Recently, Korean American men have stirred it up in the reality-show spotlight. The Cho brothers, Erwin and Godwin, battled it out on “The Amazing Race.” Then Yul Kwon won “Survivor: Cook Islands.” Now we get to meet James Sun, an Internet entrepreneur from Seattle who graduated from the University of Washington as a millionaire — the technology fund he started at the age of 18 with $5,000 grew to $2.3 million by graduation day. He will use that business savvy as he vies against attorneys and even an Olympic ice hockey player to earn a seat next to “The Donald” on the latest edition of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” which premiered on Jan. 7.

He can’t say if he got the Donald Trump signature send-off, but he did tell KoreAm something about the toupee-wearing tycoon.

 

 

So what’s Donald Trump like?

He’s a very nice person, and I respect him a lot. Donald Trump is a big thinker. You have to be on your toes at all times. He’s warm and tough at the same time, and has lots of style and personality.

Why did you want to be on the show?

TOP: James Sun wants to work for Donald Trump. • ABOVE: This group of would-be Trump employees make up the cast of the “The Apprentice,” which competes in Los Angeles in its sixth season.

Getting into Harvard is a piece of cake compared to this. You got to want it. I have two daughters that I love dearly, and I wanted to inspire them to dream bigger, think outside the box, and achieve the impossible. In a sense, they are a minority of minorities because they are female and Korean. I want them to grow up knowing they can do anything in the world. Making “The Apprentice” will be a life lesson on thinking outside the box that my girls can hold onto forever and pass down, generation to generation.

On the Web site for “The Apprentice,” nicknames were given to each contestant. Why do they call you the “Webhead”?

I’m an Internet guy. I’ve played with the Internet since I was a kid, and my company’s Internet. And we kind of look at being a geek [as being] cool.

Can you explain the concept behind the Web site you created, Zoodango.com?

I wanted to get involved in a project that could be a multibillion-dollar project, and what I saw was the proliferation of MySpace and social networking sites like Facebook. And what I realized is that I’m 29 years old, and I won’t put up a profile on MySpace because I feel like I’m too old. When you graduate college, you want to start showing off, and when I say showing off, expressing who you are in a different way. Zoodango is a place where people between the ages of 24 and 45 can really express themselves in relation to their professional career, instead of partying in college or how popular you are on MySpace.

So anyone can join, not just professionals?

Any person over 18 can join Zoodango. It’s a place for professionals to connect and network. Even a Starbucks employee is a professional to me. They have valuable knowledge in the coffee industry that nobody else has. And the world might say, “Well, she’s not or he’s not technically a professional,” but I say that person is a professional, and they have a story to share about working at Starbucks.