Interview with Philip Ahn Cuddy

Flip, as he is known by many, handles the lead role of maintaining the accuracy of the Ahn family’s accomplishments within modern Korean and Korean-American history. Not only is his grandfather recognized but other family members have made historical accomplishments as well. Flip’s mother, Susan Ahn Cuddy, was a pioneer who broke many barriers within the United States military as the first Korean American woman in the service as well as the first female gunnery officer (any race) in the US Navy. Flip’s uncle, Philip Ahn (whom Flip is named after), was a highly regarded actor in Hollywood during a time when there were very few Asian American actors.

Even today, Flip’s family accomplishments are still being recognized. This past January, Dosan was inducted to the Trumpet Awards International Civil Rights Walk of Fame in Atlanta, Georgia. Dosan happened to be the first person of Asian descent added to the distinguished list of honorees and Flip represented the Ahn family in receiving the honor for his grandfather.

In addition to discussing Flip’s Ahn family background, we discussed his professional pursuits along with his other passions such as surfing.

We are pleased to present this interview with Philip Ahn Cuddy.

Please note that HalfKorean.com comments/questions are in BOLD.

Background: The Basics on Philip “Flip” Cuddy

Flip, let’s start with the basics on you.
First thing I want to say is I have had a blessed life. Oh yes I have had the ups and downs. For the most part I have been able to do so many unique things. Going to the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame in January (2012) to represent my grandfather when he was inducted is an example. I stood at the pulpit of the Ebenezer Church in Atlanta and spoke to a crowd of mostly African American folks about Korean history. It was great. A lot of the uniqueness has been being half. I got a lot of pain, too. But, I am okay with how my life has been. I can’t tell you all. I have done things you could not believe. Anyway, I lived through a lot of good and bad. Being half Irish and half Korean has been a reward and a burden. The past has made me who I am today – the present is my responsibility – and the future is my challenge. So, what can I tell you?

Where and when were you born, raised and currently reside?
I was born August 2, 1955 at the US Navy Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. At that time inter-racial marriages were against the laws of Maryland and Virginia. My sister and I were illegitimate children by law. I was raised in Falls Church, Virginia until I was five years old and then we moved to Los Angeles.

How did your parents meet?
They met when my mom worked for the National Security Agency (NSA) where my mom was a code breaker and ran the Russian Section. My dad spoke Japanese fluently and was a code breaker in the Navy and he worked at NSA, too. They got married in 1947.

Do you have any brothers and/or sisters?
I have one older sister, Christine. She was born in 1950 at the same Navy hospital as I was. We see each other all the time as she lives in the LA area, too. She is an entertainment contract attorney and is one of the top attorneys in the copyright field.

Do you speak any Korean?
My Korean is more “child-like.” I can read some Korean but I don’t know what all the words mean. I can’t really read a newspaper very well but I can read a menu, get on a plane or train. You know what I call my Korean? “Taxi cab Korean” because I can get into a taxi and get anywhere I need to go. I can order food. So when people ask, I just tell them “taxi cab Korean.”

When I first went to learn Korean in Seoul I spoke some Pyongyang dialect Korean which is North Korean. South Koreans are looking at me, and I already don’t look Korean and these people are wondering where I learned North Korean dialect. I would just say that my grandparents are from North Korea and that’s all I know. Like the word for bathroom, “hwajangshil” (화장실), I had never heard of that. I thought “hwajang” (화장) meant makeup. So, I had no idea. Pyongyang dialect is old fashioned Korean too, like “teekan” which means outhouse or back house, toilet out in the back. These Koreans were looking at me like why is this guy asking where the outhouse is. It’s called Pyongyang satoori (평양 사투리) which means slang. It’s considered a low form of Korean. Kyunggido (경기도) dialect is a premium dialect. Korean should not be so stratified. It’s all egocentric bullshit to me.

