Introduction
Welcome to the Korean American Perspectives podcast, where we explore the triumphs and challenges of the Korean American experience and examine different sides of complex issues that shape our community. We thank you for tuning in and hope you enjoy this episode.

Abraham Kim
This is the Korean American Perspectives podcast. My name is Abraham Kim. I’m the Executive Director for the Council of Korean Americans. And with me is my co-host Jessica Lee. How are you doing, Jessica?

Jessica Lee
Hi everyone.

Abraham Kim
It’s wonderful to have all of you here to our inaugural podcast. This is one of our newest initiatives here at CKA. And for those of you who don’t know about CKA, we’re a national Korean American leadership organization. Our mission is to advance the national voice, interest, and influence of the Korean American community through education, collaboration and leadership development. And Jessica, you’ve been doing a lot of interviews around the country with a lot of important opinion makers and leaders. Love to hear about what this podcast means to you.

Jessica Lee
Thanks Abe. Well, it’s great to be here with all of you. Thanks so much for tuning in to our first episode, as Abe mentioned, I have been traveling across the country from California to New York, interviewing different people in our community who are doing amazing work, whether they’re in the arts, in policy, healthcare, philanthropy, leadership development. We have so many Korean Americans who are doing extraordinary things.

And I think this podcast will be an opportunity for us to hear directly from them on what inspires them to do the work that they do and how it relates to our broader community. And so I think this is a really important tool for CKA to really turn the microphone to you all and to really give you a voice to help us understand all the various things that are going on in our community.

Abraham Kim
Absolutely. I think not only here in the DC area where we’re recording this, but all across the country there’s so many leaders, trailblazers that are doing some amazing things, both in civic engagement, in public policy, in business, in research, and academia. And I think bringing these stories and highlighting these stories is one of the important purpose behind this podcast. But I think there’s a second important reason for why we’re doing this. And that’s.. There are a lot of issues that really shape our community. Things ranging from healthcare to a philanthropy, to even North Korea. But we are really divided on a lot of these issues. And I think it’s important that we bring some of those voices on both sides of issues to the air, like this through this podcast.

Jessica Lee
Yeah, I think that’s right. I think the joke is, when you speak to Korean Americans they’ll have different opinions about just about everything. Right. And you know, we have strong feelings about certain issues. And I think while having passionate opinions and viewpoints are obviously important, we’re also trying to find commonalities whenever possible so that, you know, if issues come to the national forum, we have an ability to respond that we would be able to contribute in an informed way. And so I think part of what the podcast seeks to do is just provide information from experts and really educate ourselves on what’s happening across the country.

Abraham Kim
Absolutely. And I think our goal is still highlight— and as you said, educate our listeners. And it’s up to our listeners to determine where they stand on the issues. And our job is to highlight, educate, and inform our many, hopefully many, many listeners across the country.

Jessica Lee
And in that vein, it was such a pleasure to sit down with Congressman Andy Kim, who as all of you know is our only Korean American member of Congress right now. And it was just, you know, Abe, you’ve met Andy a number of times and you’ve seen him speak and you know, obviously as people in Washington, we do pay close attention to what goes on in government. And so being able to sit down with Congressman Kim in his office and, really in a brief period, understand exactly why civic education and engagement is so important was really exciting for me as a former congressional staff member who’s never worked for a Korean American member in my life. So this just kind of goes to show that there’s just a lot happening at the local, state and federal level and I think it’s limitless in terms of people who we can have on this show to really help us to understand from their point of view what’s important for the broader community.

Abraham Kim
Absolutely. I think I was listening to the interview and it’s not only very inspiring, but also helped me to understand my own Korean identity as I listen to Andy Kim share about his own life, his life as a child of immigrants who came to the United States, And how his Korean identity shaped his upbringing, but also as he decided to run for office and how he is in office today and how he’s looking to the future. So I think there’s some amazing stories here and not only Andy Kim, but I think there are many different leaders that have similar kinds of experience. And in particular, I think the timing of your interview with Andy Kim was particularly interesting. Jess, why don’t you explain that?

