On Tuesday, August 9, 2016, Professor Chigon Kim of Wright State University gave a talk titled "Political Participation among Korean Immigrants in the United States" at KCS in Flushing. Approximately 30 people attended the Korean-language presentation. An interesting question-and-answer session followed Professor Kim's talk. 

Professor Kim discussed patterns and modes of Korean immigrants’ political participation, including party affiliation, voter registration, voting in presidential and midterm elections, political donations, contacting public officials, and working with others to solve community problems. Using detailed data from a variety of sources, he compared Korean immigrants’ political activities with those of four other Asian immigrant groups (Chinese, Indians, Filipinos, and Vietnamese) and non-Hispanic whites. His talk focused on the role of Korean ethnic and religious organizations as institutional contexts for political participation. Professor Kim also discussed challenges that Korean communities face in facilitating Korean immigrants’ political participation. 

We would like to wish a happy 80th birthday to Hae Min Chung—President of the Research Foundation for Korean Community (RFKC).

 On Thursday, July 14, 2016, President Chung's family members, board members of RFKC, and staff members of RCKC met at the Great Room of 20 Riverwalk Place in West New York, New Jersey for a delicious, fun, and festive 80th birthday celebration for President Chung. In Korean culture, both the 70th and 80th birthday celebrations are important milestones in one's life. In particular, if someone made it to their 80th year in the old days, it was considered a sign of great health, fortune, and prosperity. He has served as President of RFKC since 2012, and towards the end of the birthday party, he announced that he will be stepping down as President at the end of this summer. Jea-Seung Ko, who is currently the Senior Vice President of RFKC, will take over once President Chung steps down.

Over the years, President Chung has worked very hard to help and serve the Korean and Korean-American communities in the New York-New Jersey area. Since immigrating to the U.S. in 1974, he has founded and established a Korean school, worked for the New York City government as an outreach and community coordinator for the NYC Citizenship Program and Office of Immigrant Initiatives, been Chair of the Board of Directors of the Korean American Voters' Council of New York and New Jersey, and been a Co-Chair of the New York Coalition for House Resolution 121 (the "Comfort Women" resolution). In 2013, he received the Vision Award from Korean Community Services, and in 2010, he received Special Congressional Recognition from U.S. Congressman Michael Honda. These are just a few of his many accomplishments and activities.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to President Chung for all of the hard work he has done for our Research Center as well as for the Korean and Korean-American communities at large. We wish him continued good health and prosperity.

Click the link below for some video footage from the event:

President Hae Min Chung 80th Birthday Party 

On Tuesday, July 12, 2016, Professor Jai Gi Kim of Chonnam National University gave a talk titled "People of Korean Ancestry in Cuba: Immigrants' Participation in the Korean Independence Movement and the Present-Day Lives of Their Descendants" at KCS (Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York). This event was part of our regular seminar series. Professor Kim is one of our research center's visiting scholars for 2015-2016. Approximately 50 people attended the talk, which was given in Korean.

At present, there are approximately 1,000 people of Korean ancestry residing in Cuba. They are the descendants of roughly 300 Korean immigrants who migrated from Mexico to Cuba in 1921. Based on his recent visit to Cuba, Professor Kim's talk focused on two main topics: (1) Korean Cuban immigrants' participation in the Korean independence movement in the early 20th century and (2) the present-day lives of their Korean Cuban descendants. Professor Kim also gave a brief history of Cuba, talked about Cuban culture, and shared some videos that he recorded during his visit.

Jai Gi Kim is a Professor of Political Science at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, South Korea. He has done research on a broad range of issues concerning overseas Koreans, including Koreans in China, the former Soviet Union, and the United States. He arrived at the Research Center for Korean Community at Queens College as a visiting scholar in September 2015 and will return to Korea this coming August. During his tenure as a visiting scholar here, he has actively conducted research and traveled around the eastern United States. In particular, by analyzing archives of Sinhan Minbo newspapers from the early 20th century, he found extensive evidence of how actively involved Korean Americans were in the Korean independence movement.

We would like to announce the publication of another book produced by the Research Center for Korean Community. This edited book, titled Korean Language Teachers in New York, was co-edited by Professor Pyong Gap Min (Director of RCKC) and Sejung Yim (Research Associate at RCKC). This edited anthology was published by Bookorea Publishing Company in Seoul, South Korea, and it features personal essays by fourteen Korean language teachers in the New York-New Jersey area. This book also includes English-language essays by a few students about why they think it is important to learn the Korean language.

There will be a release party for the book at KCS (Korean Community Services) in Flushing some time in the next few months.