After the Riots / NEWS IN BRIEF : Merchants Assured of More Help From City

A meeting Thursday between Mayor Tom Bradley and Korean-American merchants, prompted by 13 days of demonstrations outside City Hall, ended with assurances city officials will take more steps to assist the merchants in recovering from losses.

“I think Mayor Bradley is our friend,” said Jin H. Lee, administrator of the Korean-American riot victims group that has staged the daily, drum-banging demonstrations. The protesters have demanded a meeting with the mayor and “reparations” payments from the city.

A group of seven Korean-Americans and one Chinese-American merchant met with Bradley for an hour, said Bradley spokeswoman Val Bunting. Topics included a possible rebate of city fees and taxes paid by businesses that were destroyed and exemptions from future fees. They also discussed the recently enacted ordinance that excludes liquor stores--many owned by Korean-Americans--from streamlined city rebuilding regulations.

Bradley told the group that he signed the ordinance in hopes of getting the rebuilding process started, Bunting said. But if he was asked, Bradley said he would request that the City Council reconsider it.

As for reparations, she said, “the mayor made it clear the city could not entertain the thought. We just don’t have that kind of money.”

Lee said: “I think we have to go to court.”