Lee with family at the Anaheim/Orange County Walk of Stars

Los Angeles is naming a new elementary school after a Korean American living legend.

The board of directors of the Los Angeles Unified School District met today and approved the new elementary school’s name to be the “Dr. Sammy Lee Medical and Health Science Magnet Elementary School,” named after the 92-year-old former Olympic diver.

Dr. Lee was the first Asian American to win a gold medal for the United States and competed at the London Olympics in 1948 and the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, winning gold medals in the 10-meter platform at both Olympics.

The native of Fresno, Calif., was already a physician when he won his gold medals, having earned a medical degree from the University of Southern California in 1947. He also served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the Korean War. Continue Reading »

South Korea’s Yonsei University will close down its Korean language school in Southern California after 15 years of operation, according to the Korea Times Los Angeles.

The Yonsei Language Institute, headquartered in Seoul, is the leading school for Korean language education as well as training Korean language teachers.

The school said the teacher-training program, which has been in place for four years, would be changed to an online lecture program beginning in September.

Park Min-hee, the chief of education and scholarship for the Yonsei Language Institute, told the Korea Times, “The online education program is currently in the testing phase. Starting in September, people from all over the world will be able to take high-level classes from the Yonsei Language Institute.” Continue Reading »

A Korean American was announced as elementary school Principal of the Year in Washington state for the second time in his career, according to the Korea Times Los Angeles.

Kelly Aramaki, principal of Beacon Hill International School in Seattle, was tapped for the honor by the Association of Washington School Principals.

Aramaki was born in Bellevue, Wash., to a Japanese father and a Korean mother. He graduated from the University of Washington and received his master’s degree from Teacher’s College at Columbia University. Continue Reading »

Divisions within the Asian American community over affirmative action came to a head today when dozens of Asian American organizations filed amicus briefs in support of the policy, while five other groups filed similar briefs against it.

Reuters reports that the briefs, which were filed with the U.S. Supreme Court as part of the pending University of Texas case questioning the practice, argue that Asian Americans are hurt by affirmative action policies.

Continue Reading »

Korean Families Chase Their Dreams In The U.S.
NPR

Eleven-year-old Woosuk Kim sees his mother only three or four times a year. That’s because he’s part of what Koreans call a “goose family”: a family that migrates in search of English-language schooling.

A goose family, Woosuk explains, means “parents — mom and dad — have to be separate for the kids’ education.”

Woosuk’s father brought him and his little brother to America two years ago to attend Hancock Park Elementary, a public school in Los Angeles. The boys’ mother stayed in South Korea to keep working.

South Korea central bank cuts rates in shock move, more to come
Reuters

The Bank of Korea finally joined the global rush to ease monetary policy on Thursday, cutting its benchmark rate for the first time in more than three years to shield the economy from a global slowdown, but drew criticism for boasting that its action was “pre-emptive.”

Although South Korea’s export-driven economy won’t be helped much by the 25 basis point rate cut to 3.00 percent, it could ease the burden on heavily-indebted households and help boost domestic demand which has grown more sluggishly than expected.

Teen charged in fatal hit and run pleads not guilty
San Diego Union Tribune

A 19-year-old driver accused of hitting a teenage grocery store clerk in Rancho Santa Fe, fleeing the collision site and then trying to hide evidence pleaded not guilty Wednesday to felony hit and run causing death.

Jin Hyuk Byun, a business student at Mira Costa College, is charged in the killing of Angel Bojorquez, 18, of Escondido.

Authorities said the victim was riding a bicycle home from work in Del Mar when he was struck by a vehicle that had drifted into the bike lane.

Insight: A secret plea for money from a mountain in N.Korea
Reuters

In May this year, a North Korean defector in her 40s took a call from an unknown number at her office in the South Korean capital Seoul.

It was from her brother, who she had not seen for more than a decade, calling illegally from North Korea after tracking her down.

He was speaking from a remote mountainside near the border with China, and was in dire need of money to help treat another sister’s late stage cancer, she said.

Searchers find hiker in Little Cottonwood Canyon alive, well
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)

Following a massive two-day search-and-rescue effort in Little Cottonwood Canyon, a 55-year-old Salt Lake City woman was found alive and well on Wednesday. She had gone missing Tuesday afternoon during a mountain trail hike.

Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal confirmed that search and rescue workers had located Oknom Shim Han about 12:15 p.m. after she was spotted by other hikers, who then called 911.

Karma Asada
New York Times

Roy Choi is the dharma bum of the Los Angeles food scene, a Zen lunatic bard of the city’s immigrant streets. He is a founder of Kogi BBQ, which used food trucks to introduce the city to Mexican mash-up cuisine, and the creative force behind a handful of Los Angeles restaurants that celebrate various iterations of big-flavor cooking at the intersection of skater, stoner, lowrider and Korean college-kid desire.

Jowe Lee: The Prince of K-Town—Part 1
Schema Magazine (Calif.)

