A time to talk: Korean native now feels at home in Longbranch

Colleen Slater

Guest columnist

Paul Kim, a Longbranch resident, has packed a lot of living into his 69 years — and he plans on much more.

Born in Pyongyang, North Korea, he came to the United States in 1966 for a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering. A 27-year career as an auto body designer with Ford Motor Company, where he had perfect attendance for 16 years, culminated a dream.

Kim was 11 when his world literally exploded around him. His father headed to Seoul, South Korea, when the threat of a temporary occupation by China became obvious in 1950.

An uncle arrived one day from farther north with several other men, all armed. He told Kim’s mother this was a permanent, not temporary, occupation, and that they needed to go south immediately.

They were among thousands of refugees fleeing the Chinese army, taking what they could carry and scavenging for food on the way.

The refugees were not allowed to cross the river guarded by United Nations forces, for fear of Chinese infiltrators. After the bridge was blown up, people removed the large boards that covered shops and used them as rafts, supervised so the rafts were not overloaded, nor too many people crossing at the same time.

Kim’s uncle guided their family and others along the railroad tracks that ran only north and south, to avoid being lost.

The Kim family walked for 16 days, sometimes starving for lack of food because the towns and villages had emptied. One day someone captured a pig to share, but some who ate certain oily parts of it suffered diarrhea afterward.

The refugees moved south between the Chinese army at their backs, and the U.N. forces before them. Sometimes they went to sleep at night in sight of the U.N. troops, then woke to see them up to 20 miles away, a reminder to get moving again.

Kim and others removed shoes from dead bodies to replace their threadbare ones. Many died, but their family — his mother, 2-year-old brother and uncle — reached his father in Seoul to start a new life.

To apply for a student visa in the United States, Kim had three requirements: A bachelor’s degree, the required army duty, and passing a government exam in English and Korean history.

Due to the high number of young men serving then, university students were allowed to serve only half their three-year requirement.

“They gave me a hard time,” he said, referring to the regular soldiers.

Following his discharge from the White Horse division, that group, the Tiger division and a marine division were sent to Vietnam.

“I passed the English exam,” Kim said, “but I flunked the Korean history exam twice!”

The test was a one-page essay on the Kingdom of Korea. He knows the Korean history well now.

Kim married his wife, Donna, two months before leaving for Las Cruces, N.M. She stayed with his parents for a year.

Meanwhile, a friend told him to go to Detroit, where automobiles were made, and he could to the college while he was there.

Kim headed out with his gear in his used Falcon. It broke down near Oklahoma, where he sold it for $100, then paid $80 for a bus ticket and his luggage to reach Detroit.

His friend loaned him money to rent an apartment. That summer, Kim earned $1,500 and sent for Donna.

The day after Donna arrived, the Detroit riot erupted. Kim, a lath machine operator with Ford, worked overtime.

In 1974, the Kims became naturalized citizens, and they eventually sponsored their parents and most of their siblings to move to the United States.

The Kims’ three children live in Michigan, Ohio and California.

After retiring from Ford, Paul and Donna moved back to South Korea to work with Samsung for five years after they were recruited by a high school friend.

“They needed my brains,” he said with a smile.

After traveling in Asia, some of Europe, and the United States, the Kims agreed to retire in Washington state because of the beautiful scenery. They moved to Sequim near a wonderful Korean friend.

They missed a larger Korean community and their Seventh Day Adventist church, so in 2003, they settled in Longbranch. Their church in Tacoma teaches and preaches in Korean, and they feel they share the best of both worlds.

Reach Colleen Slater at cas4936@centurytel.net.