

While advocacy groups are firm in their belief that gun ownership is never the correct way to deal with fears, some Korean Americans feel it is the only way for them to feel safe in America.

Brian Kim is one of those people.

“I had returned home from visiting my parents and noticed my window was left wide open,” he explained. “I knew then I had to protect myself. Up until then, I had no idea how easy it was to obtain a gun.”

Kim states that with his gun, he feels much safer than before.

“Obviously, if I were living in Korea, I would never feel the need to own a gun because no one else has one, but in America, your safety is kind of up to you,” Kim said. “I was also threatened with a gun last year, so I’ve been thinking about purchasing another one for my car.”

Kim, however, does not agree with open carry, which refers to carrying a firearm in public in circumstances where the firearm is fully or partially visible to others.?He thinks there are simply way too many people that are unhinged for open carry.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but being a victim of a crime is much more likely than being a victim of a mass shooting. Having guns to deal with criminals was very beneficial to the Rooftop Koreans during the LA riots.

I feel horrible for the surviving child that saw his parents and sibling gun down in front of them:

Three members of a Korean American family were among the deceased victims of a weekend shooting spree at an outlet mall in Texas, a South Korean diplomatic mission said Sunday.

The couple in their 30s and their three-year-old son were shot to death in Saturday’s rampage at the mall in Allen, while another child of the couple was injured and is being treated at a hospital, according to the South Korean Consulate in Dallas.

The shooting has left at least eight people dead and seven others injured, according to CNN.

The gunman, identified as 33-year-old Mauricio Garcia, was killed by a police officer who was at the mall for an unrelated issue. The motive behind the killings remains unclear.

Yonhap

What I find interesting about his shooting is the media has been focusing on how he is an alleged white supremacist without mentioning the irony of judging by his name he is Hispanic. The focus really should be on is that this guy has long had mental issues. He was kicked out of the Army back in 2008 after only 3 months of service due to mental health issues. So how is a guy too unstable to stay in the Army allowed to buy a gun?

I am not sure what rights Korean residents are deprived of in the U.S., but President Yoon says he is concerned about this:

 President Yoon Suk-yeol met with Korean residents in New York on Tuesday and promised to ask the U.S. government to ensure their rights and safety.

The banquet, which was held as part of Yoon’s visit to the city to attend the U.N. General Assembly, brought together some 170 Korean residents, including the head of the Korean American Association of Greater New York and business owners.

Yoon said he is proud of their achievements and grateful for their love for their fatherland.

“Our government will do our best so that overseas Koreans can enjoy their proper rights in U.S. society and develop further,” he said during the dinner, where he was joined by first lady Kim Keon-hee.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a really good idea and a nice gesture by a Korean couple who founded the Korean War Foundation:

In Kaycee, Wyoming, the only school library is named for Corporal Demaret Kirtley, a Korean War veteran born in the small American town.  
   
The library got its name thanks to a $5,000 (6.26 million won) donation by Koo Sung-yeol and Kim Chang-hwa to the school in May 2021. 

In 2020, the Korean couple, who have lived in the U.S. for more than 50 years, founded the Korean War Foundation. It has made $5,000 donations to schools in the hometowns of nine American soldiers who died in the Korean War.  
   
Koo and his wife make donations to the schools and deliver nameplates that honor the fallen soldiers.  
   
The couple’s grand notion: to pay respect to the American foot soldiers in the war for Korea’s freedom from all 50 states.  
   
Corporal Kirtley died on Dec. 6, 1950, in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir on the Gaema Plateau in South Hamgyeong. He was 21 years old. His remains, which were not recovered at the time, were returned to his hometown in June 2019, 69 years after he died. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Why do people have to act like jerks, if you don’t like the mask policy at H-Mart than don’t shop there:

A man who caused a ruckus after refusing to wear a mask at an H Mart in California was forced to leave the store as its manager and customers stood together to kick him out.

What happened: The incident occurred at the Korean American supermarket’s location in West Huntington Drive, Arcadia around 6:15 p.m. on Aug. 6. Emilie Tan (@emilieeetan), who was shopping with her boyfriend, managed to film parts of the chaos. Tan told NextShark that they first found the man arguing with the manager at the back of the store. At the time, the man was “already visibly aggravated,” yelling in the manager’s face and refusing to leave “because he didn’t want to wear a mask.”

Yahoo News

You can read more at the link.

