“As the first Korean American Republican women to serve in Congress, we want to empower and uplift fellow members of the (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) who want to serve their communities,” California representatives Young Kim and Michelle said. Steel, said in a statement. “We spoke to Sery Kim yesterday about her hurtful and untrue comments about Chinese immigrants, and made it clear that her comments are unacceptable.”
“They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they do not hold themselves responsible,” she continued, adding, “I can say this because I am Korean.”
The congresswomen said in a statement on Friday that they were “urging her to apologize and clarify her remarks, especially as hatred against the AAPI community increases.”
“However, she did not show remorse, and her words were contrary to what we stand for,” they added. “We cannot continue in good conscience to support her candidacy. We will continue to speak out for our AAPI community.”
When Seri Kim was reached for comment on the recalled endorsements, he said in a statement on Friday: “I am shocked that the liberal media is attacking me, an Asian and an immigrant, in an attempt to hate Asian-Americans. ‘try to paint me. as an anti-Asian and anti-immigrant just because they spoke out against the oppressive Chinese Communist Party.’
Seri Kim said in an interview with CNN on Thursday that her remarks the previous day were “directed at the Communist Party of China, and not at Asian Americans, especially Chinese immigrants fleeing this oppressive regime.”
She added that she did not retract any of her remarks, and that she stood by her remarks at the event, which included an allegation in an interview with the Dallas Morning News that anti-Asian violence over the past year did not worsen.
“The biggest difference at the moment is that people are filming it – and the media prefers to report it,” she told the newspaper. “Asians have always faced violence. It’s not worse than before.”