What is your favorite Korean food?
My favorite dish is daenjang chigae (된장 찌개). I like kalbi (갈비) and all the spicy stuff. I like jja jangmyun (짜장면) which is actually Chinese-Korean. I also like naengmyun (냉면) which is a North Korean dish.

The mandoo (만두) is different in North Korea, too. It is bigger and has kimchi in it. I have a cousin in Los Angeles who has a Pyongyang style recipe from his grandmother that has to be at least 120 years old. So, for every New Year’s we have that mandoo and it is really, really good. I have to say that Pyongyang mandoo is way better than South Korean mandoo.

Did you grow up around other mixed Koreans?
No, there was only one other Korean family back East we knew. There weren’t any Asians around when we were living in Virginia. No white people would babysit my sister and me. So, we had black nannies. Mine was Mildred Daniels and I called her Milddie. She was very good to me. My mom was working at NSA. So, I was raised by a black nanny. My sister was, too. We grew up with multiple races.

When we moved out to the San Fernando Valley, there were no Asians in Northridge except my uncle, Phillip Ahn, and my grandmother who lived with him then. That was why we came out here. My uncle had a couple acres with a horse corral. My grandmother grew squash and corn out back. We lived there for a while. I got a lot of my Korean-ness from living with my grandmother. I stayed with my grandmother a lot up until about eight years old and even went to stay with her on weekends up until I was 10 years old. I had a very close relationship with her.

For many years, there weren’t that many Asians in the San Fernando Valley. Now, there are too many. I keep to myself since they don’t see me being any Korean at all. They are different kinds of Koreans now and act stuffy. They don’t mix in with other races too much.

I got into a lot of fights. It’s funny, because I got racism both ways – from Koreans and non-Koreans. I got teased by kids for being a “chink” or “jap” but never Korean because nobody knew what that was. I went to a Catholic military academy which really had an understanding of cultural diversity, if you could believe it. You got in trouble for saying racist remarks. Outside of the academy I encountered racism. I remember when I was in the second grade and went to a school friend’s house. They were Caucasian and my friend’s parents assumed I was too since my last name is Cuddy. When I got there, the mom made me go back home because I looked Asian to her. Apparently, she had a brother who had gotten shot down by the Japanese in the World War II or something like that. I looked more Asian when I was younger. There weren’t even any blacks or Hispanics in the valley at that time. If you were any off-color, you stood out. I got into a lot of fist fights because I didn’t take shit from anyone about anything. When I was in High School I almost beat the life out of a black guy who kept bugging me about being Asian. We played on the same football team. One day I had enough and I was beating this guy up horribly until a teacher grabbed me and pulled me off this guy. I was lucky I got stopped. It was bad.

I had already felt odd because when I was young we would go to the Korean community picnics. There were no other mixed kids at that time. I wasn’t totally accepted and it was not comfortable to be with Koreans – except my grandmother and Uncle Philip. After my mom married my dad, until my sister was two, my grandmother would not speak to my mother. From 1947-1952 they did not speak because she had married a Caucasian. My uncle Philson was getting married and at a family gathering, we were not there because we were living back East, my grandmother said she wished that Susie (my mom) was there. My uncle Phillip immediately jumped up and called and told my mom that my grandmother wanted her home in LA for the wedding. When my grandmother met my sister for the first time my grandmother opened up and things changed. My mom said it’s lucky that my sister had dark hair and brown eyes because if she had blonde hair and blue eyes, it might have been different. When I was born back East, my grandmother came out for the first two weeks and took care of me and my mom. My mom and dad were racially discriminated against by my own grandmother! (haha)

I would say that some of the most heated racial situations I’ve been in were with Koreans. Koreans were racist against me because I was from America, for not looking Korean or for actually being half Korean. I have dealt with a lot of racism. By far the Koreans were the most racist. Most of them still are. I bet they get their asses kicked in another riot someday unless they change their attitude. They did not learn anything from 1992 except for how to cheat and take advantage of the system. And, they have never accepted the truth that their actions were a major part of the cause of the riots in LA.

