They’ve heard North Korea’s threats before. Some local Korean Americans are concerned. Many others, however, see it more as political theater.
Orange County’s Korean American community offered mixed reactions to North Korea’s threat to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States and South Korea. Many said threats by North Korea are so common that it’s hard to take them seriously.
“They talk tough so many times. Nobody takes it literally,” said J.J. Kim, president of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County.
On Feb. 12, the regime conducted an underground nuclear test. On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions endorsed by China, North Korea’s main benefactor.
“I think the U.N.’s action trying to step up with the economic sanctions is one small way that they can put some pressure on” North Korea, said Irvine Mayor Steven Choi, the city’s second Korean American mayor. “Whether that will be effective or not – that is a secondary question.”
A longtime ally of North Korea, China co-drafted the U.N. resolution with the U.S. Choi, however, is not convinced that China’s involvement will matter to North Korea.
“North Korea’s longtime history, and my observation has been, it’s like a bully on the block,” he said. “He does not care and realize how vulnerable a position he is in, and he, being North Korea, is totally isolated even from their strong allies like China.”
At Grace Ministries International in Fullerton, where more than half of the 5,000 congregants were born in Korea, the church’s business director, Ted Kim, said most Korean Americans and South Koreans are desensitized to threats from North Korea by now.
“Every year there is something related to tension between the two countries,” Kim said.
But because of the uncertainty surrounding North Korea’s new 28-year old leader, Kim Jong Un, some said there is a heightened level of anxiety regarding this latest threat.
“There should be concerns,” said Shine Kim, 48, a Korean American pastor at the Fullerton church. “He wants to elevate himself with authority to show that he does have leadership power and can threaten the U.S., the strongest nation in the world.”
For years, as many as 500 people have attended a weekly prayer vigil at Grace Ministries with a single focus of restoring harmony between North and South Korea. Orange County is home to more than 250,000 Korean Americans.
Jae Chung said he’s checking his iPhone every 30 minutes for news. He’s worried about his 92-year-old father and other family in South Korea.
“We just wait and see,” said Chung, a member of the Buena Park Planning Commission and senior executive vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based Korean American Associations of the United States.
Andrew Oh, president of the Korean American Federation of Orange County, said the escalating tensions will be a subject for discussion at his board meeting today.
Meanwhile, Brian Yi, 36, of Mission Viejo said the media attention on North Korea is misdirected.
“The North Korean citizens are being overlooked and forced into famine,” said Yi, who was born in the U.S. “To see them being persecuted and silenced is a great tragedy.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7829 or rkopetman@ocregister.com
