Slain Store Owner Is Mourned

LA PALMA â€”  Soo Woong Jun worked at his La Palma liquor store and delicatessen every day of the week, often 15 hours at a time, to support his family and put his two daughters through graduate school.

“When I would get here in the morning, he’d be open already,� said Roy Kitano, 75, who owns a nursery next door to Jun’s business. “And when I’d leave at night he would still be working. He was always so pleasant, too. I don’t know how he did it.�

On Thursday, the 58-year-old immigrant and prominent member of the Southern California Korean community, known to many as James, was shot and killed in a robbery attempt, allegedly by two teenage boys.

“We feel like we’ve been hit by a thunderbolt,� said Sung Soo Jun, the victim’s younger brother. “We cannot believe what has happened. My brother’s store was in a good area. It was supposed to be safe.�

Soo Woong Jun was a past president of the Koreatown Assn. in Los Angeles, a regional business organization with members throughout Southern California. He helped raise money for the thousands of Korean business owners whose stores were devastated during the l992 riots.

A cancer survivor, he was admired for his work ethic in a business community where long hours are a way of life, said Peter G. Lee, president of Koreatown Assn.

“He was so industrious,� Lee said. “He persisted . . . to support his family even though his health was poor.�

Police said Jun was preparing to close the store shortly before midnight, just as he had for the past six years, when he activated a robbery alarm. The call sent a swarm of officers to the Orangethorpe Avenue address, where they found Jun sprawled in the doorway and an 18-year-old suspect huddled in a stolen van outside.

Jun had been shot in the head and chest, said La Palma police Sgt. Mark Yokoyama.

For nearly six hours, a 15-year-old suspect inside the Granada Liquor store refused to answer a SWAT team’s demands to surrender. Police later learned that during the stand-off, the boy tried to hide in the ceiling rafters and fell, suffering a gash to his leg.

The teenager, who is from Los Angeles, gave himself up about 5:30 a.m. and was taken to UC Irvine Medical Center for treatment. He and the 18-year-old, who is from West Covina, were arrested on suspicion of robbery and murder. Police did not release their names.

Jun’s business allowed him to send his daughters to school and buy a home in nearby Cerritos, relatives said.

“Like other first-generation immigrants, my father was a fervent believer in education,� said Hetty Jun, 27, who completed a master’s degree in education at UCLA. Another daughter recently received her law degree at UCLA.

Lee of the Koreatown Assn. said so many Korean American grocers have been gunned down in Los Angeles in past years that every incident is like reopening an old wound.

Jun’s relatives were still struggling with the loss of another family member in 1993, when one of his brothers-in-law was shot to death during a robbery at his South Gate market. “When something like this strikes, you think to yourself, ‘Maybe we should go back to Korea,’ � said Sung Soo Jun.

Kapson Yim Lee, managing editor of the Korea Times English edition, said it pains her to think of the seemingly impossible predicament in which so many Korean immigrants find themselves.

“Koreans are dying like flies, and nobody outside our community seems to care,� said Lee, noting that more than 50 Korean shopkeepers lost their lives during robberies in the past 20 years.

“The irony is Koreans come here seeking a better life for themselves and their children, but to do that they literally put their lives on the line.�

A memorial service for Jun will be Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Hankook (Korean) Mortuary, 2045 W. Washington Blvd. The funeral will be at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the mortuary, with burial following at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.