The owner of a Chinatown bar who is the target of a community effort to shut down her business said she's tired of fighting and plans to give up her liquor license.

Min Lee Koch, owner of the Mall Cafe on North Pauahi Street, came to that decision in the middle of a Honolulu Liquor Commission meeting yesterday. The commission was debating a petition from many Downtown businesses and residents who asked that Koch's liquor license not be renewed.

Residents complained that the bar is a magnet for drug activity and that patrons often are out of control and get into fights. The problem, opponents said, has hurt business in the area and generated fear among people who live there.

Koch and her attorney, William Harrison, planned to fight the petition before the four-member panel. But while the commissioners were in executive session to discuss a legal matter, Koch told Harrison that she was throwing in the towel.

Harrison said Koch hopes to transfer her liquor license to her landlord and close the bar. Koch has been in the liquor business for 30 years and has owned the Mall Cafe for about six years.

"I don't like the liquor business anymore, so I'm getting out," Koch said after the meeting.

Harrison said the negative publicity has hurt Koch's business and she was "tired of all the fighting that she has to do to keep her establishment at that location." He said many bar opponents have used the recent violent acts in Chinatown to "piggyback" their efforts to shut Koch down.

During the meeting, Harrison also accused the commission and Koch's opponents of targeting her bar because it is popular among Micronesians. In fact, Harrison said, a Liquor Commission investigation of the Mall Cafe was named "Operation Micronesia."

"That has substantial racial overtones," Harrison told the commission. "If we had another race listed there, there would be a public outcry. If this was 'Operation Africa' or 'Operation Japan or China,' we'd have all kinds of people screaming that that is race-based targeting and that's what we have here."

Dewey Kim, Liquor Commission administrator, acknowledged that there was an investigation known as "Operation Micronesia," but said that case began before he took over in 2006. He denied Harrison's allegations that the investigation was race-based, but said he will look into the charge.

"I don't believe in naming stuff after certain people," Kim said. "We try to be very, very fair."

Kim pointed out that in addition to the petition, the Mall Cafe also faced five liquor law violation charges, including over-serving customers and not maintaining the premises. He said the unsanitary conditions included liquor bottles that allegedly contained dead roaches.

"One of the big problems is people like going there and they have a couple of drinks, but it seems like sometimes they have a problem controlling these people," Kim said. "That seems to be the root of a lot of their problems."

Mall Cafe opponents said they were pleased with Koch's decision to close her bar, but said the fight isn't over. About 20 Downtown business owners and residents turned out for yesterday's meeting.

Artist Kim Taylor Reece, who heads a Downtown arts and cultural association and runs a gallery about 200 yards from the Mall Cafe, said he wants to be sure that whoever takes over the bar's space will run a safe establishment.

"We're trying to promote that as an art and cultural district and bring down the families, but we need that to be safe for the people that we're inviting," Reece said. "But if this kind of activities are going on, it's totally detrimental, not only to businesses, but just the whole flavor of what's going on in the neighborhood."

The Liquor Commission will discuss the license transfer at its April 30 meeting.