UH Hilo researcher tasked with identifying descendants of Korean activists
Seri Luangphinith has spent years conducting extensive research into the history of Korean immigrants to Hawai‘i Island. Her published research not only unveils past mysteries about the island’s Korean immigrants, but connects local Korean families to their ancestors.
The South Korea Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs has appointed an English professor from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo to a special committee tasked to help identify descendants of Korean independence activists.
Seri Luangphinith has spent years conducting extensive research into the history of Korean immigrants to Hawai‘i Island. Her book, The Paths We Cross: The Lives and Legacies of Koreans on the Big Island (Ka Noio ʻAʻe Ale, UH Hilo Independent Press, 2018), unveils past mysteries about the island’s Korean immigrants.
- Learn more about the book: UH Hilo English professor’s new book explores the history of Korean immigrants to Hawai‘i Island.
The appointment to the committee is for one year.
“My job is to track down living descendants of independence activists who have been posthumously awarded citations by the government of South Korea,” says Luangphinith. “I was asked to help given my research of Korean history on the Big Island.”
Luangphinith has already found the family of Chun Yik Sur, an important Korean activist on Hawaiʻi Island who was part of the organization called 대한인국민회 which translates to Korean People’s Association. Mr. Chun was the head of the Papa’aloa area first and then was General Secretary for East Hawaiʻi. He then went on to be head of the Lanaʻi district. He was active from the 1910s through the 1930s.
“The family of Chun Yik Sur has become good friends of mine in these short few months and I will be doing further research on Mr. Chun to include in the second edition of the book I published,” Luangphinith explains.
The connection to the family was made through Luangphinith identifying and tracking down one descendant of Mr. Chun, his granddaughter, Lumiel Kim-Hammerich, who was living in the East Bay Area of San Francisco. She moved back to Hawaiʻi in August and now lives in Waiʻanae on Oʻahu.
Kim-Hammerich was surprised to learn that her grandfather was being awarded a Presidential Medal of Commendation by the President of South Korea for his activism toward Korean independence.
“The family had no idea their grandfather was such an important figure,” says Luangphinith. “Just so happens he was on the Big Island doing this work in Papaʻaloa and Hilo.”
The ceremony commemorating Chun, who hailed from Hakalau, was the first medal ceremony held in Hawaiʻi to posthumously award a presidential medal to the descendants of an independence activist. Kim-Hammerich and other family members attended the ceremony on Sept. 16, 2021, held at the Korean Consulate in Honolulu, where consul dignitaries presented her with the citation, souvenir gift, and medal from the President.
In return, Mrs. Kim-Hammerich presented the dignitaries with some family photos and Professor Luangphinith’s book, telling them about the book’s importance.
“I was able to inform them of the Wild West nature of the Korean and camp communities in those early years, and of the arrests and convictions of many Korean criminals, catalogued in the book, which further emphasized the great stabilizing and integrating power of my grandfather’s recruitment efforts,” says Kim-Hammerich.
Following the ceremony, Kim-Hammerich and family members drove to Nuʻuanu Memorial Park in Honolulu to pay respects to her grandparents. “We wanted to pay homage to the grandparents and tell them what had happened, and to thank them,” she says.
“Thanks for all you did, and maybe we’ll be seeing this turn into something more,” says Mrs. Kim-Hammerich in an email to Professor Luangphinith.
Further reading
For those who would like to learn more about the history of Koreans on Hawaiʻi Island, in addition to Luangphinith’s book, she recommends The Epic Battle for Korean Independence, written by Kim Young Wo, who ran Variety Shoe Store on Haili Street in Hilo from the 1940s through the 1960s. He was affiliated with the Korean National Association under Syngman Rhee in Honolulu in the early 1920s. The first English translation of the book was recently released by the UH Hilo Department of English and available free to the public. This was Luangphinith’s most recent project with Professor Soojung Kim of Changwon University.
Prof. Luangphinith says she has a few more families with ties to Hawaiʻi Island to track down. “Who knew we played such a pivotal role in Korean independence?”
Susan Enright is a public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
