On March 21, a public hearing was held at the Korean American Institute in Los Angeles to discuss the construction of the National Museum of Korea and the United States, which has been delayed for years and is virtually stalled.
Organized by the Committee to Build a National Korean-American Museum, the hearing was attended by several Korean-Americans interested in the museum and Dr. Ken Klein of USC’s East Asian Studies Library, who pointed out the problems with the process.
Christopher Lee, documentary director of the Residents’ Committee, which organized the public hearing, compared the cost of building the Chinese Museum in Chinatown and the Japanese Museum in Little Tokyo to the current cost of building the Korean-American Museum Foundation.
Throughout his presentation, Lees explains, “If other Asian minorities have museums, why has Koreatown continued to delay the construction of the KANM?” He provides details on how much money the private board of investors has been given for the construction, and goes on to compare the costs of the Chinese Museum in Chinatown and the Japanese Museum in Little Tokyo.
Lee explains that through his career working at theme parks such as Disneyland, he has also had the opportunity to work with museum staff such as those working with the Getty, who were able to provide cost analyses of the construction.
Another major problem Lees found with the information released by the KANM board is that they seem to have hastily released articles about the construction process and suddenly made design changes to the entire vision for the Korean museum.
He states that the new design most likely looks AI-generated, and goes on to say that the image provided by the board was most likely a PR attempt to block any further suspicion. Lee continues, “The construction design that has suddenly been presented is literally impossible, it feels like they are lying and will never get around to building the museum.
At the end of the presentation, Lee brings in speakers who support the construction of the Korean American National Museum. These speakers included residents of Little Bangladesh in Koreatown, Ashley Ham, a junior at Harvard-Westlake High School, Dr. Choi, former professor at Yonsei University, and Dr. Kenneth Klein, a retired librarian at the University of Southern California.
Chris Lee concludes that if the museum’s postponement continues, the original purpose and goal of cultural preservation will only be lost, and that action must be taken now to build.
However, the event coincided with the hearing of Denny Kim, a 27-year-old Korean American who was the victim of a hate crime, resulting in a low turnout. Among the expected guests, City Councilwoman Heather Hutts was expected to attend Lee’s public hearing and provide more details regarding the financial allocation of funds dedicated to the construction of the museum, but she did not appear at the meeting.
Christopher expresses his frustration at the low turnout by explaining that key board members associated with the construction of the building have been in constant correspondence with Lee, assuring him that they will not be able to make it to this meeting, but will definitely attend the next one. Chris explains that he feels he is being falsely assured by the community, which is supposed to support the building and should be doing everything in its power to facilitate the building.
<Seoyoung Yang Student reporter>hseoyoungy@gmail.com
Seoyoung Yang is a Sophomore Student in Immaculate Heart High School. She is interested in Koreatown, its gentrification phenomenon, and Korean American culture.
