Rebirth
In 2005, four Korean-American journalists, Jinah Kim of KNBC/NBC, Eleanor Hong of washingtonpost.com, HyunJu Chappell Hine of The Washington Post, and Carolyn Ayon Lee, a veteran wire-service writer and editor, sought to reactivate KAJA. They realized that KAJA's mission, to accurately portray Korean-Americans, Koreans and Korea in mainstream United States media, was still of vital importance, and that this role was not being filled by other similar organizations, such as the Asian American Journalists Association, with which KAJA maintains a little sister-big sister relationship.
These journalists were sparked by the legacy of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The North Korea-South Korea dynamic was growing tense, amidst U.S. President George W. Bush’s categorization of North Korea as part of an "axis of evil."
With the help of Grace Jang of KoreAm Journal and Ariana Eunjung Cha of The Washington Post, this small group of Korean-American journalists organized a daylong conference on Oct. 29, 2005, in Los Angeles at the Korean Cultural Center. Its focus was North Korea media coverage and issues.
Calvin Sims, a longtime foreign correspondent for The New York Times, delivered the keynote address to the audience of members of the Korean-American community and local journalists. Excerpts of Sims' documentary, Nuclear Nightmare: Understanding North Korea, were screened. Filmmaker Jim Butterworth presented his award-winning Seoul Train -- which has been shown in venues all over the world, including broadcast on the U.S. Public Broadcasting System stations, except South Korea.
Read more about this topic: Korean American Journalists Association
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