Lungren Warmly Received in Koreatown

Many shoppers and storekeepers inside a Koreatown mall had never heard of Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, much less knew how to pronounce his surname, but the Republican gubernatorial nominee’s visit Thursday to the upscale Koreatown Plaza made them feel good just the same.

“It’s a real privilege to have someone of his stature pay us a visit,” said Joon S. Chae, a manager of a supermarket at the mall, frequented by mostly Korean immigrants. “I would like to see American politicians come to Koreatown more often.”

Eunsil Myung, who does a brisk business selling health products made of bamboo and salt imported from Seoul, agreed.

“It’s nice to have people like him visit us,” Myung said as she watched Lungren’s allies arrange campaign brochures on a table near her business. “By the way, is today election day in America?”

When told the election was more than two months away, she said her life is far removed from the mainstream America.

“I’m so busy trying to build a foundation for my family, I don’t know what’s happening outside Koreatown,” said Myung, who moved here from South Korea two years ago.

As Lungren, accompanied by a coterie of Korean American supporters and aides, toured the swanky three-story mall, shaking hands with store owners and shoppers alike, others asked why the commotion and the big welcoming sign.

When told Dan Lungren was the reason, they asked, “Dan who?”

“Dan Lungren.”

“Dan Runglen?” they repeated. “Never heard of him.”

Lungren is a tongue-twister for Koreans who, like most East Asian natives, find it difficult to pronounce R and L, especially in the same word.

June Kim, proprietor of Poong Nyun Bakery, offered Lungren a plate of rainbow and half moon rice cakes to sample, along with shikke, a traditional rice drink.

“It’s very light,” Lungren said, as he slowly chewed a morsel of rainbow cake, resembling angel food cake in appearance but half as sweet and lower in calories. “There is freshness.”

Shoppers and lunch-goers came and went even as the attorney general’s entourage kept up the pace to make another Koreatown appointment: a fund-raiser by the Korean American Republican Assn. at the Oxford Palace Hotel.

“We are hoping to raise $30,000 at the fund-raiser,” said attorney William O. Kil, president of the Korean American Republican Assn. But Kil said raising money for politicians is difficult this year because the economy is so bad in Koreatown.

“Koreatown’s economy is so dependent on the South Korean economy,” lamented Young Seok Suh, president of the Korean-American Federation of Los Angeles. Koreatown has essentially four businesses--tourism, hotels, restaurants and gift shops--he said. “All are suffering.”

In the mall, old men and women and young mothers with children in strollers lingered on benches and along edges of a water fountain.

Some, such as retiree Hyun-Jung Shin, said he came with his wife to try their luck in the sweepstakes marking the 10th anniversary of the Koreatown Plaza. A red Hyundai Sonata and a white Hyundai Accent--prizes in the sweepstakes--were parked near them.

Others like Hwang-Ok Kim, who was seated on a bench with two friends, said coming to the mall is part of her daily routine.

“We come here every day to go to the market and escape the heat,” Kim said. “I don’t know who this Republican candidate is, but I am glad he is here.”

But Hwang did not stay long.

“I have to go home to fix lunch for my husband,” she said.

Lungren said he has visited Koreatown in the past, but not the mall, which has many boutiques stocked with luxury designer clothing, leather goods and jewelry, popular with Korean tourists.

Asked what was his impression, he said: “I’m glad I didn’t bring my family with me because I’m afraid they would be buying a lot of things here.”

Regardless of their party affiliation, regardless of whether they pronounced his name correctly, the gubernatorial candidate seemed to have made an impression on mall-goers.

“He is a nice-looking man,” said Nam S. Hwang, an employee at the supermarket and a registered Democrat. “I can’t decide who looks better--the Republican or the Democratic nominee. It’s a tossup.”

Hwang said he would like to see Gray Davis, Democratic nominee for governor, come to the mall too.

“I can’t vote because I am not a citizen,” said Myung. “But I liked [Lungren’s] demeanor,” she said as she put a bottle of bamboo salt lotion into a bag for a customer.