K. W. Lee
Encyclopedia
K. W. Lee is a Korean American
Korean American
Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...

 journalist who became the first Asian immigrant to work for mainstream daily publications in the continental United States. Lee is also the founding president of the Korean American Journalists Association
Korean American Journalists Association
The Korean American Journalists Association was founded in 1987, but the organization for professional journalists of Korean-American descent or journalists who specialize in Korean- or Asian - American issues, fell dormant...

.

Biography

Lee was born in 1928 at Kaesong
Kaesong
Kaesŏng is a city in North Hwanghae Province, southern North Korea , a former Directly Governed City, and the capital of Korea during the Koryo Dynasty. The city is near Kaesŏng Industrial Region and it contains the remains of the Manwoldae palace. It was formally named Songdo while it was the...

, North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...

 and attended Korea University
Korea University
Korea University is a prestigious nonsectarian, private research university located primarily in Seoul, South Korea, and one of the SKY universities, a historical acronym used in South Korea to refer to Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University. Founded by Lee Yong-ik in...

 in Seoul
Seoul
Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. In 1950, he emigrated to the United States and studied journalism at West Virginia University
West Virginia University
West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...

. After receiving a master's degree from the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

 in 1955, he embarked on an extraordinary career with daily newspapers such as the Kingsport Times-News
Kingsport Times-News
The Kingsport Times-News is one of two daily newspapers based in Kingsport, Tennessee, covering general news, and is one of Northeast Tennessee's major newspapers. It has an average daily circulation of 44,096....

in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 and the Charleston Gazette in West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...

. In 1960, he married Peggy Flowers of Bluefield, Virginia
Bluefield, Virginia
Bluefield is a town in Tazewell County, Virginia, along the Bluestone River. The population was 5,078 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Bluefield WV-VA micropolitan area which has a population of 107,578...

. A notable number of years were spent at the Sacramento Union
Sacramento Union
The Sacramento Union was a daily newspaper founded in 1851 in Sacramento, California. It was the oldest daily newspaper west of the Mississippi River before it closed its doors after 143 years in January 1994, no longer able to compete with The Sacramento Bee, which was founded in 1857, just six...

in California, where he was in charge of investigative reporting and an internship program. He has won numerous professional honors, including awards from the National Headliners Club, the AP
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 News Executive Council, and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...

.

Over the decades, Lee has covered important social issues such as civil rights struggles in the South in the early 1960s, massive vote-buying practices in southern West Virginia, and the plight of Appalachian coal miners. Lee is best known for writing an investigative series on the conviction of immigrant Chol Soo Lee for a 1973 San Francisco Chinatown gangland murder which became the basis of the 1989 film True Believer
True Believer (1989 film)
True Believer is a 1989 courtroom drama directed by Joseph Ruben and released by Columbia Pictures.-Synopsis:The film stars James Woods as burnt-out attorney Eddie Dodd, who has left behind civil rights work to defend drug dealers. Robert Downey Jr...

, starring James Woods
James Woods
James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...

 and Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey, Jr. is an American actor. Downey made his screen debut in 1970 at the age of five when he appeared in his father's film Pound, and has worked consistently in film and television ever since. During the 1980s he had roles in a series of coming of age films associated with the...

 His series of 120 articles over five years led to a new trial, eventual acquittal and release of the prisoner from San Quentin's Death Row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...

.

In 1979, Lee founded the Koreatown Weekly, the first national English-language Korean American newspaper. In 1990, during rising tensions between African Americans and Korean Americans, he launched and edited The Korea Times
The Korea Times
The Korea Times is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea, along with The Korea Herald and The JoongAng Daily. It is part of the same newspaper group as Hankook Ilbo, a major Korean language daily...

 English Edition
from Los Angeles, with an internship program for both Asian Americans and other minorities.

Lee is also a survivor of liver and stomach cancer. In 1992, Lee underwent a liver transplant. He has lost both of his parents and all six of his siblings to hepatitis B-induced liver disease.

Since entering semi-retirement, Lee has lectured on investigative journalism in communities of color throughout the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

 system. He also continues to serve on the editorial board of ColorLines Magazine
ColorLines Magazine
ColorLines, founded in 1998, is an American magazine that covers race and politics in society.Articles are primarily composed of essays, investigative reports, think pieces, opinion columns, cultural criticism, fiction, and humor pieces....

and has freelanced as a columnist for Currents, The Korea Times
The Korea Times
The Korea Times is the oldest of three English-language newspapers published daily in South Korea, along with The Korea Herald and The JoongAng Daily. It is part of the same newspaper group as Hankook Ilbo, a major Korean language daily...

 Bi-lingual Edition
, Korean Quarterly and KoreAm Journal
KoreAm Journal
KoreAm is an award-winning monthly magazine dedicated to news, commentary, politics, lifestyle and culture published in the United States. It is the oldest and most widely circulated English-language monthly magazine for the Asian American community. The magazine has featured prominent Asian...

. He has three children with Peggy and six grandchildren. He currently resides with his wife in Sacramento
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...

.

Honors

  • In 1968, he received the Urban Service Award from the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity for outstanding coverage of the poor.
  • In 1979, he was awarded first place for Best Series of Articles by the California Newspaper Publishers Association
    California Newspaper Publishers Association
    The California Newspaper Publishers Association is a nonprofit trade association founded in 1888 that represents the daily and weekly newspapers of California. Its diverse membership consists of over 500 newspapers that elect 35 individuals to its governing board of directors...

    .
  • In 1987, he was the first recipient of the Asian American Journalists Association
    Asian American Journalists Association
    The Asian American Journalists Association was founded in 1981 by several Asian American journalists who felt a need to support greater participation by Asian Americans in the news media.Its goals are:...

    's Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • In 1992, he was presented the John Anson Ford
    John Anson Ford
    John Anson Ford was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.Ford was born September 29, 1883, in Waukegan, Illinois. He attended Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, taught history and economics, then moved to Chicago, where he worked on the Chicago Tribune. He was on the editorial...

     Award by the Human Relations Commission of L.A. County.
  • In 1994, he became the first Asian journalist to receive the Free Spirit Award from the Freedom Forum
    Freedom Forum
    The Freedom Forum was created in 1991 under the direction of Al Neuharth, former publisher of USA Today newspaper. Funding was provided by a foundation started by publisher Frank E. Gannett in 1935, called the Gannett Foundation...

    .
  • In 1997, he was inducted into the Newseum
    Newseum
    The Newseum is an interactive museum of news and journalism located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. The seven-level, museum features 15 theaters and 14 galleries. The Newseum's Berlin Wall Gallery includes the largest display of sections of the Berlin Wall outside of Germany...

    's Journalism History Gallery in Arlington, VA.
  • In 2000, he was profiled in Crusaders, Scoundrels, Journalists: The Newseum's Most Intriguing Newspeople.

External links

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