South Korean media all abuzz over Big Island mayor
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — A South Korean television crew begins Big Island filming today for a documentary on Mayor Harry Kim.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 4, 2000
A somewhat shy Kim said he agreed to the four days of videotaping to help promote Hawai'i County as a tourist destination to the growing South Korean travel market. But he also is hoping the one-hour documentary will bring clues about the location of his ancestral home.
Mayor Harry Kim hopes the television show will brings clues to an ancestral home.
Kim, 61, was born in Kea'au to a poor immigrant family. Following his inauguration in December, the South Korean consulate in Honolulu tried unsuccessfully to trace Kim's family. The mayor suspects his father may have come from North Korea, making the search more challenging.
A Korean Broadcasting System crew met yesterday with Kim to request video footage of his days as Civil Defense chief when he dealt with volcanic eruptions, storms and floods. "They even asked to go to my house to show me starting the day. They want everything," he said.
Footage of the mayor already was shot by the network during his trip late last month to South Korea with the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau. Although Kim had never been there before and does not speak the language, he was no stranger to the South Korean media.
Hawai'i County Councilman Aaron Chung of Hilo, who also is of Korean ancestry, went on the tourism mission with Kim and said he was surprised by how much the media knew about the mayor's election.
"They were all aware of Harry's unusual campaign," said Chung, referring to the Republican's low-key, low-budget strategy that limited contributions to no more than $10. "He got astonishing attention for a mayor from a small island."
George Applegate of the Big Island Visitors Bureau said the media coverage in both the Korean- and English-language media "was invaluable."
"It was just a whirlwind. He was up till 11 p.m. doing an interview on the night we left," Applegate said.
While in South Korea for five days, Kim met with Korean Airlines officials and U.S. diplomats to encourage the elimination of visas for Korean visitors, a requirement dropped long ago for visitors from Japan. A visa waiver for South Koreans, backed by Sen. Daniel Inouye and others, has been sought since 1997.
Kim is due to be featured in a separate documentary being planned by the Seoul Broadcasting Co.