I was in a K-town bar years ago with two half-Korean guys who were bigger than me. There was this drunken Korean guy who was saying stupid stuff in Korean about us to a few people seated at the bar. He had no idea we all understood what he was saying. It was evident to the bartender – who happened to be a beautiful Korean lady – we were getting pissed. Before it got worse she went over to this stupid Korean and told him we knew what he was saying and he better leave if he valued his teeth because they were about to be shoved down his throat. He left. That would have been ugly.

Things with half-Koreans have changed some these days. Hines Ward got the red carpet in Seoul for being Super Bowl MVP – I’m sure he paid his dues along the way. There are a lot of successful half-Korean entertainers in Korea. I got the fucking back door from the start. Being a half in Korea in 1973 was not happening. I put up with a lot of crap visit after visit. I hate Koreans when I see their ethnocentric and egotistical bull shit attitudes. Koreans lie a lot, too. I don’t think I will ever forget how bad I was treated.

Did you ever experience any identity issues while growing up?
I never really feel like I had any identity issues. Being half was not an obstacle. I dealt with it and went on my path. When I was growing up I had a black nanny, white dad and Korean mom. To me, being multicultural was just a normal environment. I’ve always felt that I was just a person. I know about my Irish heritage and the Korean side, of course. I went to this Catholic military academy from 1st grade until 7th grade and everybody dressed the same and it was all guys so there was a lot of commonality. You were stripped of any kind of superficial identity. I always grew up as just me. I could take care of myself in most fist fights. I was a good athlete. I had a good home life. I knew I was different from most kids and knew there was a norm but never really felt as though I had any identity issues.

I identify with being Korean since it is a big part of my life but have never only identified as that. I’ve had my problems like anybody else. I am totally American and am lucky I grew up here during the times I have lived. It would have been much worse to grow up half-Korean in Korea. I experienced a lot of negative stuff but the freedom of growing up in America was far more to my liking then the superficial Confucius Korean traditional crappy way of looking at life.

I’ve felt if you know your heritage, culture and history, you will be comfortable with yourself. You have to do the best to be yourself and part of the community you live in. Koreans have the racial identity problem in my mind.

What do people who meet/see you think your ethnicity is?
If it is a Caucasian person they usually think I’m Hawaiian. A lot of the times people think I’m Hispanic. When I was in construction, some of the workers would automatically approach me and speak Spanish to me. I speak Spanish and told them I wasn’t in their own language. Korean people just don’t think I’m Asian or Korean. I remember when I would go to Korea with my mom they would think I’m her bodyguard. If I’m in Hawaii a lot of people think I’m Hawaiian. When I fly on Hawaiian Airlines, the flight attendants speak Pigeon to me and I speak it back since I lived there for a long time when I was young. This is fine because my dad had lived there and spoke real Hawaiian well. And, my grandfather’s pen name “Dosan” was based on his first vision of Hawaii when he got there in 1902. I feel the most racially comfortable in Hawaii. I work in Hawaii on a project at UH. I go there once a month. I love it there.

When was the first and last time you have been to Korea?
The first time I went there was in November 1973. From 1973 until 1999 I probably made about 60 trips. I lived there for almost two years in the early 1990s. After 1999, I wasn’t making as many trips and have made about five recently. The last time I was there was in 2009, twice. I was supposed to go back a couple times but when the fucking communist idiots blew up the ship and bombed the island, I cancelled. On one trip I was trying to go to North Korea on one of these medical missions with a church group. After all that bombing and violence happened, I said forget it. I’ve never been to the North and wanted to see my grandfather’s hometown and learn whatever I could find out. Right in Pyongyang at the Taedong River, there is an island in the middle of the river and that is where my grandfather grew up. Later, he built a house outside of Pyongyang. I wonder if it is still there. I will go someday.

I have a project planned for November 2013 in Seoul. I will go there soon to deal with it.

