A Teacher’s Homecoming | Jaesook Kim | Legacy Project Los Angeles

Jaesook Kim was born in 1948 in Seoul, Korea, just before the Korean War began. Although she was too young to remember the conflict in detail, she remembers how her older brother was drafted into the war, never to return. Despite her family’s impoverished conditions after the war ended, they managed to continue living in Seoul; specifically, Mrs. Kim recalls living in shack near Dongdaemun Gate. Through all of the hardship, her mother desired for her to one day become a teacher, and so sent her to a special elementary school far from home which was affiliated with a teacher’s college—eventually, her mother’s dream came to fruition, and Mrs. Kim taught as a teacher in Korea for 20 years. During this time she met her husband who, after encountering business misfortunes, asked to move to the United States. At first, the couple moved to New York, but Mrs. Kim never quite felt at home in the busy city. They then moved to Los Angeles which she loved, describing it as feeling like her hometown. After experiencing some setbacks while working in the restaurant industry, Mrs. Kim decided to try to find work where she could interact with children, seeing as she’d been a teacher for all those years in Korea, eventually babysitting for children with an appetite for Korean food. Her husband passed in 2005, and she occasionally feels lonely—at times, she longs for Korea as well. Yet feels that living in America has been a blessing as well, and feels lucky to have had this life.

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CREDITS
Interviewer: Benjamin Yoo and Da In Cho of Koreatown Storytelling Program for KYCC
Videographers: Minye Cho @chominye
Editor: Jaehee Cheong @jhee_c218
Production Manager: Kimberly Young Sun
Motion Designer: Aj Valente https://ajyval.myportfolio.com
Music Composer: Jang Hyeong Yoon
Executive Producer: HJ Lee

KoreanAmericanStory.org is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to create and preserve the stories of the Korean American experience.