Notice how the media has been making headlines out of every attack on Asian-Americans now?:

A beauty store owner was attacked inside her own store by two women in Harris County, Texas on March 17.Jung Kim, who is of Korean descent, asked the five women who knocked over the store’s wig displays to leave the premises. However, two of them doubled back and caused further destruction.Surveillance footage caught the moment one of the women attacked the 59-year-old, punching her at least eight times while shouting racial insults.

Yahoo News

Random crimes like this against Korean American business owners have been going on for a long time. Remember the LA Riots that targeted Koreatown, the Baltimore riots and Ferguson riots against Korean businesses, or the Korean-American gas station owner in Dallas who was called racist for defending his store from a criminal. Plus many Korean-American businesses were looted and destroyed during the Black Life Matters riots last summer. Where was the media defending Asian-Americans then?

Also notice how the criminals that attacked Ms. Kim in the above incident were black, but the headlines make no mention of that. Even the article makes no mention of their race, yet if a couple of white women committed this crime it is likely the headlines would talk about “white Kareans attack store owner”.

Here is a story about the “peaceful” protesters in Chicago and a Korean-American shop owner:

The crowd was growing impatient as Crystal Holmes fumbled with the keys to the store.

Dozens of people were swarming the street around Western Beauty Supply, the Chicago shop where Holmes works. She had persuaded some of them to let her open the store so they could rob it without breaking the windows.

“She’s taking too long,” someone yelled. “Let’s go in and get it.”

Western Beauty Supply sells products like wigs, hair extensions and combs mostly to Black women. Most of the employees, like Holmes, are also Black, but the owner is a Korean American man, Yong Sup Na.

When a few young men appeared outside the store earlier that evening in May, Na went out to speak with them. He offered some of them cash, and they walked away. At that point, Na told Holmes that he felt confident his business was safe. “They are not going to break into the store,” he told her.

A few minutes later, though, a larger group showed up. A woman snatched Na’s keys, but Holmes persuaded her to give them back. Then she ordered Na, her boss, to leave. “You don’t know what could happen,” she told him.

Even as Holmes tried to save the store from ruin that evening, when protests and looting followed the police killing of George Floyd, she understood what was causing the turmoil roiling Chicago and dozens of other cities.

“I understand where the rage is coming from,” Holmes, 40, said in an interview. “We don’t have any businesses in the community and we are getting killed by the police and killing each other, and we are just getting tired.”

New York Times

You can read more at the link, but I think there should be some self reflection here instead of blaming Koreans for being “insular” as described in the article.

How come a guy who came to the country in his late 20’s with no money and not speaking the language was able to become a successful shop owner who put his kids through college, but people with all the advantages of being born in the US could not? If you read the article there are some hints why.

All the looting going on is horrible for small business owners to include many Korean-Americans:

Nights are long these days for many Koreans in every corner of the U.S.

Rioting and looting have become nightly events in major cities and small towns alike, and Korean mom-and-pop stores are just some of the countless businesses that continue to get ransacked, robbed and destroyed by angry mobs all across the nation.

“This is just like the LA riots all over again,” said Nancy Kim, 44, who owns a clothing shop near Koreatown in Los Angeles. “I was only 16 when the riots happened here, but I still suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from the horrifying scenes. I can’t believe almost 30 years later, we’re doing this all over again.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but according to the Joong Ang Ilbo the California National Guard has deployed to Koreatown which has prevented it from being attacked like they were back in 1992. Those riots led to the “Rooftop Koreans” meme.

There is no doubt there are stupid, racist people out there, but it seems to me the media is just eager to create another victim group and sensationalizing a few random incidents:

When Eddie Song leaves his Manhattan home, it can feel like heading into battle. The Korean American startup founder and avid rider dons his armored motorcycle jacket, motorcycle gloves, a skull face mask and a GoPro camera.

“The GoPro is on all the time whenever I leave the house now. Basically it’s a rolling camera,” Song said. “With the combination of looking intimidating and having the camera — if they pick a fight with me, they know I’m prepared.”

As the coronavirus first seen in China now ravages the U.S., Asian Americans are continuing to wrestle with a second epidemic: hate. Hundreds of attacks on Asian people have been reported, with few signs of decline. Rather than feel helpless, many are filming their interactions or carrying guns.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link, but the AP article of course gives the obligatory reference that this is all Trump’s fault for calling it the “China Virus”.