Jowe Lee is one of two new additions to the first-ever American reality show that follows the lives of hot young Asian Americans, who party hard in L.A.’s Koreatown. Known for living in the fast lane, Jowe claims he’s really just a “big ole teddy bear”, in the first of Schema’s four-part interview with K-Town’s heartbreaker,

Um, yeah, okay. Maybe the kind of teddy bear you take home to your mother if you want to fight her for him, right before you pour neat soju down each others’ throats and make a neater getaway in his fast car.

Daniel Dae Kim’s role of a lifetime
The Sun Daily (Malaysia)

YOU might probably recognise him as the rugged plane crash survivor Jin on the award-winning television series Lost, but Daniel Dae Kim has since carved himself into a burlier role post-Lost in the remake of the classic police drama, Hawaii Five-O.

Born in Busan, South Korea, and raised in New York and Pennsylvania, the Korean-American actor discovered acting while he was a student at Haverford College.

After briefly considering a career as a lawyer, Kim decided to pursue his true passion in theatre.

Greg Pak: You Wouldn’t Like Him When He’s Angry
NPR

Greg Pak may seem mild-mannered, but you wouldn’t want to make him angry. He’s one of only a few people who know what it’s like to be inside the mind of a hulk – that is, the Incredible Hulk. As an award-winning writer of Marvel’s ‘Incredible Hulk” series and an independent filmmaker, Pak conjures epic, world-saving battles while exploring what make his characters tick. His latest series, “Vision Machine,” sets its story in a not-so-distant dystopian future in which everyone must wear glasses that record his or her every sight. Pak sits down with Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg to explain his creative, collaborative process with artists for graphic works, and why adults should (and do) love comic books.

Dosa’s eco-chic fashion featured at Santa Monica Museum of Art
Los Angeles Times

When it comes to feel-good summer clothes, nobody does it like L.A. designer Christina Kim with Dosa, her line of eco-friendly, human-friendly kurtas, sundresses and scarves that celebrate the handmade and the organic, as well as the ancient tradition and craftsmanship of artisans around the world.

Dosa sells at A’Maree’s in Newport Beach, Barneys New York and, temporarily this summer, at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, where the gift shop, Gracie, is opening an art installation spotlighting the designer’s thoughtful work.

Knicks coach says Lin will be back
Yahoo! Sports

Coach Mike Woodson repeated Wednesday that Lin will ”absolutely” be back next season and will enter training camp as the starter at his position, even with the Knicks agreeing to a deal with veteran Jason Kidd.
Lin has agreed to sign an offer sheet with the Houston Rockets for about $28 million over four years. The Knicks have said all along they planned to match any offer for their restricted free agent, and Woodson said the Knicks ”never once” blinked at knowing they would have to pay that figure.

Cowabunga! LPGA’s Christina Kim Takes On Twitter Bully
SB Nation

Christina Kim had a tough day at the office last Friday, and the last thing the popular LPGA golfer needed was a heckler rudely tweaking her on Twitter. But that’s just what the two-time tour winner got after posting a second-round 5-over 77, which, combined with Thursday’s 75, ensured she would miss the U.S. Women’s Open cut.

“OMG go on a diet,” read a charming Twitter message from @BlackAngus_CG to @TheChristinaKim. “You are a disgrace to women golf and women athletes.”

Kim, who boasts more than 33,500 followers, wasted no time (two minutes after reading the offending tweet, to be exact, according to mydesert.com’s Shad Powers) in firing back at her detractor, whose actual name is Melanie Spigelmyre.

Choi, Yang lead Korean charge on PGA Tour
Quad-City Times (Iowa)

As Se Ri Pak opened a pipeline for South Korean women’s golf on the LPGA Tour with her 1998 U.S. Open triumph, Choi was the lone player from the country of approximately 49 million representing the PGA Tour.

But after Choi’s sustained run of success the past decade and Y.E. Yang’s breakthrough in a major three years ago, the South Korean influence is starting to boom on the men’s tour.

There are 11 Koreans on the Tour, including six in this week’s John Deere Classic field with Choi, Yang, Sang-Moon Bae, Sung Kang, Seung-Yul Noh and Danny Lee.

Olympics-S.Koreans athletes bet on traditional medicine
Reuters

South Korean athletes looking to stay in peak shape for the London Olympics are turning to Oriental rather than Western medicine to see off aches and sprains that could derail their medal chances.

While some athletes remain wary of remedies that are not certified due to doping concerns, for the vast majority regular treatment has boosted fitness and the ability to overcome injury quickly.

2PM Nichkhun′s First Girlfriend was Korean American
Yahoo! OMG!

On July 11, Nichkhun, along with f(x)’s Victoria, his television wife from MBC’s We Got Married, appeared on Radio Star and shared about being born and raised in the USA.

“When I was 16, I had my first girlfriend and she was Korean,” said Nichkhun.
When the MCs asked if he learned a lot of Korean from her, Nichkhun replied, “She was Korean, but she didn’t know how to speak it.”

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