[Interview] Korean American attorney wants to become voice of voiceless

David Kim. Courtesy of David Kim

By Lee Yeon-woo

Growing up in California as the son of Korean American immigrants, David Kim is all too familiar with the vicious circle of poverty.

With the Hispanic population taking the lion's share of 65 percent of its voters, California's 34th Congressional District is one of the poorest electoral districts in the United States. It is home to the largest homeless population in California.

Although America's largest Koreatown is located in the district, there has been no politician of Korean descent elected there. Those with Korean heritage account for only 10 percent or so of the eligible voters and the total ratio of Asians is below 20 percent.

Juggling two to three jobs, many residents in the CA-34 district work seven days a week without proper rest to make ends meet so they can feed and send their children to school. They have little time to read newspapers or watch TV to catch up on what direction America is heading.

With limited information on political news, immigrant voters turn out at polling stations on Election Day to cast their ballots in favor of candidates having surnames that they believe represent their ethnic groups.

The ethnicity-based voting behavior, combined with a relatively low Korean American voter population in the CA-34 district, may explain why no Korean American politicians have been elected there.

David Kim, center, visits Chinatown in Los Angeles with his campaign volunteers on Nov. 6. Courtesy of David Kim

Kim, an openly queer Korean American progressive and an immigrant attorney, has been trying to break that pattern since 2020.

Kim has run in the congressional district twice, including the general election in 2020 and the mid-term election held this November, looking to represent those without a voice in society.

His story of seeking to represent Korean Americans in the U.S. was also featured in Joseph Juhn's 2022 documentary "Chosen."

Kim said he decided to run in the congressional election "to fix the system" that keeps the underprivileged stuck in a vicious circle of poverty.

"As an attorney I can help those that are unfortunate, those that don't have a voice, those that need defense in court for their legal issues. I can do that for 20, 30, 40 or 50 years until I die," he said. "But if these systems aren't fixed where people are being left out in the gap, this can continue for 100 years, 200 years or even 300 years."

His frustrations with the established politicians had grown and ultimately led him to run for Congress. He knew that politicians can change the lives of thousands or even millions of people but are not doing enough. "I wanted to help them instead," he said in a recent interview with The Korea Times in Seoul.

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Helping others has been part of his life since he was young. His father was and still is a pastor. Even as a kid, it was his job to translate phone calls whenever his dad's church members, mostly Korean speakers, needed someone to talk on behalf of them in English.

Young David Kim, center, sings a hymn at his father's church with his brother and father at his side. Courtesy of David Kim

His contact with the underprivileged continued after he grew up.

In 2010 when he obtained a juris doctor degree from the Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, four years after he graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, Kim found it tough to find full-time work as an attorney. He completed law school as the United States was still reeling from the global financial crisis that began in 2008 on Wall Street.

For a while, he worked as an unpaid full-time lawyer. Back then, he said, paid legal jobs were scarce and he didn't want to have a career break on his resume. At night when others were sleeping, he drove for Uber and Lyft to make a living. Returning home at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., he would sleep for three hours before he went to work again at the law office. He advocated for hundreds of undocumented families in immigration court, fighting for their right to stay in the U.S.

"What really gets me ignited is social justice and helping people," he said. He said his career and experience are all tied to seeking justice for those less fortunate.

In his first congressional election in 2020, Kim was narrowly defeated with 47 percent of the votes, against the incumbent Jimmy Gomez, who has been in the position since 2017. The previous challenger Kenneth Mejia, whom Kim also worked for as a campaign volunteer, had earned 27.5 percent in 2018. In a special election held in 2017, the then-candidate Robert Ahn, also a Korean American lawyer, grabbed 40.8 percent against Gomez despite a high volume of donations from the community.

When asked how he could earn such a high rating at his first election, Kim's answer was simple: his team campaigned, texted, called, knocked on voters' doors, engaged on social media and reached out to activists in organizations he had already established cooperative relations with.

As a result, Kim gathered votes not only from Korean Americans but also from various ethnicities, even though Gomez outraised Kim by seven times the amount. Kim ran again in the 2022 midterm election in the same district.

David Kim campaigns in the street with campaign volunteers for the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections. Courtesy of David Kim

He promised three things for the Korean American community. First, to push for better resources to be more available in Korean at the federal level. He also pledged to do his best to represent small businesses in his district, as the first thing most Korean immigrants do is to start small businesses for a living. Last but not least, he wants to lead peace on the Korean Peninsula with other Korean American Congress members.

"I will be doing as much as I can for other communities as well equally because all communities are equally important to uplift and represent," he added.

He believes elected officials should take voters more seriously and put their best efforts into actually spending time with them.

"Representatives we elect to office are supposed to represent and advocate for their people and their communities, but they don't. When elected officials fail to engage with the communities they serve, then they are no longer representatives but career politicians."

A campaign worker in a unicorn costume promotes David Kim in the street for the 2022 midterm election. Courtesy of David Kim

Votes for the CA-34 district are still being counted. As of Sunday, 98 percent of the entire votes cast were counted and Kim is chasing his rival Jimmy Gomez with a narrow margin. Gomez has earned 51.2 percent of votes counted so far, whereas Kim has obtained 48.8 percent. Vote counting will be completed later in the coming week.

U.S. media have already begun to predict that Gomez will win again. But Kim disagrees with the media forecasts. He believes there is still a chance for him to win the election, although that chance is slim.

"If I win, I want to come back to Korea to learn more about the national insurance system, and to meet Korean politicians who yearn for peace on the Korean Peninsula."

Kim said he has his fingers crossed for an upset victory.