Board of Directors

Korean Americans for Political Action (KAPA) is a 501(c)(4) non-partisan, non-profit membership organization born in 2017 as Korean Americans in Action. In 2019, the board voted to re-position and rename the organization to better fulfill its mission, which is to drive awareness and engagement of Korean Americans in American politics.  Presently, there is no other organization like KAPA that works to help Americans of Korean descent seek elected and appointed office at the Federal, State and municipal levels.

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John Lim, Chair

John Lim is co-founder and Managing Partner of LimNexus LLP, a leading minority-owned corporate boutique firm with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. As a corporate lawyer since 1982, John has represented a broad array of clients and handled numerous complicated and sophisticated transactions.

A 1982 graduate of University of California, Hastings College of the Law, John has been selected as a “Southern California Super Lawyer” several times. In addition to chairing KAPA’s board, John serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations, including Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Los Angeles and the UC Hastings Foundation. He and his partners provide scholarships to diverse law students through the LimNexus Foundation.

Grounded in his firm conviction to further equal opportunity and equal access to justice, John actively supports groups and causes that serve the disadvantaged and marginalized.

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Pearl Kim, Secretary

Pearl Kim was a candidate for Congress during the 2018 midterm elections in Pennsylvania. Prior to that Ms. Kim practiced immigration law and was previously appointed to the Pennsylvania’s Office of Attorney General as a Senior Deputy Attorney General.  Formerly an Assistant District Attorney in the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, Ms. Kim was Chief of the Human Trafficking Unit in the Special Victims and Domestic Violence Division.

Governor Corbett and Governor Wolf appointed Ms. Kim to the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian American Affairs, and she currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania.  Ms. Kim obtained her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law where she was the recipient of the Villanova Achievement Scholarship, and received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College.

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Hon. Sukhee Kang, Board Member

Born and raised in South Korea, Sukhee Kang came to the United States in 1977 after graduating from Korea University.  Shortly after the L.A. Riots in 1992, Sukhee became actively involved in the Southern California Korean American community where he served as chairman of the Korean American Coalition Orange County and president of the Korean American Scholarship Foundation, Western Region.

Sukhee Kang made history when he became the first Korean American Mayor of a major American city. Sukhee was elected to the Irvine City Council in 2004, re-elected in 2006 and elected Mayor in 2008 and re-elected with 64.1% of the vote in 2010. He termed out as mayor in 2012. Since then, Sukhee served as Special Advisor to the Chancellor of UC Irvine, Adjunct Professor and Chancellor Fellow at Chapman University. He currently serves as Senior Executive Advisor at Teletron Inc, a nationwide retail electronics super store chain.

In his distinguished public service career, Sukhee Kang has won numerous awards for his outstanding leadership and accomplishments, including “Immigrants, The Pride of America” by the Carnegie Corporation in New York. He is author of “The Power of Possibility – My American Journey” published in 2014. His immigrant success story was featured in “Global Success Story” by KBS, a nationwide TV network in Korea.

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David L. Kim, Board Member and Interim Executive Director

David L. Kim is the CEO of The IAMBIC Group, a marketing and public affairs firm that develops marketing, CSR and communication strategies for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and non-profit groups. Prior to rejoining The IAMBIC Group, he was Vice President of Multicultural Markets and Engagement at the AARP, responsible for increasing the awareness, relevance and engagements in the multicultural segments of a 37-million member organization.

David also served as the Chief of Staff at the United States Mint, advising the Director on all domestic and international policy, marketing and communications matters. At the conclusion of his appointment, he was awarded the Treasury Citation Medal for Exemplary Service from Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. Previously, he was the Director of Multicultural Marketing and Community Relations at Anheuser-Busch Companies in St. Louis where he developed a community outreach network of over 500 Asian and Latino non-profit, trade and community organizations. For his work with the community, he was awarded the Presidential Volunteer Service Award.

David serves on several national boards, including the Board of Advisors for the Duke University Libraries and the Diageo Multicultural Marketing Advisory Board.

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Andy Kim, General Counsel

Andrew Chongseh Kim is a litigator at Greenberg Traurig LLP in Houston, Texas. He represents clients in disputes related to energy, commercial transactions, trade secrets, and governmental investigations. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Andrew spent several years as a law school professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and Concordia University School of Law. His sophisticated statistical research has been published in top-50 law reviews and cited in briefs to the United States Supreme Court. He is a passionate advocate and is frequently quoted in the news on disparities in espionage prosecutions that affect the Asian American community. Andrew graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and holds the title of Visiting Scholar at South Texas College of Law.