Fight Renewed Over Funds to Help Korean Riot Victims

Amid charges that funds donated to Korean-American victims of the Los Angeles riots are being improperly handled, community groups have renewed their battle over control of nearly $7 million raised in South Korea and Southern California.

After weeks of discord, an agreement had been reached a few weeks ago over the distribution of the funds. But that deal is falling apart. And groups representing grocers and swap meet owners went back to court late last week to try to wrest the funds from the control of the Assn. of Korean American Victims of the L.A. Riot and its leader, Chung Lee.

They failed. But they have not given up. “This is not over,” attorney Steven C. Kim said Monday.

Kim, who represents Jeong Jun Seo, head of the Korean American Grocers Victims Assn., and Won Sik Lim, leader of the Korean American Swap Meet Victims Assn., vowed that his clients will continue to pursue the case.

The donations include $4.5 million sent from South Korea and $2.1 million left over from money raised by local groups.

The issues: Who represents Korean-American riot victims? Have leaders allowed phony victims to receive donations? And who in the highly factionalized community can be considered an unbiased distributor of the donated funds?

The backdrop for it all, some say, is politics in South Korea. Immigrants maintain a strong interest in the homeland, and Lee, head of the Assn. of Korean American Victims of the L.A. Riot, is a longtime backer of a South Korean opposition party leader. That does not sit well with immigrants who back President Roh Tae Woo.

After the riots, a Korean American Relief Fund was set up as a neutral party to handle the distribution of donated funds. The fund was directed by a committee of Korean-American bankers, lawyers, accountants, church officials and other leaders.

But Lee and his association distrusted their actions--particularly the relief fund’s plan to set aside funds to benefit the entire Korean-American community.

Lee’s group filed suit--leading to an agreement with the relief fund July 29 that allocated $1 million to a community effort and left $5.6 million to be distributed equally among the estimated 2,400 Korean-Americans whose businesses were damaged. A Superior Court order put the victims association in charge of the $4.5 million in donations from South Korea.

Since then, a new dispute has emerged over how to use the $1-million community relief fund. The victims association wants to use the money to sue the city of Los Angeles, alleging that police failed to protect Korean businesses during the riots. Other leaders say that would be a waste.

Moreover, Kim’s clients, dissatisfied with the conduct of the victims association, filed suit to rescind the arrangement with the relief fund, but they failed Friday to obtain a court order.

Seo and Lim had formed their victims groups because they disagreed with Chung Lee’s leadership. They charged that Lee’s group--which has been leading demonstrations outside City Hall and elsewhere--does not represent the Korean-American community and should not be handling the funds.

“Chung Lee and his group have been very militant,” attorney Kim said.

Chung Lee, a grocery store owner and longtime community leader, was among the first Korean-American business owners to try to better relations between blacks and Koreans in Los Angeles. But he also is a supporter of Kim Dae Jung, the best-known opposition politician in South Korea.

Kim speculated that politics was behind Lee’s battle over the donations from South Korea, which came through the South Korean Consulate.

For his part, Jin Lee--general secretary of the association and Chung Lee’s son--said his father’s opponents are “controlled by the Korean consulate,” an allegation Kim and consular officials deny.

Beyond the political issues, Kim said his clients are concerned about how the money is being dispensed. Lee’s association, Kim said, has not provided an accounting of $100,000 drawn from the fund to support victims’ demonstrations outside City Hall earlier this summer.

“All we’re asking is they open their books. . . . We don’t know whether Lee is dispensing money to actual victims or relatives,” Kim said.

“Do these people look like my relatives?” fired back Chung Lee, standing in the South Westlake Avenue offices of the victims association, where hundreds of Korean-Americans lined up Monday to receive checks. About 1,200 people had gotten $2,500 checks by midday, according to officials.

Jin Lee said the association is “willing to be audited” and has been verifying information presented by the 1,930 people who have applied for aid. “We found 50 phony victims already,” he said.

In another aspect of the controversy, Steve Ha, the former head of the relief fund, obtained a court order Friday to limit protests staged by the association at his Koreatown market. Ha stepped down as chairman weeks ago because of the controversy. “The fighting made me tired,” Ha said.