For Koreans, damage from the L.A. riots went deep
Los Angeles Times
Twenty years ago, they came to Dr. Man Chul Cho suffering from symptoms of hwa-byung, the “anger sickness” of Korean folklore: They couldn’t sleep, felt anxious and depressed, had muscle aches and stomach pains.
They had survived the riots, but couldn’t forget. Some were considered fierce defenders — they’d battled looters in public shootouts. Others had been all but invisible, pleading vainly for help from police while their shops burned.
They were so angry, bewildered and frightened that they were willing to buck custom and culture and trust a stranger for therapy.
Liquor store owner links old and new Koreatown
Los Angeles Times
Young Ok Lee’s store, a neighborhood institution, survived the riots. Now amid the thriving, hip Koreatown, she still serves the other Koreatown of immigrants, working-class families and mom and pop stores.
Accused Oikos University shooter pleads not guilty
Oakland Tribune
One Goh, 43, made the plea through a Korean language interpreter and also answered yes to a couple questions regarding his approval to waiving his right for a speedy trial.
Obama says N. Korea can’t leverage anything from provocations
Yonhap News
U.S. President Barack Obama made clear Monday that North Korea will be able to gain nothing from its provocative strategy.
After summit talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda here, Obama emphasized that the old pattern of Pyongyang taking provocative actions and getting concessions from the outside world is finished.
Soo Kang, Lincoln’s Interior Design Chief, On Orchestrating A Turnaround
Fast Company
Kang, a classically trained harpist with a penchant for visual arts, is about as far from a gearhead as you can imagine. But she caught the car maker’s attention when she won first place for her design in a student competition of a four-door luxury sedan. She’s been with the company ever since.
Korean Business Revitalizes Boulevard
Montgomery Advertiser
Hyundai isn’t just building cars. The Korean car manufacturer is helping to reshape the landscape of Montgomery’s businesses. The proof is obvious to those driving down East Boulevard, where a shopping center once in foreclosure is now thriving and a shuttered restaurant is now attracting new customers.
Stratford Square, under the direction of Korean-American family-owned Sys-Con LLC, has blossomed into a multicultural hub. Now there are four Korean businesses in the center, including the Greater Montgomery Korean Association headquarters, along with successful Chinese, Vietnamese and Hispanic businesses.
Support Movement for N.Korean Defectors Grows
Chosun Ilbo
Protests against China’s repatriation of North Korean defectors that went on for 77 days across the street from the Chinese Embassy in Seoul are evolving into a broader movement aimed at educating and supporting defectors from the North.
Margaret Cho Finds Her Roots
Philadelphia Magazine
Margaret Cho may be more closely associated with her gay-empowering comedy routines with no shortage of blue material (hello, Gwen!) but the comedian takes a serious look at her Korean heritage in Finding Your Roots, a television series that airs this Sunday (May 6, 8 p.m.) on PBS.
Cho, who currently stars in Drop Dead Diva, will learn more about her Asian roots as a research team traces her ancestry back to her great-grandfather who’s clan can still be linked to modern-day North Korea.
5 Questions with Steven Yeun
Korea Economic Institute
Do you think that over the years the perception of Korean or Asian actors has changed in the United States?
SY: I think it’s slowly changing. I think there are roles out there that help to change that perception. I’m very fortunate to playing something that isn’t stereotypical. I don’t know if that is going to be a hard changing trend, but these are small steps that are making big waves and hopefully five, ten years from now, we won’t be having many conversations about if Asian-Americans can make it in this industry or not.
Korean Film Festival Coming to Hollywood
Patch.com (Los Angeles)
Marking the first time in its 85-year history, Korean performers will cast their hand and footprints in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Saturday, June 23. This includes Korean actor Byung-hun Lee, an award-winning international star who recently appeared as Storm Shadow in Paramount Pictures’ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and will be seen this summer in the sequel, G.I. Joe 2: The Retaliation, alongside Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson. Lee’s rise to fame was his role in A Bittersweet Life.
Timing of Pak’s shoulder injury “couldn’t have been worse”
Golf Digest
According to swing coach Tom Creavy, who says the timing of Se Ri Pak’s shoulder injury “couldn’t have been worse,” it is unlikely the LPGA Hall of Famer will be able to play in the U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Wis., the site of her most memorable victory as a professional.
20,000 K-Pop Fans Mesmerized at Hollywood Bowl Music Festival 2012
KpopStarz
The audience was filled up with Korean American immigrants as well as non-Koreans who have traveled from North America, South America and as far as Europe proving the event to be the recognized as an international festival leading the communication between different ethnicity, countries, and generations through K-Pop. The diverse audience proved distance and language wasn’t an issue in attending the concert.
Taetiseo’s (SNSD) ‘Twinkle’ Music Video
YouTube
The Girls Generation sub group Taetiseo (TTS) dropped the video for its first single and has already racked up 1.7 million views in a little more than 24 hours. Gee.
In a somewhat shocking post on his personal blog, Kogi founder and culinary pioneer Roy Choi said he is considering leaving his profession. Continue Reading »
Police arrested two men in connection with the robbery and murder of an aspiring chef in the Bronx, who was targeted for his iPhone, according to news reports.
