Dong-seok Kim, executive director at Korean American Civic Empowerment, is garnering considerable attention after starring in South Korean film I Can Speak.
Already well known for spearheading the efforts to raise awareness on South Korean “comfort women,” Kim made an appearance on the new film that also centers on the same issue.
At first, it is difficult to tell if the man in the movie whose role is to teach English to an elderly lady, prominent South Korean actress Moon-hee Nah, is indeed Kim. He appears in the film as a helper to Nah as she stands at a public hearing to testify her experiences. Although it is a cameo appearance, Kim was playing a role that he played in real life just 10 years ago.
“I cried a lot while watching the movie,” Kim said. “I couldn’t leave the theater for a while afterwards. By contributing to the film, I once again reminded myself that I should continue to raise awareness on the comfort women issues.”
Kim, who said that he watched the completed film for the first time at a late night, added: “I was surprised to see how the scene changed from the everyday life of an old lady to suddenly displaying the problems that stemmed from the comfort women issue. I realized that films have the power to naturally convey messages to bring justice to our society.”
“It probably wasn’t easy for movie stars to appear in a film that centered on such a sensitive social issue,” Kim said. “I show my respect to all actors and actresses who made that difficult decision. Their decisions are as brave as the lady who testified at the hearing 10 years ago.”
Kim played a prominent role in helping former California House of Representative Mike Honda, who proposed US H.Rs. 121, which demanded Japan to formally acknowledge, apologize and accept its wartime atrocities.
“The subtitle after the movie read that even after 10 years, Japan still remains the same,” Kim said. “I was hurt to see that.”
Kim added: “No matter how long it takes, I’m going to continue to follow up with America’s opinion leaders and politicians about this issue.”
By Byung Chang