Jessica Lee
Absolutely. So it just so happened that the few days before I sat down with Congressman Kim earlier this week was the passage of his first bill that he ever introduced, HR 1385, the State Allowance for a Variety of Exchanges or SAVE act, uh, that became incorporated in a larger bill HR 987, the Strengthening Healthcare and Lowering Prescription Drug Costs act, and that passed with bipartisan support in the House of Representatives and is now awaiting action in the US Senate. And to be able to speak with Congressman Kim about that monumental achievement in such a short period of time was really exciting.

And in general, I get this sense just from talking to different folks that when it comes to Korean American issues, so called Korean American issues, they are as basic and as a commonsensical as you would expect, right? It’s about having a good life and being able to live our American dream and nothing is more important toward that than having basic healthcare and as most of you know, Korean Americans have one of the lowest rates of employer-sponsored healthcare coverage among Asian Americans. And there are a lot of different reasons that we are not covered. It could be poverty, could be immigration-based barriers (such as not having US citizenship), language barriers in the enrollment process, misinformation out there, et cetera. So I do think that healthcare is one of those issues that really merits more attention, certainly by our community and also CKA so that we could just understand how decisions get made that affect millions of Korean Americans and Americans across the country.

Abraham Kim
Yeah, let’s now turn to your interview with Congressman Andy Kim and enjoy the show.

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Jessica Lee
Today I’m pleased to interview Congressman Andy Kim, who represents the third district of New Jersey, to hear about his personal journey to Congress and his passion for addressing healthcare challenges. Thank you for your time today, Congressman.

Congressman Andy Kim
Oh of course, thank you for having me.

Jessica Lee
So, Congressman, can you tell us a little bit about what it was like growing up as a Korean American? Obviously our listeners tend to be Korean American and we’re so very proud of of your accomplishment as the sole Korean American in Congress at this point. But how did being Korean American affect you as a child and where are you proud to be Korean American?

Congressman Andy Kim
It is something that, my Korean American identity is something that has really continued to reveal how it affected my upbringing and my past as I grow older. You know, for me, I think about my father and my mother, you know, I’m the son of immigrants. I’ve often talked about how my father grew up in an orphanage in South Korea as a polio survivor and my mother grew up in a poor farm family. And I’ll be very honest, when I was when I was very little, it was hard for me to understand the life that they had lived. It was hard for me to understand the challenges that they had faced and the loneliness they must’ve experienced here in the United States. And I think that was something that I really came to understand over the course of time, especially now that I’m a father of two, Korean American baby boys and I see all the difficulties that come with raising a family. And I’m thinking, how did my parents do this on their own? When we had no other relatives here?

And then I realized, I remembered how, you know, that was the core of our church community. We were a part of a Korean American church and the community there was filled with people like my parents who were taking a chance in the United States and seeking new opportunities because of this American dream that they wanted to pursue. They helped each other out, and in that way, I remember the Korean American community being a pillar of strength for us and being a place where we could turn when we had questions or didn’t know who else to turn to in this country. That was incredibly important and it makes me so proud to have been raised in that community and now having a chance to be a Korean American in Congress.

Jessica Lee
So one of the issues that you have prioritized on the Hill has been around healthcare issues. And you know, as you know, the Korean American community among all Asian Americans are among the lowest in terms of coverage of health insurance, in part because many of us are small business owners and this is an issue, whether it’s mental health or just access to healthcare, something that really plagues our community. And so I was wondering if you could talk to us a little bit about how you approached this issue here in Congress?

Congressman Andy Kim
Well, healthcare is very personal. As a father of two baby boys, I think about it constantly and it was the reason why I decided to run for Congress. I never thought that I would run for Congress. The reason why I did this because I heard so many people in our communities, both my voters and constituents in my district, as well as people across this country, including Korean American communities that were talking about the challenges that they faced. And look, we live in a time right now when 40% of Americans can’t handle a $400 emergency. I just heard another statistic that 40% of Americans don’t have over $10,000 in savings for their retirement. You know, then the sheer number of people that are living with such fragility in their lives. And I think that that’s something that hits immigrant communities and minority communities. I’ve certainly seen it in the Korean American community.

