Conference on Korean Americans – Greetings

Professor Pyong Gap Min: Maybe we should start. We are going to start, the Korean Asian American conference hosted by the Asian and Asian American Research Institute, at CUNY Graduate Center. I’d like to give you a formal welcome. I worried that not many people would come here, but today I see a lot of people here. I appreciate you very much for coming here. First thing, I’d like to introduce Dr. Betty Lee Sung, who will give an opening remark. She taught at City College and CUNY Graduate Center for many years and she recently retired. But, she is very active professionally, and particularly for the Asian and Asian American Research Institute.   She along with Dr. Thomas Tan were key founding members of AAARI, and they are still very active people. Without them, this organization could not have happened. So, Dr. Sung, will give you her brief opening remarks.

 

Dr. Betty Lee Sung: Thank you Professor Kim. I want to say good afternoon, and as chair of the Asian American/Asian Research Institute I extend to you a hearty welcome to our Korean American conference. It’s good to see so many of you with us to explore some of the issues that touch on Korean Americans and the Korean American community. As a vital component of the Asian American population in New York City, I believe Korean Americans now number close to a hundred thousand, but I believe some of you probably know is more than that, Professor Oh? –Yes. Laugh. You’re one of the fastest growing Asian groups, but most of you are fairly recent immigrants. And I was just talking to Mr. Baek just a moment ago, and I said, being fairly recent immigrants, you certainly get to places very fast. Because just today, this morning, my son emailed me, and said that a Korean American was elected to the Boston city council. His name is [Sam Jung]. I’m just wondering whether that was one of my students. I emailed him one time right away, and said, “Did he go to City College?” Because I remember having a very active student at City College whose name was Jung, but I don’t remember whether he took an American name or not.

 

But then another thing, right before I left I went on my email again, and saw I got another email that said Mr. Kim was just confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be Assistant Attorney General. I think all of you who are in the media probably know about this more than I do. Mr. Baek tells me that there are more. And I said, “Boy, you showed the Korean community is very active, and they are getting up there fast politically, whereas, sometimes I wonder, the Chinese have been here much, much longer, and they haven’t got there as fast.” So we are very proud now to present this conference. Although these things are happening, we hear very, very little about the Korean American community, and we hope this conference will remedy that somewhat. Then today we have any Korean American scholars within CUNY who will bring you their results of their research about the community and its peoples.

 

But let me say a few words about our institute. Now we are a university-wide institute that tries to bring together the Asian American faculty and students, and bring them and dispense and disseminate some of the information that is necessary to the growing Asian American population. Each year over 24,000 Asian Americans students are enrolled in our colleges, and a large number of them are Korean Americans. As these people graduate, as have many thousands before them, they will form a very vital and important component of the New York City workforce and its citizenry. Asian Americans as a whole already comprise more than ten percent of the New York City population. Koreans number, I think, the third largest group, outnumbered only by the Chinese and [South Asians]. So it is important to get to know more about the diversity and about the vitality that Asian Americans bring to our city. That is the mission of the Asian American/Asian Research Institute, and this conference is an example of that mission. So we are very happy today and very honored that the Korean Consul General has sent a representative to represent him, and she is with us today, Miss Bihn Seo who is here, and we welcome her. We welcome all the other guests that are here today. We hope we will have a very successful conference. Thank you very much.

 

Professor Pyong Gap Min: Korean Consul General [inaudible] was supposed to be here to give the opening remarks, but he had to attend another, I’m sure, more important meeting. So today, Consul Bihn Seo she will read the Consul General’s opening remarks, and later she will give a talk about Korean political development.

 

Consul Bihn Seo: Hello ladies and gentlemen, I would like to deliver our sincere apologies from our Consul General; he had an emergency public affairs to attend. I will be reading his opening remarks. It’s thrilling to have the conference of the Korean American in the metropolitan area, and I thank the Asian and Asian American Research Institute, CUNY, and particular Professor Min Pyong Gap for organizing the events and cordially inviting the Korean Consulate. The conference could not be held at a more important time as we all witness rising political power of the Korean community in last year’s election. And the political solidarity of the Korean American community is more than any other minority ethnic group due to the congenital nature of the Korean people for promoting consolidation as well as a strong desire to realize the Korean [inaudible].

