K. Connie Kang

K. Connie Kang (born Kyonshill Kang; ; November 11, 1942 – August 16, 2019) was a Korean American journalist and author. Born in what would become North Korea, Connie and her Christian family fled first to South Korea and then to Japan to escape religious persecution in the 1940s and 50s. They later immigrated to the United States and settled in San Francisco. Connie studied journalism at the University of Missouri and Northwestern University and began her formal journalism career in 1964, credited as being the first female Korean American reporter.

During the early 1980s, Connie Kang co-founded the Korean American Journalists Association. In early 1992, riots in Los Angeles resulted in heavy property damage to Korean American neighbourhoods, and the widespread lack of Korean-speaking reporters meant that local media struggled to accurately cover the ongoing events. Connie was subsequently hired at the Los Angeles Times, where she developed some of the first mainstream media coverage of Korean American communities and their stories.

Connie accumulated more than 30 professional awards for her work covering the California Supreme Court system, and her reporting career spanned both American and Asian publications. In 1995, she published a memoir entitled Home Was the Land of Morning Calm: A Saga of a Korean-American Family. She was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Asian American Journalists Association in 1997.

Early life and education Kyonshill Kang (later known as K. Connie Kang) was born November 11, 1942, in Kankō, Korea, Empire of Japan (now Hamhung, North Korea). In 1946, after Korea had been divided up by opposing world powers, Christian families were threatened with persecution in North Korea. Connie and her parents fled to safety in South Korea. Her grandmother guided them across the 38th parallel, along with many other relatives.

In 1950, Connie's father received the opportunity to study in the United States as a Fulbright scholar. She became fluent in English and Japanese as well as Korean. In 1975, Connie's parents joined her in the United States and settled in San Francisco, California. She went on to write for publications such as the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Examiner, and Koreatown Weekly, an early Korean American newspaper founded by K.W. Lee. and 1996. Alongside her work in American media, Connie contributed to Asian publications as a writer, editor and foreign correspondent. Connie was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Asian American Journalists Association in 1997.

Connie's grandfather had been known for building Christian churches in what is now North Korea. Kang's mother had dreamed of building Christian schools there, although she never had the chance, and this lost dream left an impact on Kang. Connie served Hollywood Presbyterian Church in the session as an elder. In 2008, Connie left the Los Angeles Times and decided to pursue a new career as a Christian minister, eventually graduating from the Fuller Theological Seminary in 2017. She had plans to return to North Korea and establish a Christian school, but never completed the journey.

Having passed her ordination exams of PC(USA), Connie applied for Associate Pastor position to Golden Gate Presbyterian Church (GGPC) in Daly City, CA, where Joo Han Kang, her father, had served as an elder to the point of his death in 1998. She wanted to participate in the mission education in Rwanda and Hoopa Native American Reservation through SPRiNG Bible Academy, a non-denominational non-profit organization. And she hoped to serve the Kang Center, which includes Emmanuel Press, S.W. Choi Prayer Hall, and Joo Han Kang Library.

Death Connie Kang died on August 16, 2019, aged 76, from pancreatic cancer. She was buried in Cypress Lawn Funeral Home & Memorial Park in Colma, CA, at the family plot. It was a summer afternoon when her loved ones gathered for the funeral services with Psalm 23 and hymns. Reflecting on Kang's legacy, K.W. Lee wrote that Kang's reporting career "was a quiet, almost divine mission to give a clear voice to those who aren't heard and can't speak English," and that her death was "mourned by thousands in the Korean community and beyond." The epitaph reads last: "She was a woman of integrity, compassion, courage, and love."