Talk:List of Korean Americans

J Church
I don't see Lance Hahn of the band J Church on this list. The band is from San Francisco. Lance is very well respected and does a lot of music writing now for MRR and other publications. Should the founder of Asian Man Records be here also? --McDogm 03:12, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Sandra Oh
I see that Sandra Oh is included here. As far as I know, she is Korean-Canadian, not American. Am I missing something here? Are we extending the list to people of Korean heritage who have spent a lot of time in the U.S.? --Iceager 1 July 2005 14:57 (UTC)
 * Well, there are a lot of Korean-born people on the list, notably Philip Jaisohn. I don't see why Canadian-born people couldn't be included as well.  Of course, Sandra Oh should also be included on the List of Korean Canadians. -- Visviva 4 July 2005 03:08 (UTC)
 * The difference is that Philip Jaisohn became an American citizen. In general, not everyone who spends a lot of time in the U.S. identifies oneself as American or takes on American citizenship. We don't generally call Syngman Rhee Korean-American, for example, although he spent much of his life in the U.S. and died in Hawaii. I see that the introduction of the list has been modified to include Korean Canadians in parentheses, but if the nature of the list is being modified, it should be moved to List of Korean Americans and Korean Canadians; I don't know if such a modification is wise. But maybe we should be thinking about alternate lists, either to replace this one or to complement it.
 * In general, I'm not too fond of "Ethnic-American" categorisations, as I've observed many Americans use the terms carelessly and apply it to non-Americans as if these were names substituting for entire ethnic or racial groups. Maybe the person who included Sandra Oh or Leonard Nam on the list genuinely thought they were American, but I'm not sure it ever enters people's minds to apply the "American" criterion.
 * What people usually mean when they say "Korean American" (and I myself have been called "Korean American" numerous times), it seems, is "people of Korean descent". Currently the list of Koreans says it includes people of Korean descent, but it doesn't clarify what its relationship with the list of Korean Americans is. I'm all for a list of non-Korean nationals of Korean descent, which would include Americans, Canadians, Australians, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, and Germans of Korean descent. There are lots of noteable people in this general category that are not really collected in any list. One could of course include all of them in the current List of Koreans, but I think a separate list would be useful. --Iceager 01:48, 19 July 2005 (UTC)

Leonardo Nam
Born in Buenos Aires, educated in Australia.

Proposal for list inclusion
I have made the following proposal regarding the criteria for inclusion for these lists. If this is something that you have comments or ideas about, please provide feedback. Thanks. Wikibofh 9 July 2005 19:15 (UTC)

Elizabeth Shin
An anon has twice removed Elizabeth Shin from this list without explanation. Although I note that her article does not currently refer to her ethnicity (except via a category link), I don't think that has anything to do with the removal. It might have more to do with notability, but to me she seems amply notable. Comments? -- Visviva 03:36, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

This is a list of famous Korean-Americans and although tragic, there have been just too many deaths of non-celebrities that are relevant for inclusion in this section. Krballer 17:06, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

regarding Korean MLB player
Please note that none of Korean MLB players are Korean-American. They are Korean. None of them immigrated to America. All of them live in Korea during offseason. Only MLB player who can be possibly considered as Korean-American is Terrmel Sledge (however, he is half African-American and Korean).

Ethnicity lists discussion
Please see discussion at Wikipedia:Village pump (policy) for current discussion of a potential policy to apply to all ethnicity lists on Wikipedia, including this one. JackO&#39;Lantern 20:36, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Please be careful when adding people on the list.
Please be careful when adding people to the list. Just because people you want to add are well-known in America, that does not mean they are Korean-American. For example, Park Chan-wook and Kang Jae-kyu. Yes... I know they are well-known movie directors and have directed several Korean movies that are also well-known to American viewers. However, they are NOT Korean-American. They were not born in America. They were born in Korea. They are Korean citizens. They live in Korea. Do you see it? They are far away from being Korean-American.

Please be careful.


 * Nowhere does it say that an American Citizenship defines an American citizen. No where does it say that you must be born in America to become one. An American is simply someone who inhabits America for a long time while taking on the life-style. Got it? Secondgen 11:27, 18 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree with the first writer that, although a Korean-born person lived in the United States for years, does not make the person an American citizen. If the person of Korean heritage was born outside of the U.S. and its territories or were not born of parents who are U.S. citizens, then the only way the person can become a citizen is through the naturalization process where the person applies for and accepted for U.S. citizenship. A Korean-born person who lives in the United States can theoretically remain a U.S. permanent resident for many years without attaining U.S. citizenship, as long as the permanent residency is kept current with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Many long-time residents become "Americanized" in their lifestyle after spending many years here, in spite of not having U.S. citizenship.


