I’ve noticed in the past few issues that there have been a number of readers with fairly harsh criticism concerning the content of KoreAm Journal. These letters have included a statement that KoreAm “ignores the plight of millions of Koreans” by not covering more of the human rights violations in North Korea, as well as a general disappointment in the lack of clarity in whom the intended audience for the journal might be. In response, I just wanted to say that I am grateful to the KoreAm staff for working so hard to provide a journal written by Korean Americans for Korean Americans regarding the issues that we face living in America. Without KoreAm, we would not even have such a great forum to discuss what it really means to be Korean American, let alone complain about the issues we want covered.

With that said, I think the readers should take a moment to consider the reality of KoreAm before being so quick to criticize. We need to remember that this magazine does not come to us from a media giant like the Associated Press or Time Warner with the ability to cover any story wherever and whenever it wants. All you have to do is read Anne Kim’s comments in the July 2005 Spotlight about her year as editor to get a glimpse of the struggles the few motivated journalists must have endured to produce and develop for the rest of us what we have today as a nationally published Korean American journal. Rather than thinking that the editors are selectively publishing stories about Los Angeles rather than Chicago or about wide receiver Hines Ward rather than the people of North Korea, consider the reality of limited resources and limited contributors. We should instead raise the question of why we don’t have more contributors from Chicago (because the KA population and material for stories definitely are not lacking) or why other American publications with the ability to do so have not adequately covered the plight of North Koreans. All in all, KoreAm has taken on the difficult role of writing a journal for all of Korean America, despite the incredible difficulty all of us have in defining what we consider “Korean American.” We should expect nothing less than to see disagreement in what we each think the journal should be about.

> James Cho, Chicago, Ill.

The Korean American Debate Revisited

As an avid reader and semi-activist for the Korean and Asian communities, I find myself somewhat disappointed in the September 2005 KoreAm Journal. On the cover you featured Hines Ward. Now I have nothing personal against the man, and the story itself was great. But this is a magazine for Korean Americans. How are we to build an identity and be proud and aware of our people when you feature people who claim themselves to be non-Koreans before anything else? Don’t you think it is a shame that we have to stoop outside of our real identity to find someone of his stature to represent something that he himself is not fully accounting for? Hines Ward will always be black first, then Korean. Never Korean first, then black. Maybe you should think about featuring people who think they are Korean first — progressive leaders and role models who are proud to represent themselves as Korean Americans. Let’s not sell out just to earn the fortunes of capitalism.