As far as you know, does North Korea recognize your grandfather and his philosophies?
Yes, but at a very limited level. My grandfather’s sister was the Vice Chairwoman of the Women’s Worker party in 1948 in North Korea. But it was not Stalinist Communism it was more of a Socialism but Nationalism and way different. It would be like blasphemy for North Koreans to put Dosan on the same level as the South Koreans do. He deserves the recognition in both North and South. But, South Koreans are lip service too because if they really read his philosophies, the South Korean presidents would be much more honest. South Korean politics would make my grandfather very sad because of all the corruption. North Korea is corrupt and takes such bad care of its citizens. Corruption is still a major part of Korean character at all levels. Many Korean Americans are the same.

The North Korean CIA came here around 1990 tracking my mom down in Northridge. They were inviting the Ahn family to North Korea for Kim Il-Sung’s 80th birthday in 1992. The South Korean government ended up cutting that trip off because they didn’t want Dosan’s family to go to North Korea. The North Korean CIA agent said there is a painting of my grandfather somewhere in the main hall in the capital of Pyongyang. It is Dosan standing up on a stage giving a speech to a crowd and there is a young man standing up in the crowd supposedly asking Dosan a question. That young man is Kim Il-Sung. There was an incident in 1927 where Dosan was speaking at an underground anti-Japanese meeting when Kim Il-Sung was a young kid. Dosan was arrested by the Japanese. Kim Il Sung was supposedly the one who got Dosan out of jail. So, we were supposed to go to North Korea and thank him. At that time Kim Il Sung would have been twelve years old. Sounds like bull shit to me.

I used to stop and see Professor Dae-Sook Suh who was the head of Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii. I would see him on the many trips to Korea when I would stop by Hawaii on my way home. He told me about the painting story. He’s been to North Korea many times. He said he heard the story too and informed me it is told differently there… Kim Il-Sung is asking Dosan a question that he cannot answer. So, even though Kim Il-Sung recognizes Dosan as a great patriot, he is putting himself above Dosan because the “brilliant” Kim Il-Sung has asked the master patriotic philosopher Dosan a question that he cannot answer. What the hell?

There are many North Korean people who want Dosan’s teachings and they smuggle books into North Korea. Dosan wasn’t a communist. He was openly accused of being a communist by the dishonest cheat and murderer Syngman Rhee, but Dosan wasn’t. Dosan was truly into democracy.

There is still family there in North Korea who we’ve never seen. We have that same plight in life where Koreans have been cut off from relatives. My mom will never see those people. My mom and her cousins exchanged letters for a few years. It stopped after the Ahn family told the North Korean CIA we couldn’t go to the Kim Il-Sung birthday.

There was a lot of concern by the South Korean CIA and the US CIA. Kim Il Sung’s birthday is at the end of April and my grandfather’s death day is March 10th. So, the South Korean government invited the Ahn family to my grandfather’s death day memorial service in Seoul figuring that the family was too old to travel to South Korea and then come back to LA and then travel to China and to North Korea. They had never invited the family like that before and it was not a coincidence. The South Korean CIA found out what the North Korean CIA was up to here in the Valley. My life has always been influenced by Korean politics and Korean paranoia. So many Koreans have come into our house spewing nonsense and acting unethically. So many people come to us totally contradicting Dosan’s philosophy of being honest. It’s usually not pleasing when Korean politicians or community want-to-be big shots show up.

Being Dosan’s grandson is like watching a three ring circus, I should write a book about all the fucked up people I have met over the years. I can’t tell you how many people have sat in our living room and tried to feed us opportunistic bull shit. Government people, teachers, moksa’s, scholars, young and old have come into Dosan’s world like wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing. Makes my Irish blood boil. It would be easy to fill the pages.

