As a child growing up in Seoul 57 years ago, Sunny K. Park remembers having little to eat and learning his first word in English — “gimme” — which he uttered to every American soldier he saw.
“We were hungry,” says Park, 71. “We chased the GIs, hoping somebody would throw us a Hershey bar.”
At age 31, he moved to the U.S., and has built a financial empire in the Atlanta area, recently achieving one of his lifetime goals — paying — not just making — a million dollars in federal income taxes.
Another goal he’s been keeping — doing all he can to honor Americans who went to South Korea in the 1950-53 period who “saved my country and made the impossible possible.”
He spent thousands erecting six huge billboards across the country, thanking the U.S. for freeing his country. He paid a “large portion” of the cost of the Korean War Memorial near the state Capitol, which bears the names of 740 Georgians who died in that conflict, and holds banquets and concerts annually in Atlanta for Americans who fought in the Korean War.
Men like Bob McCubbins, 82, president of the Atlanta chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association, who says Park “has done an awful lot for those of us who served. He feels the Korean people owe gratitude.”
Park says money can’t thank vets like McCubbins enough. “We were suffering from the brutal invasion of the north. We didn’t have freedom, we didn’t have food. All of a sudden the United States sends troops and we have food and clothes and missionaries.”
As he grew up, he viewed them as “angels” who made possible the reconstruction of his country, his emigration to the U.S. and the inspiration to start businesses and become rich.
“My occupation is a janitor,” he says. “I own a janitorial service that is nationwide. This is the only country where you can do that. I cannot bring back the lives of the men who died in South Korea, but I can honor them.”
So every year he holds a ceremony, usually in the Capitol, with dignitaries and an orchestra and hundreds of veterans. He works with the America-Korea Freedom Society, which promotes goodwill and cooperation between Americans and Korean Americans.
Georgia Attorney Gen. Sam Olens says Park “is a tireless advocate for our military and our state’s economic development. He is a great leader of the Korean-American community.”
It’s estimated that more than 1.5 million Americans of Korean ancestry live in the U.S., including 20,000 serving in the U.S. armed forces. This week marks the 61st anniversary of a landing by Americans at Inchon in South Korea that turned the tide of the conflict, ultimately leading to a 1953 truce that is still holding, though tenuously.
Park says he’ll be forever grateful and never forget that 36,516 Americans died in the Korean War and 8,176 are still listed as missing in action.
“I will never forget the dead bodies,” he says. “And I will always remember they died for me.”
About the Author
