Although some South Koreans support for Kim, others are troubled she won as a Republican when the party is accused of divisive politics and intoleranceThe last Korean American to serve in Congress was Jay Kim, who became the first Korean American to do so in 1992<\/b>
\nA week ago, hardly anyone in South Korea had heard the name Young Kim. But after she made history by becoming the first Korean-American woman voted into Congress, taking over Southern California\u2019s 39th district from long-serving Congressman Ed Royce, she became a fixture in South Korean media.
South Koreans and Korean Americans are divided on whether a victory for Kim, who ran as a Republican, is a good thing. But they all agree her win is a sign of progress for Asian-American voices in US politics.
Born in 1962 as Kim Young-OK in Incheon, South Korea, Kim left the country in 1975 with her family, living in Guam before settling in Southern California. Kim studied business administration at the University of Southern California, where she was known as an outspoken and popular student. She began her political career working for Royce, spanning 21 years as community liaison and director of Asian affairs.
From January, Kim will serve as representative of California\u2019s 39th district, encompassing Los Angeles, Orange County and San Bernardino, a region known for its large population of Korean and other Asian Americans.
Although some South Koreans support for Kim, others are troubled she won as a Republican when the party is accused of divisive politics and intolerance towards immigrants. Until winning the election, Kim was all but unknown on the Korean peninsula outside political circles. Her profile is now expanding on Naver, the country\u2019s top search portal, and in major conservative newspapers like the Chosun.
\u201cI think Koreans are always interested in things that raise our status in the world,\u201d said Joseph Yi, a professor of political science at Hanyang University in Seoul and a graduate of UC Berkeley and University of Chicago.
While earning his degrees in the US and living in California, Yi knew Kim and her political views well, and insisted the Republican Party should embrace her.
\u201cFor the Republican Party to have a future, they need to include more people like Young Kim,\u201d he said.
Others are less enthusiastic about seeing a Korean American take up the banner of the Republican Party, especially after her narrow victory \u2013 Kim won with 51.3 per cent of the vote \u2013 means the seat could very well have gone to a Democrat.
The Trump administration has been accused of being insensitive to minorities. Last week CNN refused to run a Republican ad about a caravan of asylum seekers, deeming the ad racially offensive.
Trump has also been quoted using the term \u201canchor baby\u201d and has floated the idea of ending automatic birthright citizenship in the US after claiming the policy has been abused, a move that would especially impact Chinese immigrants looking for a better life in America.
This has caused confusion for Koreans and Korean Americans that support diversity, and feel the Republican Party cannot properly represent their interests as immigrants and Korean Americans. But according to her supporters, Kim is a different kind of Republican to Trump, and she has no plans to bring divisive politics to her Southern California district.
\u201c[Young Kim] keeps a certain independence from Trump,\u201d Yi said. \u201cShe\u2019s not a Trump Republican. She\u2019s a typical Christian, pro-business conservative.\u201d
According to Yi, the Republican values Kim represents are the ones that attracted many Asian Americans to the party over recent decades, with a focus on building strong communities through family and the church, while creating opportunity for businesses to grow.
Yi believes Trump\u2019s divisive and inflammatory style of politics is hurting the Republican Party and will eventually alienate voters.
\u201cIf Trump keeps going with negative nationalism\u2026 [the Republican Party] is going to shrink,\u201d he said.
What the party needs instead, according to Yi, is more representatives like Kim, who hold up its core values while still embracing diversity and remaining supportive of immigrants.
\u201cThey\u2019re drawn to the conservative family values,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the other hand, they also value diversity, because they\u2019re immigrants themselves.\u201d
Yi compared Kim to a famous former South Korean president known for his conservative values and commitment to progress.
\u201cShe\u2019s like Lee Myung-bak, without all the scandals,\u201d Yi said, referencing the corruption charges that caught up with Lee years after his presidency.
But there are other Korean Americans who see a problem with politicians trying to distance themselves from Trump while still flying the Republican flag.
\u201cTo see an Asian American associated with that, I don\u2019t think it bodes well for our image in America. I don\u2019t think it bodes well for our country,\u201d said Ryan Lim, a student of international relations at Yonsei University.
He said that while he did not expect Kim to espouse the same divisive ideas as Trump, her association with the Republican Party and its current administration was enough to put her on the wrong side. He noted a trend of Asian Americans casting their votes for the Democratic Party, which has shown more openness to diversity and higher tolerance for immigration.
\u201cIt\u2019s been increasingly so since 2008,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think the clear reason for that is because the Republican Party has been incredibly hostile towards immigration, towards diversity, towards inclusion.\u201d
Lim acknowledged the need for Korean Americans to be represented by both parties but was more supportive of candidates such as Andy Kim, another Korean American who won a seat in Congress for the Democratic Party, taking New Jersey\u2019s 3rd congressional district.
The last Korean American to serve in Congress was Jay Kim, who became the first Korean American to do so after taking California\u2019s 41st district for the Republican Party back in 1992.
Others in South Korea were less critical of Kim\u2019s party affiliation, noting that her voice as a Korean American would be more important. Jane Moon, a teacher from South Korea who studied at UC Irvine, part of the district now presided over by Congresswoman Kim, said Kim\u2019s values and experience as a Korean American would be more important than her party affiliation.
\u201cI hope she understand the problems in Korean societies in America, how Korean immigrants have gone through hardships,\u201d she said. \u201cRegardless of her being a Republican or a Democrat.\u201d<\/p>\n