Jay Kim

Chang-jun "Jay" Kim (Korean: 김창준, Hanja: 金昌準) (born March 27, 1939) is a former politician from California. Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea. During the Korean War, his home was destroyed. He immigrated to the United States in 1961, where he graduated from Cal State LA and University of Southern California, earning degrees in civil engineering. Kim was elected to the city council of Diamond Bar, a newly incorporated suburb of Los Angeles, in 1990 and was mayor the next year. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992 as a Republican from the newly-created 41st District, making him the first Korean American elected to the United States Congress, as well as the first Korean to be elected to a national political office outside Korea. Kim came under scrutiny for campaign donations, eventually pleading guilty to accepting $230,000 in illegal donations, including one-third of all donations to his 1992 campaign, and was sentenced to two months of house arrest. At the time, it...