Korean Pioneers

The Korean Consulate’s office has been working on an ongoing oral history project with descendants of Korean pioneers. Oral Historians, Jennifer and Cindy Keil, will support this project with their company, 70 Degrees. The interviews will be primarily focused on relatives whose grandparents were part of the liberation movement.

The two initial candidates, Dr. Soook Kim and Mr. Dong Kim, were selected by Dr. Shinyoung Park during the Korean Pioneer event which was held at USC in April 2019. The initial interviews were conducted by Joy Kim, joykim@usc.edu and Jennifer Keil, jennifer@70degrees.org at the Korean National Association. Mr. Kwon, president of the board of KNU Memorial Foundation, provided  the venue arrangement on Thursday, April 18, 2019 from 14:00 – 16:00. The second day interviews were conducted by Christina Seo Kyung Ko, seokyunk@gmail.com at USC on Friday, April 19, 2019.

The three oral history interviews which included transcripts funded by the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles under the supervision of Dr. Shinyoung Park. Korean characters and Korean to English translated-transcripts for these interviews will be made available here: https://koreanpioneers.omeka.net/

  1. Dr. Soook Kim and Mr. Dong Kim Dual Interview with Joy Kim and Jennifer Keil, (02:17:31 minutes) with transcript
  2. Dr. Soook Kim, descendant of Kimm Kiusic with Christina Seo Kyung Ko, (00:43:13 minutes) with transcript
  3. Mr. Dong Kim, descendant of Song Hurn,(00:20:10 minutes) with transcript