 

These factors are combined well with the American [inaudible] grew to the political participation, creating a politically and critically conscious community. Whenever justice and unfairness are infringed Korean people unite to resolve these issues. Thanks to these active movements as a civic power, we have a minority group have been able to form political solidarity and develop identity in a short period of time. The early Korean American community in New York had to win the democratic development in Korean politics. Many [inaudible] in 1948, studied it and introduce it and install democratic principles and rules in the Korean society. Also the Korean economic development in the 1960s and 70s allowed scholars and engineers to study in America helped make economic development complete.

 

As such, the Korean American community has been a vital link between the Korean and American societies, politically and economically. This was led by a strong inclination by the Korean Americans to preserve the Korean ethnicity and religion. Now Korea stands as a true democracy, the world’s eleventh largest economy, and an active player on the world stage. In order to maintain peace and prosperity in the Korean peninsula, the government pursued an active engagement in the six party talks, which garnered a commitment by the North Koreans to disband nuclear weapons and nuclear programs and the government has exchanged continuous dialogues with North Korean and economic cooperation projects, which has often improved industrial confidence and Korean society has transformed itself in a young and prosperous democracy, with more political participation from the young generation and the young has tried to develop a society that is more fair and transparent, centralized and autonomous with more dialogue and trust.

 

This generation change posed an extensive repercussion in reality, but however the young guard produced factors and new voices that are blending well with the existing goals and principles of the old guard. From this unfolding we can learn that society is enhanced when both generations unite to create a dynamic government. We can see that the theme of reconciling the old and the new is a dominant one in the Korean peninsula and the United States. The Korean American community also experiences generational shifts as the younger generation is more involved in the community activities. The 1.5 and second generation Korean Americans who were educated in the American system and dealt for themselves in the languages and cultures of America and who celebrate the political empowerment of the Korean American community.

 

One thing we need to keep in mind is that we need to strengthen [our ad force] in encouraging their participation and at the same time remind them the value of maintaining the Korean ethnicity and culture in aligning with American society. To help and achieve that goal should be our priority for the future of the Korean American community. I’m sure that today’s conference can be an [inaudible] that creates understanding in the present and future of the Korean American community, and we should learn from where we stand. Thank you very much.

 

Professor Pyong Gap Min: According to our program, I am supposed to give you my opening remarks. This is the first Korean American conference organized by AAARI and maybe the first one in a long time in the Korean community organized by any group. I remember 1998, the Korean University organized a conference in Flushing, and we had a lot of discussion. Since that time, we have had nothing else on Korean conference in general, so this conference is going to be very important. Hopefully faculty members, particularly CUNY faculty members can provide academic information about Korean community, which can be used by community leaders and journalists.

 

From the beginning, Dr. Jae Taik Kim, has worked very hard for AAARI. He was a strong community leader who organized conferences on Korean community, and I and many other CUNY Asian American, Korean faculty members made an effort to make it happen. In the last meeting we had to work harder, but without his strong commitment for organizing Korean American conference, and he willingly spent financial resources and manpower for organizing conference and for able to help me in past instances I deeply appreciate it, Jae Taik Kim. He has organized a lot of [inaudible] on Friday.

 

I remember I gave a lecture on Korean community and society, and more non-Korean members participated. Hopefully this time through this conference, Korean community is more aware of what this organization has been doing. And when there is a lecture on Korean community or society more Koreans can participate. Mr. [inaudible] [College Assistant and AAARI], he closely coordinated with many participants and he spent a lot of time, so I would like to appreciate him very much. And we had several planning meetings, and many CUNY Korean faculty members and graduate students and community members like Kelly Jeong, Sung Hoon Jang, Sunghoon Kim, and many others spent a lot time organizing this conference. And without their help this would not have been possible. And they are participating as panelists too and as presenters today, I appreciated them very much. I have to emphasize Professor Sung has [inaudible]. She is a spiritual leader that made this organization mobile and [inaudible] things happen. I would like to acknowledge her dedication and sacrifice given to the organization. Thank you.