Dominick Davis, 20, allegedly shot 26-year-old Korean immigrant Hwangbum Yang in the chest as he walked home from work on April 19 shortly after midnight, the New York Post reported. Alejandro Campos, 21, is the alleged getaway driver.
Police were led to the pair after one of them tried to sell the iPhone for $400 on Craigslist.
Staggered Oikos swims upstream toward survival
San Jose Mercury News
The two nursing instructors who witnessed the killings have not returned, Kim said, but others have pulled together to help Oikos recover. Students helped clean up the crime scene, and Virginia Tech — where 32 people were shot to death five years ago — offered advice on how to get past the tragedy.
Oikos leaders say they are committed to the school, but its future is unclear. The college could give up the more expensive nursing classes in favor of its theology, music and Asian medicine courses, for example.
Korean American community coalesces [OP-ED]
Los Angeles Times
Isolated and insular before April 1992, it was forced to reevaluate its economic, cultural and political positions and is now an integral part of Los Angeles’ mosaic.
Korean American businessman recalls L.A. riots
Orange County Register
Twenty years later, Ellis Yunseong Cha works to avert another clash, reaching out to non-Korean neighbors and friends.
Gang member gets life without parole for café murder
Orange County Register
An Asian gang member sat quietly at a counsel table Friday while he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 255 years to life in prison for his role in an unprovoked gang shooting at a Cypress café that left one woman dead and several others wounded.
The sentence means that Stephenson Choi Kim, 31, of San Gabriel, will never be considered for parole, unless his conviction for the special circumstances murder of Venus Hyun, 21, is reversed on appeal.
Off and Running
Rafu Shimpo
Emile Mack is running for city council for District 13 in Los Angeles. See our profile of Mack here.
K-pop: Girls’ Generation, others enter American pop consciousness
Los Angeles Times
Poised at the intersection of two countries’ fast-moving pop cultures and cutting-edge media technology, the sprawling genre colloquially known as K-pop has operated outside the American pop limelight. But that’s changing. A-list producers like will.i.am, Diplo and Kanye West are lining up to work with South Korean artists like 2NE1, GD&TOP and JYJ.
Young Korean-American Singer Takes Entertainment World by Storm
Chosun Ilbo
It’s been less than three months since her debut but singer Ailee is already taking the Korean entertainment scene by storm with the commanding stage performance of a veteran entertainer. Ailee is a Korean-American artist who debuted in February with her single “Heaven.”
Five World-Famous Chefs Give Their Take on the Asian-Food Craze in America
Daily Beast
On the eve of the 2012 Luckyrice Festival, Marlow Stern spoke with five acclaimed chefs—Eric Ripert, Masaharu Morimoto, Todd English, David Chang, and Ming Tsai—about why Asian food is all the rage stateside.
Benson Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar Rematch Headed to UFC 150
Yahoo Sports
Benson Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar… take two… has now been scheduled.
The rematch for the UFC lightweight title now has a date as Henderson and Edgar have agreed to face off at UFC 150, tentatively scheduled for Aug. 11 in Denver.
Lee Young-Pyo scores off free kick in 74th minute, Whitecaps beat Crew 1-0
AP via Washington Post
Lee Young-Pyo scored off a free kick in the 74th minute to help the Vancouver Whitecaps beat the Columbus Crew 1-0 on Saturday night for their sixth shutout of the season.
Monica Youn Writes The Day In Verse
NPR
Today, poet Monica Youn brings us the news in verse. Her second collection, Ignatz, a series of poems loosely based on the Krazy Kat comic strip of the 1920s-’30s, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2010. Youn is also a lawyer and a Brennan Center Constitutional Fellow at NYU School of Law, where she focuses on election law and First Amendment issues.
Monica Youn sat down with Melissa Block to talk about her double life as a lawyer and poet, and her time spent with NPR’s All Things Considered. She told Block that her two worlds don’t often collide. “I use one form of work as a vacation from the other form of work,” she said.
Congresswoman Judy Chu
In remembrance of the 20th anniversary of Saigu today, members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus—made up of members of Congress of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) descent, as well as of non-Asian members dedicated to promoting the well-being of the AAPI community—released the following statements:
Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-32), CAPAC Chair: “With the L.A. riots and Saigu, we saw longstanding economic distress, racial tensions and social injustice tear apart one of the greatest cities in the world. In the aftermath of these tragic events, diverse communities came together to build bridges rather than walls. Through greater engagement, meaningful dialogue, and mutual respect, we can move beyond our past challenges and work towards greater economic opportunities and social justice. Twenty years later, there is still much work to be done, and the memory of the riots reminds us of the need to persevere in these efforts.” Continue Reading »
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Featured Event
One of the the biggest Asian cinema events to hit Southern California opens on May 10. The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, presented by Visual Communications, features the latest works by established and emerging filmmakers, along with seminars, panel discussions and symposiums on topics relevant to Asian Pacific cinema.
Opening Night features “Shanghai Calling,” directed by Daniel Hsia and starring Korean American Daniel Henney, who plays a Chinese American expat lawyer navigating his way through the mean streets of Shanghai (the picture above also indicates he is a raisin smuggler). But does he take off his shirt? Go watch the movie to find out! read more
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