Ahn Family Historian/Korean & Korean American History/Surfer

For those that don’t know, share with us about the Ahn family and the significance to Korean & Korean-American community.
My grandfather is one of the most meaningful historical figures in modern Korean history. His philosophy of life is clearly a good plan – for any race. Koreans have censored his ideals because they contradict the way Korean government rules its people. A lot of people think he just participated in the Independence Movement – freeing Korea from the Japanese. He originally started out to reform Korea because he thought the Confucian traditions and a lot of the traditional Korean ways were thoroughly backwards. His Christian missionary education opened him up to Western thought. He wanted to reform Korea in many ways. He even had issues with the honorific form of speaking Korean. He wanted to abolish it. Dosan wanted to have everybody spoken to with respect but you had to earn that respect you didn’t just automatically get it as granted by Confucius style of social order. But, he didn’t give up on productive Korean traditions. He taught Korean culture and language to people but there were just some things that were indeed backwards about it. He’s kind of like the George Washington or the Gandhi of Korea. Even in the United States, and especially here in Los Angeles, people recognize his legacy. They just put a plaque up at Ellis Island in the museum to recognize the 100th year of his entry into New York. He had come through San Francisco in 1902. But, on September 9, 1911 he came in to New York. The Ellis Island Museum was going to have a ceremony but they didn’t because the 9/11 anniversary, which makes sense. There is the main freeway interchange here in downtown LA named after him. He deserves all that stuff as he basically opened the door for democracy and developed the basis of the constitution for the South Korean government. That was in the early 1900s. His contributions and sacrifice for Koreans goes on and on. He went to jail at least six times to save Korea from the Japanese. Sometimes I wonder if his sacrifice was worth it. When I deal with Korea and Korean Americans it seems they have forgotten what he did for them. Without Dosan Korea would have never survived Japanese Imperialism. That’s a bold statement – but, it’s true.

Dosan’s whole philosophy is about honesty, ethics and being a good person and responsible leader, if you can. My grandparents came to America in 1902. By the way, the Korean Centennial is total bull shit. The whole 2003 recognition of the first Koreans coming to America is a lie. Dosan and my grandmother were the first married Korean couple to come to the United States which happened before 1903. 165 people of Korean heritage came to America before 1903. With a few other people, my grandparents were basically the nucleus of the beginning of the Korean American community. Dosan organized the community in America and did a lot of work here. He started churches, schools and the very first Korean organization in the United States was started by him in San Francisco.

My uncle Philip, whom I’m named after, was a big part of the Independence Movement as a kid. Because my grandfather was gone Philip became the father figure of the family. So Tom Coffman made this movie called Arirang years ago for the Centennial celebration, which was a bunch of bullshit. Coffman said that my uncle wanted to be a movie actor out of desperation because it was a way to support the family. My other uncle Ralph is in the interview and doesn’t say anything about the bogus statement and that pissed me off more. My uncle Philip used to put on plays and stuff when he was in grade school. At Central Junior High he was into acting and at Belmont High School he was in the “Mask & Sandal” club which was a drama club. He always wanted to be an actor as his profession. So, a lot of people are mixed up about that thanks to the idiotic production by Tom Coffman and the Korean Centennial clowns. Philip was truly a good actor. He has a star on Hollywood Boulevard. He made hundreds of movies and TV shows. They gave him a lead role in Hollywood in the late 30s in a movie called “Big Sky” which was a first. When people talk about Asians in the industry they don’t understand how World War II stopped any of the progress made by Asian actors. Philip got into the war propaganda films and played the evil Japanese lieutenant and all in those kinds of movies. He also did a lot of work for the Korean government and helped start Korean businesses. He was the bridge. Talk about racism, he experienced a lot of it. However, because he was a movie actor even American government and politicians sought him out to do campaigning. He was the honorary mayor of Panorama City, where his restaurant the famous “Moongate” was located from 1954 to 1990. He was a unique person. I’m always dissapointed that when they have these Asian actor and entertainment awards they overlook him every year. I’ve complained, but I don’t know why Asians spit in his face and overlook his talent and contributions to the entertainment industry. There is a book out on him called “Hollywood Asian.” When you did see him in films or on TV he was actually a good actor. He also helped out the Korean government in having a little class. Korea was an agricultural based backward country and all of a sudden these people are in Washington D.C. and other big American cities not knowing how to act. Philip helped out making many sacrifices for Koreans.

