hankyoreh

Kim Dong-suk

“The biggest controversy in the 2020 US presidential election will be racism. Donald Trump thinks that continuing to stir up white racism as he’s done so far will help him get reelected. That creates a serious dilemma for Korean-Americans—should we oppose Trump, so that we can fight racism as minorities in this multiethnic country, or should we support Trump as he continues negotiations with North Korea, on behalf of peace on the Korean Peninsula? That choice will soon be upon us.”

There was a troubled expression on the face of Kim Dong-suk, president of the Korean American Grassroots Conference (KAGC) as he spoke. After pausing to catch his breath, he went on, reiterating that this was his “personal opinion, not organization policy.”

“Even so, I think we have to stand up to racism and stand with the working man,” Kim said. That’s the viewpoint of a man who has dedicated nearly 30 years toward promoting Korean-Americans’ rights and political participation as a minority in American society. It’s consistent with the unwritten law that has remained true in all times and places — namely, people should stick to their principles when the going gets tough.

Kim’s conclusion doesn’t derive from apathy about peace on the Korean Peninsula, or from his own personal political preferences. He went on: “There are currently 20 Asian lawmakers in the US Congress. They’re all members of the Democratic Party, and there’s not one in the Republican Party. Isn’t it obvious which side will take an interest in minority issues in Congress?”

“Getting Andy Kim reelected next November is a critical task for the Korean-American community,” said Kim Dong-suk (no relation). Andy Kim, a US representative, is the only ethnic Korean in Congress. “For minorities in the US, having someone in Congress makes a monumental difference. On a scale of one to 100, one member of Congress is 90 points, and two is 91 points. Not having anyone at all is 0 points. That’s how important congressional representation is.”

“In terms of identity, Andy can be seen as the first Korean member of Congress,” Kim Dong-suk said. Andy Kim has played up his identity as a Korean and ethnic minority. On his first day in Congress, he spent over an hour at the Congressional visitor center in conversation with 70 Korean-American students.

Early this month, Kim spent 10 days in Seoul. At the invitation of the Speaker of the National Assembly, he delivered two lectures at the National Assembly. One was titled, “You’ve got to know Congress to understand Washington,” and the other, “Strategies for Trump winning a second term in 2020.”

Kim was in South Korea to invite the chair of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee and the US ambassador to South Korea to serve as keynote speakers for the Korean American Grassroots Conference (KAGC), which is scheduled for July 16–18. Kim had a three-hour interview with the Hankyoreh at a hotel in Seoul on the evening of June 6, Memorial Day.

The KAGC is a three-day event held in Washington, DC, each July since 2014 and attended by between 600 and 1,000 Korean-American activists. The purpose of the event is for Korean-Americans around the US, in cities such as Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, to share their experience in advancing rights for Korean-Americans and promoting their participation in the political process and to help “local action” add up to a “DC impact.” The group that organizes the yearly conference was founded in 2013.

The KAGC has gotten some attention from the Washington political establishment, with some 20 members of Congress, including the chair of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, attending the event. One of the inspirations for the conference is a yearly meeting by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), regarded as one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the US, which brings some 15,000 Jewish-Americans together to share experiences and information and to highlight their influence.

Kim had headed up the campaign for Korean-American rights and political participation in New York since 1996, but he opened an office in Washington in March 2018. This set up a base for civilian lobbying in the center of American politics, five years after the KAGC’s establishment. “On a personal level, a 30-year project has come to fruition,” Kim said, with a big grin on his face.

Before the interview wrapped up, Kim had one last message he wanted to convey. His message can be summarized as follows: take advantage of US Congress, but view it through the lens of Washington, not Seoul.

Noting that Congress seems to be less concerned about and distrustful of Trump since he pulled out of negotiations in the second North Korea-US summit in Hanoi, Kim offered the following advice. “After last year’s summit in Singapore, Congress concentrated on containing and keeping tabs on unilateral action by Trump and his administration. But since Hanoi, Congress has concluded that Trump has some degree of prudence, which has led to a marked decrease in their containment and surveillance efforts. In order to get somewhere in the Korean Peninsula Peace Process, we need to make the most of the changing atmosphere in Congress.”

“That said, our action must be tailored to the way Congress works and to what it’s ready to hear. For example, Congress isn’t yet open to appeals to reopen the Kaesong Industrial Complex. There are serious concerns that it could be counterproductive for the South Korean government to make a direct appeal to Congress about that.”

“If we must push for reopening the Kaesong Complex right now, a more practical way to go about that is to have American companies take the lead, since they are more powerful stakeholders. It’s better to arrange for American businesspeople who want to do business in the Kaesong Complex to use their influence with Congress to reopen the complex. That’s how American politics works.”

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

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