Kim, Young, 1962-

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Young Oak Kim (née Choe, Korean: 최영옥; born October 18, 1962) is a Korean-born American politician. A member of the Republican Party, she has served as the U.S. Representative for California's 39th congressional district since 2021.

Born in Incheon, South Korea, she spent her childhood in Seoul before moving to Guam, where she finished junior high school, and Honolulu, Hawaii, where she finished high school. Kim went on to earn a B.B.A. from the University of Southern California. After graduating from USC, Kim worked as a financial analyst for First Interstate Bank and then as a controller for JK Sportswear Manufacturing. Kim also started her own business in the clothing industry. She worked for state senator and Congressman Ed Royce for 21 years as his community liaison and director of Asian affairs. During much of that time she also appeared regularly on her own television show, "LA Seoul with Young Kim", and her radio show, "Radio Seoul", on which she discussed political issues affecting Korean Americans. Kim was elected to the Assembly in 2014, defeating Democratic Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva. In 2016, in turn, Quirk-Silva defeated Kim. In 2018, Kim narrowly lost California's 39th congressional district seat to Gil Cisneros.

Kim was victorious in a 2020 rematch with Cisneros. After 3 months in office, Kim was rated among the most centrist of Republican Representatives by Govtrack, based on patterns of sponsorship and co-sponsorship of legislation with Democrats. She voted opposite to the majority of the Republican caucus on several key votes, among them the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and a bill to delay spending cuts in Medicare and other services. She belongs to the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus and the Republican Main Street Partnership.

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Role Title Holding Repository
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
memberOf California. Legislature. Assembly corporateBody
memberOf United States. Congress. House person
alumnusOrAlumnaOf University of Southern California. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
La Habra CA US
Seoul 11 KR
Fullerton CA US
Honolulu HI US
Los Angeles CA US
Incheon 12 KR
Subject
Occupation
Businesswomen
Financial planners
Legislative assistants
Representatives, U.S. Congress
State Representative
Activity

Person

Birth 1962-10-18

Female

English,

Korean

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