My mom was also involved in the Independence Movement. She was an athlete as a kid which was not accepted. She lived contrary to Korean tradition and even American tradition for women at the time. Because Japanese had taken her country and killed Dosan, her father, she joined the Navy right after Pearl Harbor. She was the first Asian woman in the US Navy. She was one of the first women LINK flight simulator training operators. She was the first woman gunnery officer in the Navy. My mom is tiny, so can you imagine her teaching fighter pilots how to shoot a 50 caliber machine gun? During this time she had to go to Atlanta, Florida and all these places where people had never seen an Asian person before. She then went into Navy Intelligence in Washington DC. In many places she had to do the “Rosa Parks” thing where she would have to go to the back of the bus. Sometimes the bus drivers would be confused whether she had to sit with the whites or blacks. She would always sit in the back with the blacks. She went to the segregated bathrooms because she was colored, although not black nor white either. There was no other choice as it was a “white” world. If you wanted to curl up and cry about being discriminated against you were going nowhere. In those days you had to be hard-core to survive. If you were a whiner like people are today you did not progress.

At first, they weren’t even going to let her in the Navy until someone found out it was because of her race and had threatened some kind of action to publicize it. The Navy back tracked and let her in. My mom was tough enough to challenge the Navy. After the Navy, she went into the National Security Agency. One thing she was in charge of was the Russian division during the Cold War. She had a few hundred people working under her. The other thing with her legacy is that recognition of her achievements from Koreans is overlooked because she was a woman. If she was a man, she’d have more recognition from the Korean government. She retired from the NSA after she had us and wanted to be a mom not a government spy anymore.

My uncle Philip and aunt Soorah had started a restaurant in the San Fernando Valley in Panorama City, called Phil Ahn’s Moongate. There were no Chinese restaurants at the time, so it was a big hit and a really nice place with great food. So, my mom went to work there and worked there for a long time. My mom was always involved with our school stuff, like “mother’s club” and organizing fundraisers. In the social world, she led a very active life and knew how to maneuver and never let any racism or bull shit from Koreans stop her.

Both of my parents were in the military and had military minds so I went to a military academy. I have an interesting and rich heritage.

You had mentioned that your grandmother was initially not accepting of your parent’s marriage. Growing up how close were you to her and your other Korean family?
Ironically, I was really close to my grandmother and basically was her favorite. I think two things influenced that. One was she felt sorry that she had a racist attitude at first and she knew I was going to have problems being mixed and, maybe more so, being Dosan’s grandson. She could already see that when we went to picnics and stuff that I didn’t fit in completely. The other reason being I was the only grandson she got to closely care for. I spent years growing up with her.

I was close to my uncle Philip but he died when I was just starting to understand more about my heritage. I think I was in college at the time and that is usually when you start thinking about your roots more sincerely. I could see that it was time to start paying more attention to the details. I used to do a lot of stuff with him. I had lived with him and my grandmother at his house.

My uncles Philson and Ralph hated me because my grandmother would protect me and I could just about do anything I wanted. I remember one instance when we went with the Korean community to the beach to catch crabs and pick abalone. I had found some crabs and put them in a bucket and didn’t want to put them in the back. I cried and had a fit when Uncle Philson said no. My grandmother said to just let me do whatever I wanted to. So, I fell asleep and the bucket of crabs fell over in the back of my uncle’s new car. My uncle had a brand new station wagon and some crabs crawled up into the dashboard. Because they couldn’t find them all they died and stunk the whole car up. My grandmother was very protective of me. My uncle Philson even told me that story because he remembered that he was so pissed off at me.

