Area Korean-Americans divided on impact of summit but still hopeful.
Area Korean-Americans divided on impact of landmark meeting but remain hopeful
Two months ago, Helen Chang worried that rising tensions between the United States and North Korea might lead to war. But a day after President Donald Trump’s landmark meeting with North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un, Chang said her concerns had turned into “hope that this time there are going to be advancements and peace.”
“I want peace for the Korean peninsula,” said Chang, a Houston businesswoman who recently served as national president of the Korean American Women’s Association.
Chang was among thousands of Korean heritage in the Houston area who paid close attention to this week’s summit between Trump and Kim in Singapore. While some were
skeptical of the summit’s long-term importance, others were hopeful and cautiously optimistic that the talks could lead to peace, North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons and better relations between North and South Korea as well as the U.S.
The mood was more optimistic than last February, when about 100 people, many of whom experienced the horrors of the Korean War, gathered in Houston to protest South Korean athletes marching together with participants from communist North Korea under a “unification flag” at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Seoul.
‘Trump was great’
Chang explained that she belongs to the first generation of immigrants from Korea who were old enough to have memories of the war that split the peninsula into two countries. She was a late teenager when the Korean War began in 1950 and had relatives who were forever separated and never saw each other again.
The owner of a trade business, Chang said she thought “Trump was great” during the summit.
“He didn’t act like he usually does,” she said. “He was serious, so it gives me hope. I want to trust his judgment.” Her main concern, however, is that “Kim may not keep his promise to denuclearize.”
David Shin, a commercial real estate investor who has held leadership posts in the Korean Chamber of Commerce and the Korean American Association of Houston, said he considers the summit a “game changer that will produce at least a path for more conversations.”
Shin said “Trump is motivated and Kim also.” He said he recognized that past negotiations had failed due to North Korea breaking its commitments, but that now the nations’ top leaders are front and center.
“They will not want to fail,” Shin said.
‘We’ll see how it goes’
Others of Korean descent in Houston weren’t as optimistic.
“I am disappointed with the meeting,” said Jae Lee, a retiree. Lee said he didn’t like that the joint statement signed by both leaders said that North Korea commits to “complete denuclearization” instead of “CVID.” The acronym stands for “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization,” which is what the U.S. side had said it expected from the Asian regime as a condition for negotiation.
The joint statement also didn’t mention North Korea’s long history of human rights abuses.
Korean-American businessman John Cho said he didn’t expect much to happen at the summit and his expectations remained “really low” afterward.
“The fact that they’ve met is a breakthrough, but we’ll see how it goes from here,” said Cho, a senior vice president at Empire Tools.
Step in right direction
Cho said he was disappointed in Trump’s decision to stop participating in war games with South Korea for the short term, which surprised the longtime U.S. ally. He said reactions to the summit in the Korean community have been wide-ranging.
“It depends on your political affiliation,” Cho said. “People on the left praise the new South Korean president. Shockingly, they praise Kim Jong Un. And they say that Donald Trump is too aggressive in the manner that he speaks. People on the far right say they’re wary of the summit because you (shouldn’t) elevate Kim Jong Un’s status by meeting him. … And then people in the middle, they’re happy that things are moving, but people in the middle tend to not follow politics.”
He said it would take generations for any Korea reunification to occur.
Zachary Zwald, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said the U.S.-North Korea meeting was more symbolic than anything else, without the level of depth that could result from intensive meetings and prenegotiations.
“I am sure his advisers told (Trump) that a meeting with other leaders is a benefit to his counterpart,” he said. From that perspective, Zwald said, “we gave that great benefit to Kim Jong Un … without really getting anything in return.”
Zwald said one positive note is that “direct, personal interactions” between the two heads of state can provide context and help with future talks.
David So, a risk consultant who is a leader in the Korean-American Society of Houston, which organized the city’s annual Korean Festival, said he was “cautiously optimistic” after the summit.
“Overall, I think it is a step in the right direction, (but) I think this summit was largely symbolic,” he added. “I hope we have the will from both countries to take the necessary steps to continue negotiations for peace in the Korean peninsula.”
Won Lee, 38, a general manager at Nova Rhinestone, said he didn’t watch the TV coverage of the summit but followed it in the press. He considers the summit between an American president and the North Korean leader “a good first step” that is long overdue.
“I do have hopes for a reunification,” said Lee, who lived in Korea through the fifth grade, then in Dallas and Houston. “My number one concern is how they’re going to do it.”
Hopes for reunification
Kwang-seo Kim, 65, owner of the Tree Garden restaurant on Long Point Road, enthusiastically welcomed the summit. Kim has lived in Houston since 2002, having moved to the U.S. in 1998.
“You know, living in Korea, there’s a feeling of anxiety about when the country will erupt into war … so I think the South Korean people might start to feel more comfortable (with the negotiations underway),” he said. “So I welcome (the summit) and am in favor of it.”
He hopes reunification will happen someday, though he doubts it will happen during his lifetime.
And yet, he said, “things that people doubted could happen have taken place. So if we give it more time, I think something good could happen.”
The summit was on the minds of the restaurateur’s customers as well.
A 53-year-old male customer said the summit had “historical significance” but he didn’t think it had lived up to the expectations set by the U.S. Insook Kim, 62, another customer, was skeptical. “I think it’s all for show. Because it’s all talk, talk, talk. I won’t have any interest until I see some actions put forth,” she said. A male customer, 58, had a more personal reason for wanting to see improved ties between North and South Korea. “I hope everything will work out well. I hope to see my mother’s side of the family, who have been in North Korea,” the customer said.