Healthcare is key for that. You know, what, how can you pursue the American dream that my mother and my father told me about and they live their lives pursuing? How can you do that if you don’t have your health? My father often told me that his ability to manage his own disability as a polio survivor was critical for him to be able to get an education, for him to be able to get a job. So his health was necessary for them. So I’m trying to think through ways in which we can do that. Find some tangible solutions to be able to help people. Help them lower their healthcare costs, help them be able to afford their prescription drugs. These are problems right now that so many people are facing. And as you rightly pointed out, many of them are small business owners or employees that are struggling right now to be able to provide healthcare or retirement savings to their company.

As someone who sits on the small business committee, that’s something I’m very focused on. And as a chairman of one of the subcommittees, my very first subcommittee hearing was focused on what we can do to help small businesses that are owned by minority business owners. So this is something we’re continuing to push going forward.

Jessica Lee
What led you to introduce the bipartisan bill, the Save Act that would empower states to establish their own healthcare exchanges?

Congressman Andy Kim
Well, I’m glad you raised this because just a couple of days ago we had the passage of the SAVE act through the House of Representatives. I’ll tell ya, it is a really extraordinary and humbling feeling when my very first bill that I introduced as a member of Congress, that I was able to vote on it and pass it through the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. This bill came out from a conversation with another member of Congress. I am somebody that comes from a public service background. I worked under both Republicans and Democrats. And as I told you, I never thought that I’d run for Congress. I’m not somebody that sees my life, sees my identity through a partisan lens of Democrats and Republicans. So I really wanted to make sure I reach out to members on the other side of the aisle, talk about our priorities, find areas of common ground. Because we love, we know we live in such divided times. I mean, everyone knows that. So for me, the challenge is what am I going to do about that? How can I try to heal all this and move forward?

So in this conversation with a Congressman who literally lives on the other side of the river from me. I mean there’s a bridge, the Burlington Bristol Bridge, that connects our two districts. We decided to have a conversation, figure out some of the areas we might be able to work together on, and we decided that we wanted to work on something with healthcare. Show the American people that healthcare, as divided of a topic it is, still has areas of common ground to be able to lower costs for people, be able to find innovative ways like the SAVE act, which pushes and tries to encourage states to be all set up at state health exchanges. It’s a proven way to be able to lower healthcare costs. And this is something we took on in a bipartisan way and we’re hoping now that it’s passed the House, that we can get it heard in the Senate and hopefully actually passed into law. I’m not interested in just bills that are just messaging bills and “pie in the sky” ideas. No, now is a time for where the rubber hits the road and getting things done.

Jessica Lee
There’s so much we can get into because healthcare is such a big issue. But I think one thing that would be helpful for our listeners is to better understand how ordinary citizens can get involved. Part of what CKA is trying to do is to educate our community about, you know, through educational briefings and outreach events and of course a large convenings in Washington, including at the White House and Capitol Hill on ways that they can know more about what’s happening and what decisions are being made that affect our community. Can you think of ways that Korean American community can be clearer and more organized around issues that you think need greater awareness?

Congressman Andy Kim
Absolutely. Power in this town, in Washington, in the halls of Congress derives from the people, derives from the people’s ability to get their voices heard. And that’s a key place to start. I’ll tell you, having been able to win this seat in Congress just seemed like a long shot when I started writing. I wanted to show that anybody in this country should have the ability to try to roll up their sleeves and try to figure out how they can contribute to their government. And I remember I went to a Korean American church in my district, just a couple of weeks before election day and a number of people were very excited that I was running. I asked them, well, make sure you get out there and vote. And a number of them said, “Oh, I’m not registered to vote.” And I think that that therein lies a problem, right?

Because if the power is about having drive from the people and it’s about people having the voice, you’re not going to have that voice unless you vote. This is something that I think is important for us to internalize. That this engagement is so critically important and that think about what it is that.. I know that many Korean American family’s— mine own included, sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in your daily lives and try to think through, well, what is government doing for me? Right? But when I think about it, you know, when I think about how government was able to make it such that my father could come here and study, it was the government’s actions that allowed my mom to be able to transfer her nursing degree over and be able to be a nurse working here in New Jersey and elsewhere. You know, it created these opportunities and that those opportunities from my parents were ones that people in government had chosen to do prior to that point.

