Kang family Patriarch
Daeyang Kang (1935 - 2022) Obituary

Mr. Daeyang Kang, the last of the three Kang brothers who were reunited at the time of their mother's passing in 1991, departed at 10:15pm on January 6, 2022 in his son Hyungwon's arms at his Los Angeles Koreatown home. He was 86.

Kang’s first language was Japanese as he was born in Osaka, Japan in 1935 when Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. Kang was the second of six siblings.

His father Kang, Hyeon-su was killed during the Korean War in 1950, on his second son’s 15th birthday in Yeongam county in South Jeolla province along with several hundred villagers during a raid by the military and police for suspected North Korean sympathizers and insurgents who were active in nearby mountains.

Kang became the Patriarch of the family at age 15, since his older brother Daeyong, who was studying in the capital city, was swept into the North Korean People's Army during the Korean War and became missing for the next 41 years.

Kang had to manage the burial of his father who died on his birthday.

Kang also had to protect his young mother from kidnappers. Kidnapping widows was rather common practice back in the day. He raised his younger siblings and handled all three sisters' weddings. He also pooled all his earnings for his young brother Daein's dental school education.

"My mother was very pretty and still very young at age 39 in 1950. There were many widowers in our village and nearby villages openly seeking to take my mother, which was somewhat common practice." told Kang to his son Hyungwon who interviewed him during the last five weeks of his life.

After his mother and five children were resettled at a remote village in Gochang county away from the Yeongam county with memories of his father's death, he had father's remains moved to a mountain near his mother's new residence in Gochang county, North Jeolla province.

The devastated family following the Korean War (1950 - 1953) can only afford to send one child to university, and Kang yielded that educational opportunity to his youngest brother, the late Dr. Daein Kang, who was less than a year old when their father was killed.
(https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-daein-kang-20170228-story.html)

The entire Kang family immigrated to the US in the 1970's seeking better opportunities for their children.

Kang, a self educated heavy equipment operator, worked as an engineer as a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 12 until he saved enough to purchase a Unocal 76 service station in Inglewood, California with his eldest son Chiwon, who joined the family in the US after his compulsory military service in South Korean ROK Army.

Since 1983, when the late President Kim Dae-Jung (1924 - 2009) was in exile in the US, Kang became active in support of the democracy movement in South Korea with his younger brother Dr. Kang, as one of the founding members and later the Western branch President of the Korean Institute for Human Rights.

The Korean Institute for Human Rights, which was disbanded upon Kim Dae-Jung becoming the president of South Korea in 1998, was the political organization which propelled Kim’s return to South Korean politics, and becoming a recipient of the the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.

Kim Dae-jung was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea.

Kim's “Sunshine Policy” meant to open dialogue and relations with North Korea, has resulted in hundreds of thousands of North Koreans defecting to China with over 30 thousand North Koreans successfully defecting to South Korea.

Kang’s Personal relationship with Kim Dae-Jung opened doors to several Korean Americans who joined South Korean politics and government services.

The current director Park Jie-won, of the National Intelligence Service of South Korea, formerly known as KCIA, worked with Kim Dae-Jung’s administration, spearheading South Korea's Sunshine Policy with North Korea, the signature foreign policy of Kim's administration. Park, formerly of New York City, met Kim through Kang’s personal introduction.

The late Shin Kuhn (1941 - 2015) the 25th director of the National Intelligence Service of South Korea (2001 -2003) was also introduced to Kim by Kang.

“Competent people you introduced to me were a great help to me” said Kim Dae-Jung to Kang during their private dinner a few days after his presidency, said Kang to his son Hyungwon at his deathbed.

“The ex-president sent his wife’s chauffeur to pick me up at my hotel for our private dinner at his residence, because that involved less protective services personnel,” said Kang.

In 1987, Kang along with fellow democracy activists likes of such as the late Rev. Samuel Sunjoo Lee and late Dr. Yeon Won Bae of USC, School of International relations, East Asian Studies, operated Free Korea Network FKN-TV news program which was broadcast immediately following South Korea’s dictatorial Government-funded Korean language television news in Southern California, to provide contrarian views for Korean-Americans.

The FKN-TV news folded after the first free democratic election in South Korea in December 1987, following the successful democracy movements of June 1987, which Kang’s son photojournalist Hyungwon Kang documented for Los Angeles Times. The younger Kang had just completed his internship at the LA Times when the June 1987 democracy movement erupted.

Kang family’s missing son from the Korean War , Kang, Dae-yong (1931-2013) visited the United States in 1991 to attend his mother’s funeral, the first ever and only known case of a North Korean civilian permitted to visit the US for personal reasons. "Kim Jong Il (North Korean leader) personally came to my hospital bed to give his permission to visit the US." told the elder Kang to his Korean American family during his 15-day stay in L.A. in 1991. The elder Kang had fallen ill after hearing his mother's passing in L.A. while preparing to visit his mother when she was still alive.

The three brothers were reunited for the first time in 41 years at their mother’s funeral in Los Angeles on August 15, 1991. Their mother Mrs. Haeng-ok Lee Kang is buried at Forest lawn Glendale cemetery.

During the elder Kang’s historic 15-day stay in Southern California, “ A team of LAPD intelligence squad kept 24/7 eyes on the North Korean citizens“ according to John Harkins, the supervising investigator with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The former LAPD detective Charles (Charlie) Sosa, now with the Orange County DA’s office, was on the LAPD intelligence team in charge of the safeguard of the North Korean citizen visiting southern California in August 1991.

Daeyang Kang, is the last of the three Kang brothers to pass, following his eldest brother Daeyong in Pyongyang, North Korea in 2013 and their youngest brother Daein in 2017.

On December 12, upon being discharged from Pasadena's Huntington Hospital, Kang visited his mother’s grave at the Garden of Ascension at the Forest Lawn Glendale Memorial Park, as he has for the past 30 years. That was the last time.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Mrs. Kumrae Kang, four children: Chiwon, Linda, Hyungwon and Woowon. His three sisters Sumi, Haeng-ja and Jeom-sook all live in Southern California.

Kang Will be buried next to his mother and younger brother Daein on January 25 at 11:30 AM graveside service at Forest Lawn Glendale.

-30-

#obituary #Kang #KoreanWar #KoreanAmerican #Kangfamily #northKorea #Korea #KimDaeJung #부고