 * Also, American citizenship is defined in the article for United States nationality law (that is, in the political sense) and also here, unlike the case of permanent residence only, regardless of whether that suits our view of how things should be. → Lwalt ♦ talk 21:00, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Michael Kang
Currently Michael Kang, who is listed as director/actor (presumably of The Motel) has a bluegrass band's instrumentalist as his link...
 * I fixed this one. ColourBurst 03:01, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

NAMING
In order to be consistent with wiki naming policies we should change all these names to reflect proper Korean name order, that is, last name first followed by first name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.209.18.216 (talk • contribs)

==Definition of "Korean-American"?

Shouldn't a "Korean-American" be someone who is "Korean" (according to how people in Korea define the term "Korean," which is-- born of a Korean mother and father) who now lives in America? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 147.46.57.159 (talk) 02:32, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

That is way too narrow of a definition for "Korean American." And so, how does an American who has mixed ancestry refer to themselves? By the above definition, they likely cannot refer to themselves as anything except American. Or, they could just be put under the umbrella term, "multiracial." I have a Korean mother and a white father, and refer to myself as "Korean American." I would guess to venture that many in my situation do the same.

We should be careful in limiting the term, "Korean American." This list should cover those who have considerable Korean ancestry and have been born in America and/or have spent significant time living here. This would be both an accurate and inclusive way of keeping this listing. --Mulder8281 (talk) 18:49, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Azia Kim (Troy High School graduate who posed as Stanford University student for 9 months until caught)
Is this person noteworthy enough to be put in the main article? Apparently she was a BelowAverageAsian (when measured in terms of public high-school academics), who wanted so much to fit into the top students at Troy Tech, she decided to attend Stanford after her high school graduation. Unfortunately, she was never admitted, yet somehow managed to device her friends and family for a full 9 months (until someone at Stanford finally wised up.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.127.246.249 (talk) 04:13, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Removals and Need to Add References to Entries
Recently, a large number of Korean Americans were deleted from the list because they lacked both a wikipedia entry or references. In a way, this is a good thing - many of those deleted did not belong in the list. However, many do belong, and just need to either be linked to their wiki entry or need a citation.

Below is the list. Any help in reentering them with appropriate citations would be appreciated!


