Kim Jong-rim

Kim Jong-rim (金宗林, January 19, 1884 – January 26, 1973) was a Korean-born millionaire who emigrated to the United States and a Korean independence activist.

At the age of 22, he crossed to the United States with empty hands and accumulated enormous wealth within roughly ten years. He was from Wonsan in Hamgyong Province and arrived in San Francisco on January 2, 1907, aboard the Alameda, crossing the Pacific Ocean. He worked at a railroad construction site being built in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in 1908 moved to California. In California, rice farming began for the first time in 1912. With the outbreak of World War I, Kim Jong-rim earned large sums from rice farming. His landholdings were at least 100 acres in 1915, at least 280 acres in 1916, at least 1,030 acres in 1917, at least 1,800 acres in 1918, and at least 3,300 acres in 1919.

After his success in rice farming, he gave great assistance to the national movement. In 1918, he donated 200 dollars to purchase a typesetting machine for the Sinhanminbo newspaper. In 1919, over about one year, the donations of Korean residents in the United States for independence totaled 30,388 dollars and 25 cents, of which the largest donor was Kim Jong-rim, who gave 3,400 dollars and received a letter of appreciation from the Provisional Government.

He also supported the establishment of an "aviator training school" with 30,000 dollars in cash, as well as all equipment and facilities, including the construction of an airfield and aircraft fuel and supplies. With the money he provided, the school was equipped with two airplanes, one American technician, and a guiding staff of six Korean instructors.

In 1918, he married Choe Won-hui and had two sons. Sons Kim Jin-won and Kim Du-won both enlisted in the United States Navy and fought against Japan on the Pacific front. Kim Jin-won served as a communications petty officer in the Aleutian Islands, and Kim Du-won served as a crew member of a naval landing craft, engaging in combat in Philippine waters, and after the American victory served in Japan as part of the occupation forces.

After his death in Los Angeles in 1973, the Korean government posthumously awarded him the Order of National Foundation, Service Medal (5th class) in 2005, 32 years after his death. Kim Jong-rim's remains were transferred to the Daejeon National Cemetery in April 2009.¹

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