Travis Kim and a group of friends settled in at Korean restaurant in Doraville Sunday night, planning to celebrate his inauguration as president of the Korean American Association of Greater Atlanta.
Not long into the meal, the group got some news that set off an entirely different celebration: media outlets were reporting North Korean leader Kim Jong Il had died over the weekend.
"It's unfortunate that we're celebrating death," Travis Kim said. "But ... we look at this as a great present going into the new year."
News of Kim Jong Il's death swept quickly through the metro area's bustling Korean communities, where nearly everyone expressed hope for change in the isolated country along with concern about the tenuous transition of power in Pyongyang.
Han Park, a professor of international relations at the University of Georgia and a world-renowned expert on North Korea, said the ascent of Kim's mostly unknown 28-year-old son, Kim Jong Un, and the country's ongoing economic decay could make North Korea more open to reform.
Additionally, Park said, a more conciliatory tone from the longtime adversaries U.S. and South Korea would be instrumental in repairing relations with the new regime.
"This is an opportune time to engage North Korea because it's going to chart a new course," Park said. Kim Jong Un "has to produce in the areas of economic development and alleviating the food shortage problem."
In the 28-county metro Atlanta area, where an estimated 37,000 Korean-born people make their home, many immigrants and first-generation American residents remained unsure what Kim Jong Il's death might mean for their communities and the Korean peninsula.
"What we do know is that we didn’t like the last guy," said Rep. B.J. Pak, R-Lilburn, who was born in Seoul, South Korea but moved to the U.S. when he was 9. "But I think people are trying to sort out what comes next."
The uncertainty has created worry among some business leaders, said He Beom Kim of the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Atlanta. He Beom Kim, the Consul General, said he didn't think Kim Jong Il's death would have much, if any, impact on local businesses with interests in South Korea.
"It's natural for them to be a little concerned," he said. "But my job is to reach out to them and say things are under control. It's business as usual."
In the consulate's southeastern six-state region, about 150 companies are responsible for an economic impact of about $11.4 billion.
Beyond economic ties, the Atlanta area also has political connections to the Korean peninsula.
Former President Jimmy Carter has been involved in peace efforts there for nearly two decades. In 1994, he and Rosalynn Carter were among the first people to cross the demilitarized zone from South Korea to North Korea and back again since the two nations divided. On Monday, the Carter Center said Carter would not be issuing a statement or doing interviews.
The Carters were invited by then-President Kim Il Sung to visit North Korea. They represented the Carter Center in hopes of defusing growing global tensions related to North Korea's nuclear program. Following his talks with Carter, Kim Il Sung agreed to freeze his country’s nuclear program in exchange for restarting talks with the U.S.
Then, last year, Carter went to North Korea again on a humanitarian mission to gain the release of Aijalon Gomes, an American teacher, who was sentenced to eight years of hard labor and given a fine of about $700,000 for illegally entering North Korea.
Carter was invited by North Korea to negotiate the teacher's release, which he successfully accomplished.
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Korean-born residents in metro Atlanta.
Atlanta MSA (28 county metro region) – 36,925
Cobb County – 3,870
DeKalb County – 4,199
Fulton County – 7,260
Gwinnett County – 17,111
Source: U.S. Census Bureau.
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