 * Doug Juhn, art director, visual effects concept art, montage design (Elektra, Daredevil, Superman Returns, Friday Night Lights)
 * Nic Cha Kim, creator of Gallery Row in Downtown Los Angeles
 * Maggie Oh, Digital artist (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith)
 * Youngsuk Y.S. Chi, Vice Chairman & President of Elsevier Inc., former Chairman of Random House Asia, former President of Random House Inc., Board Member of Princeton University, KACF, Association of American Publishers, Princeton University Press.
 * Jason Chon, CEO of Locus Telecommunications, Leader of the Board, former International Sales Manager for Samsung Electronics.
 * Brian Chung, CEO and President of Frontier Logistics Services
 * Amerie Mi Marie Rogers, Grammy nominated singer
 * Alexander Baik, Producer and Personal Manager
 * Erwin Cho, The Amazing Race 10 contestant
 * Godwin Cho, The Amazing Race 10 contestant
 * Stacy Kimball, Survivor: Fiji contestant
 * Hyun (Mookie) Lee, Survivor: Fiji contestant
 * Nina Noh, singer/dancer (Superstar USA)
 * Samuel Yang, model, actor, comedian, musician, songwriter, dancer, cartoonist
 * Jordan Young, adult film actor
 * Juju Chang, ABC News anchor and reporter
 * Sophia Choi, CNN Headline News, KVBC anchor
 * Sunhee Grinnell, Beauty Director of Vanity Fair and wife of artist Toland Grinnell.
 * K.W. Lee, founding president of the Korean American Journalists Association
 * Mia Lee, KCAL 9 News Anchor in Los Angeles, CA
 * Janice Min, Editor-in-chief of US Weekly magazine
 * Alice Rhee, NBC News producer
 * Charles Kim, Lead singer and writer for the rising band Sol of Madison. Their newest release, Synesthesia, encompasses the band’s aesthetic of simplistic melodies mixed with technologically-fresh ornamentation and carefully crafted lyrics. Sol was selected as one of the top 25 college bands in the nation for the 2005-2006 MTVu Best Music on Campus Competition. Since then, Sol has played with various national acts including Robert Randolph and the Family Band, G. Love and Special Sauce.
 * David Choi, popular musician on youtube & song writer. Choi has garnished over 77,778 subscribers and is known as youtubes #17 most subscribed of all time. He is also been a chain smoker for 5 years.
 * Stephanie Hwang of Girls' Generation, singer based in South Korea
 * Jessica Jung of Girls' Generation, singer based in South Korea
 * Malea McGuinness, adult contemporary singer
 * Dan Oh, musician, disc jockey, songwriter
 * Hyun-Woo Lee, R&B singer based in South Korea
 * Eugene Park, violinist based in South Korea
 * Sooyoung Park, singer and guitarist in indie bands, Seam and Bitch Magnet
 * Craig Pfunder, lead vocalist and guitarist of VHS or Beta
 * Ha Jin Rhim, R&B singer based in South Korea
 * Joseph Cho, City Councilmember of Cerritos, California
 * John J. Choi, Saint Paul City Attorney, appointed by Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (D) in January 2006.
 * Philip Y. Choi, Councilman (D) of Leonia, New Jersey, first elected Korean-American in Leonia, New Jersey
 * Sukhee Kang, Mayor of Irvine, California, largest city with a Korean American mayor.
 * Jane Kim, San Francisco Unified School District Commissioner
 * Jason Kim, Councilman (D) of Palisades Park, New Jersey, the first Korean-American elected on the East Coast of the United States (2004).
 * Jerry Kong, Trustee on the Buena Park School District Board of Education in Buena Park, California, and at 27 years of age the youngest current Korean American in elected office.
 * Ilryong Moon, At-Large Member, former vice chairman, and former chairman of Fairfax County School Board; former member of Fairfax County Planning Commission in Fairfax County, Virginia
 * Sunny K. Park, Georgia, Secretary & Treasure; Georgia Ports Authority, former member of The White House Commission on Asian Americans. SunnyPark.com
 * Kevin Cho, District Aide to Florida State Representative Mary Brandenburg - District 89.
 * Wendy Van Horne, 2006 Green-Rainbow Party candidate for Massachusetts Lt. Governor.
 * Art Yoon, Mayor of Hermosa Beach, California, April 13, 2004 - January 25, 2005
 * Natalie G. Ahn, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Professor of Biochemistry at University of Colorado at Boulder, co-discover of MAP Kinase pathway.
 * Jung-Hoon Chun, MIT Professor of Mechanical Engineering
 * Suk Ju Hong, chemical engineer, BS, MS & Ph.D from Seoul National University, retired from Kodak, who invented and pioneered laser digital printing plate process. He is the grandson of Hong Jin.
 * Hyung-Soon Kim, inventor of the nectarine fruit.
 * Hae-Seung (Harry) Lee, MIT Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
 * Lloyd Lee, former football player
 * Dawn Riehl, Bodybuilder and powerlifter.
 * John Yim, Professional Drifter, Formula D series
 * Gregory Lee, the first Korean American Firefighter/Paramedic in the United States. Lee retired in 2002 from the Los Angeles County Fire Department after 30 years.
 * Commander Heedong Choi, USN, first Korean American naval officer to command a destroyer (USS Chafee (DDG-90)).
 * Paul Kim, Top 24 contestant, American Idol (season 6)
 * Brian Hirano, Quest Crew b-boy and dancer from MTV's America's Best Dance Crew
 * Victor Kim, Quest Crew b-boy and dancer from MTV's America's Best Dance Crew
 * Lydia Paek, Quest Crew and Boxcuttuhz dancer from MTV's America's Best Dance Crew
 * Janice Min, US Weekly, Editor-in-Chief
 * Natasha Reid, born Natasha Shanta Reid (Korean name, YOON Mi Rae), is a South Korean hip-hop singer

--Mulder8281 (talk) 16:16, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Dominic Pangborn?
As far as I know Dominic Pangborn is a Korean adoptee in the USA turned fashion designer. Komitsuki (talk) 16:37, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

Lee Yeon-hyang
Anybody has more info on Lee Yeon-hyang (이연향) in English? She's a Korean language interpreter who works at the General Branch Chief, Interpreting Division (US government) and has some decent exposure in the Korean newspapers. Komitsuki (talk) 10:13, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

inclusion criteria
It seems like list articles have a variety of inclusion criteria so there is no one guideline. I think there needs to be wider agreement before a solid rule is used an so many names taken out. Themwave (talk) 13:36, 26 March 2012 (UTC)


 * This discussion for lists of people was over years ago. Either this criteria as written at the start of the article is used or others (not me) will delete delete the entire article as not referenced.  This was the compromise with a batch of deletionists. Hmains (talk) 02:33, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Tommy Gibbons of Rock Band Tantric
Tommy is Korean born in 1991 in Seoul Korea. He was adopted and raised in Arizona. He started playing guitar at 11 and was world class at age 13. Most recently he joined the rock band Tantric who has a previous Platinum record and still tour all over the world. Tommy is the lead Guitarist and co writer of their songs now. His name is on Wikipedia under Tantric. Tommy is a 2nd degree black Belt in Tang Soo Do, winner of Best Guitarist in the 2014 L.A. Music awards, winner of Guitar Center competition "Guitarmageddon for South West Region in 2003 at only 12 years old. Winner of Louis Armstrong soloist award in 2008 for best musician in Arizona High Schools. Tommy has recorded or played on 16 Albums and has been the subject of Korean magazine articles, local television human interest stories and several newspaper articles.  I hope he is considered for the list.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Triplerpool (talk • contribs) 04:27, 23 September 2015 (UTC)

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Images
Does anybody think we should add any images to help improve the article? Matt Campbell (talk) 01:53, 10 July 2019 (UTC)