Jay Kim

Jay Kim

Chang-jun "Jay" Kim (Korean 김창준; born March 27, 1939 in Seoul ) is an American politician of Korean origin. Between 1993 and 1999 he represented the state of California in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Kim grew up in Korea during World War II . His family home was destroyed during the Korean War. He attended Po Sung High School in Seoul until 1956 . Kim came to the United States in 1961. Until 1969 he studied at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles . In 1980 he took another course at this university; In 1993 he completed a degree in philosophy at Han Yaug University in Seoul. In the meantime he served in the Army of South Korea. In California he became the owner of a construction company that worked, among other things, in road construction. At the same time he began a political career as a member of the Republican Party . In 1990 and 1991 he was a councilor in Diamond Bar and then served there as mayor until 1993.

In the 1992 congressional election , Kim was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the 41st  constituency of California , where he succeeded William David Lowery on January 3, 1993 . After two re-elections, he was able to complete three legislative terms in Congress until January 3, 1999 . There he came into conflict with the law because of illegal campaign donations. He was sentenced to two months of house arrest, but was able to keep his mandate. As a result, he lost in his party's primary election in 1998 and was therefore no longer nominated for re-election. Kim was the first Congressman to come from Korea.

Today he writes newspaper articles for The Korea Times newspaper and is chairman of the American-Korean forum in Washington. Kim is also the Honorary Ambassador of Gyeonggi Province in Korea .

Web links

• Jay Kim in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Jay Kim in the nndb (English)