On Trail of Dead Boxer, TV Crew Finds Touching Story

Last May, an NBC crew hired some drivers and a translator and drove a couple of hours outside of Seoul to Kojin, a small commercial fishing village on the coast of the Sea of Japan.

They were to film a four-minute segment to be aired during the Olympics’ 15-day boxing tournament, which begins Saturday. The theme of the piece was to be a visit to the home village of Duk Koo Kim, the South Korean lightweight boxer who died from brain injuries sustained during his bout in Las Vegas with Ray Mancini in 1982.

But here’s the kicker: The startled NBC staffers learned during the project that Kim’s 6-year-old son, Chi Wan Kim, has still not been told that his father is dead. Kim’s son was born 7 months after his father died.

“It was kind of a shocker,” said NBC producer Susan Sprecher. “Basically, we learned that there is a deep conflict between Kim’s fiance and her parents, as to when the son should be told. Kim’s fiance would talk to us only on the telephone, but we filmed an interview with her parents.”

The crew filmed the impoverished village of Kojin, Kim’s grave and the gym where he learned to box. It was learned from Kim’s older sister that as a child he grew up so poor his mother was unable to provide for him, and sent him to his older sister’s home. His mother, Yang Sun-Nyo, committed suicide shortly after her son’s death.

“His older sister told us that she’s always regretted that she was unable to provide for her younger brother, either,” Sprecher said. “It’s a very sad story--from what we were told, he grew up with literally not even enough food to eat.

“But the really eerie part is that the little boy still thinks his father is boxing in the United States.”