And now it’s my job to try to figure out what I’m doing for my kids’ generation and for our own lives. So we got to just understand that. And I think making sure that we’re all registered to vote. Making sure that we’re getting out there and voting, making sure that we’re informed about who it is that we’re voting for, that we have a clear understanding of what our priorities are and to be able to talk to each other, share our ideas, and be able to have these conversations are important for me now as a Korean American in Congress, to be able to have a seat at the table, a voice in the room, and the ability to introduce legislation. I never have to ask anyone’s permission now to be able to introduce legislation to Congress and be able to have that debate with people here.

I hope that Korean American communities around this country are excited that I’m here and I hope that it shows to them the progression that is being made towards growing that voice. And while it is that we continue to build our Korean American identity, it’s also just incredibly important to just weave that in with the broader American story, to not just talk about it as a Korean American story, but being all to really show that these issues that we care deeply about of healthcare, of education, of business. These these are ones that all communities in this country are interested in. We have a lot more in common with with other communities, especially other immigrant communities and minorities, communities. And sometimes we even imagine that’s the way I was able to become a representative in a district that frankly has very few Korean Americans. And it was because I was able to show that my story is like their story and all of us, uh, are part of that threatened. And I think that that approach is one that I will hopefully serve the Korean American community well here. And I’m proud to be a part of it.

Jessica Lee
Well Congressman, thank you so much. And, I think for all of us who think about government, being able to demystify that concept and understand what ordinary people can do and that we can have an American of Korean descent like you in Congress I think is incredibly empowering. So thank you for speaking with me today. That was Congressman Andy Kim and I’m here in his Washington, DC office and look forward to speaking with you again, Congressman. Thank you.

Congressman Andy Kim
Thank you for having me.

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Abraham Kim
Wow, what an amazing interview and in particular it’s really extraordinary that Congressman Andy Kim got to pass his first piece of legislation through the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. That was an extraordinary interview, Jessica.

Jessica Lee
Well, thank you. It was such a pleasure to see him in his office and meet his staff and you know, really get a sense of what his day to day might be like. And I just couldn’t be more proud of the fact that someone of Korean descent is doing such great work to advance all Americans’ lives and interests in the Congress. So we should be very proud of them.

Abraham Kim
Oh, we should. And it’s wonderful to hear that Korean Americans are really making a big impact. I look forward to many more interviews. I think we have many more Korean American leaders, not only in the policy world, but also in the business and research and other areas. I think our next interview is with Eugene and Carol Choi from United Exchange Corp. They’re from Orange County, aren’t they?

Jessica Lee
Yes, they are.

Abraham Kim
We’re going to be talking a little bit about what it meant to grow up Korean American in Orange County, uh, how they were entrepreneurs in the area, but also the philanthropy work that they’re doing today as contributors to their community.

Jessica Lee
That’s right. And we’re looking forward to exploring different themes related to philanthropy, Korean American identity, immigration, in that next episode as well as in subsequent episodes. So we hope you’ll tune in. We also want to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible behind the scenes work of our Community Engagement Associate and producer of this podcast series, Kevin Koo. So if you like the quality of this podcast, it’s because of Kevin and we really enjoy traveling with Kevin and getting his support as we capture these stories.

Abraham Kim
And also, if you want us to interview other people, interesting people around the country that are trailblazers, please make sure to send us an email at podcast@councilka.org.

Jessica Lee
Great. Well as Congressman Andy Kim said in the interview, power does reside in people and our ability to get our voices heard. And so I couldn’t think of a better, a more pointed way to end this first episode of our podcast series. On that note, and I hope that you will find these discussions enlightening and useful. Thanks so much.

Abraham Kim
Thank you very much.

Outro
Thank you for tuning into the Korean American Perspectives podcast. Head over to www.councilka.org for the show notes of this episode and see exciting upcoming programs at CKA. That’s www.councilka.org.