Posted August 18, 2006 to People | Section Home | Print

Searching for a Missing Widow and Justice

New America Media, Commentary, Aruna Lee

Editor's Note: One year after police officers in Dublin, Calif., shot and killed two Korean men in their home, the widow of one of the men has since disappeared, reportedly back to South Korea. NAM reporter Aruna Lee tried to track her down. This article is part of a project of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, New America Media, ANG Newspapers, The Korea Times and The Korea Daily, which the Knight Foundation has supported with fellowships for the ethnic media.

SEOUL--Thick, tarry air hovers above the constant traffic jam as crowds of people meander through the city's congested streets. Into this enormous haystack Yang Lim Oh, the widow of a Korean man shot and killed by police officers in Dublin, Calif., last year, has disappeared.

I'm here in the stifling summer heat of Seoul seeking a chance to talk to Oh about the tragic incident. My colleagues from the Korean media in San Francisco have also been looking for her, but few have heard from her since she left the United States after the shooting.

On the evening of Aug. 11, 2005, Dublin police officers, responding to reports of a domestic disturbance, shot and killed her husband Kwang Tae Lee, 61, and her brother-in-law, Richard Kim, 49. According to neighbors, the two men and their wives had been drinking heavily, leading to an argument between the two men. Kim then went upstairs to his bedroom. Lee followed him with a knife. At that moment the police arrived and repeatedly ordered Lee, who knew little English, to put the knife down. When he did not comply, they instantly shot and killed him. An incidental bullet killed Kim.

The first anniversary of the shooting passed recently. The Korean minister in Contra Costa, In Chol Kim, is organizing a candlelight vigil to be held in late September, generating more awareness and support by circulating a petition among the leaders of Korean church groups in the Bay Area and Sacramento.

Oh had come to the United States with Lee, her husband, to visit his sister, Jee Young Kim, the wife of Richard Kim. Oh and Lee had been in the country three months when the incident occurred.

Shortly after the shooting, Oh expressed her dismay over the incident in the Korean language Korea Times and the Korea Daily in San Francisco.

"When I left for America I was considered the luckiest woman in my hometown, but now I've become this pitiful widow whose husband was killed by the police," she told the Korea Times. She continued, "That night after all the drinking my husband became a different person. I had looked forward to returning to Korea with him, but now all I have to bring back is a handful of cold ashes."

Oh was reported to blame herself and her own lack of English for the tragedy. "I wanted to die with my husband. It's really unfair. If I spoke better English I would have been able to fight with the police officers who killed my husband," she said to the Korea Daily.

Acquaintances of Oh said that her sadness over the death of her husband soon turned to anger at the injustice of his killing and the treatment she received at the hands of Alameda County police officers.

Her rage echoed the sentiments of the Korean community. Following the shooting they joined a number of community advocates who stormed a city council meeting to demand a police investigation and better programs to prepare police officers to handle incidents where language and cultural differences present challenges. The Korean American Association of San Francisco and Greater Bay Area and Bay Area Korean American Justice Coalition also held a candle light vigil that brought together a diverse group of activists and community members.

After the shooting, Oh returned to Korea, leaving behind no personal information or contact. Kyung Sook Lee, a reporter at the Korea Daily in San Francisco, contacted the local Korean consulate and was informed that they did not know Oh's whereabouts and Oh has no known relatives.

As I search for Oh I think about my own language difficulties after I moved from the United States from Korea five years ago. My first few weeks in San Francisco I remember struggling to ask passers-by on the street for directions. Five years later, it continues to be a struggle. One can imagine the fear Oh felt, herself speaking virtually no English, caught up in a whirlwind of violence and confusion. In desperation she returned home with only the memory of her husband.

Some say that due to financial pressures Oh had moved in with a friend and was now living in Incheon, a suburb on the outskirts of Seoul, although none of this could be verified. Kyung Sook Lee says that although Oh and her husband had been together for 30 years, they were never officially married and never had any children.

According to Attorney Jonathan Bae, who is representing Jee Young Kim in a civil suit against the County of Alameda, Oh's name has been left out of the suit because, says Bae, she was not recognized as Lee's legitimate spouse. If left unresolved this will close the door on Oh's claim to any sort of legal compensation.

But along with Jee Young Kim, Oh is the only one who can confirm the details included in the police report which found the officers not at fault in the deadly shootings.

The one person who may know where to find Oh is Jee Young Kim. Apparently, however, she has been unwilling to talk to reporters either, and refuses to divulge the whereabouts of her sister-in-law.

On the flight back to San Francisco, having come up empty-handed all I could think of was Oh, bitter and alone, robbed of a husband and stripped of any chance for a just end to an unjust killing. Repeated efforts to locate her led only to dead-ends, with local authorities unwilling or unable to assist. As a wife and mother I could not begin to imagine the thought of losing either my husband or son. As long as Oh remains out of reach, the loss of her husband will remain an open wound, a painful memory of her brief visit to the United States.