My aunt Soorah is still alive and is 95. She is another character. She ran a gambling house for the Mafia in Chicago. She worked with this Korean gambler who was connected to Al Capone. That was how she got the money to start the Moongate restaurant. That is another wild story.

Nowadays, my uncle Ralph and I don’t even speak. We are at odds over the Ahn Chang Ho legacy and how he is handling it. My mom is too old to do stuff and my uncle and I had it out, face to face, a while ago. If there is one bad relationship in the family, it is him and I. He’s weak when it comes to protecting the integrity of Dosan’s legacy. He let dishonest Korean opportunists walk all over him because he did not study his father’s story very well nor did he study Korean history. He let a lot of Korean con artist mediocre scholars tell him what to say and do.

I’m the only one from my generation that’s even involved with the Korean community. My sister is a little bit because of me and because our mom is so involved. She also had a real good relationship with Uncle Philip. For some reason, our cousins who are “full” Korean are not as interested. You know they all have jobs and lives and stuff. It is also a burden to try and deal with all the fakes who use Dosan’s name for personal gain. It actually sucks most of the time. There is a big difference between the Pioneer Generation Koreans and the South Korean immigrants.

My uncle Philip was the oldest, born in 1905. Philson was next, born in 1912 then my mom in 1915. My aunt Soorah as born in 1917 and Ralph, the last one, was born in 1926. Ralph never saw my grandfather Dosan because Dosan left in 1926 when my grandmother was pregnant and never came back.

Who is the eldest of the grandchildren?
My uncle Philson had a son from his first marriage, Robert, who I think is 63 and he lives in Hawaii. My sister is next and is 61. There is another cousin Pam who is a little older than me. Then it is me and then a cousin named Wesley who is five years younger than me. Then there is Ralph’s daughters, Sari and Sue, who I think are in their 40s.

What role do you play in maintaining the family history?
It’s an odd role for me. Growing up at my grandmother’s house I watched my uncle Philip be the lead guy. When he died it got dumped into my mom’s lap because she was more involved and spoke Korean the best out of the surviving children. Her job at NSA, to a certain extent, gave her an archivist kind of vision and she started organizing information and stuff. So living with her and having to help her go through the Dosan and my grandmother’s documents, photos and belongings, one day I realized how important our family history was to Korean heritage. It was 1987 and I had worked on some 5000 items that we donated to a Korean museum. Knowing what we know now about Korean scholars we would not have made the donation. Anyway, we had started in 1984 and had sent it to Korea. I helped catalogue the collection. I knew the artifacts were important and that my grandfather was important. When I went to the Korean Independence Hall in 1987 I saw this huge impressive facility. The magnificence of this historical museum impressed me. To go into it and see the seven different pavilions you can go through to see Korean history I saw how important Dosan was. When I was at Yonsei I would recommend to students and visitors to go through there because you could learn a lot about Korean history in just a few hours. You could see how my grandfather’s pictures and artifacts fit into the pavilions in the museum. He was actually in three different pavilions because what he did was involved in three different themes of what the history Korea was trying to present to the nation. That’s when I realized how extremely important what my grandfather did was.

I have cut back on a lot of involvement in Korean matters because of my work with biomed stuff.

One of the things I’m working on now is proving that he wrote the national anthem. Koreans are not recognizing him for it. Yun Chiho (윤치호) was a principal that my grandfather’s selected for a school he started in Pyongyang called Taesang Academy. They used to sing the national anthem everyday and so people think since Yun Chiho was the principal that he wrote it. He never wrote any music. My grandfather wrote a lot of music and there are even copyrighted songs here in America that he wrote. The head of the Korean CIA, the Ahn-gi-boo (안기부), gave me a laminated document of a newspaper clipping and a copy of the song saying that my grandfather wrote it. I asked him why these people won’t put his name on and he said it is all political. If they put his name on it, it just elevates him above all the other patriots. There is this movement in Korea to keep him from being as recognized as much as he should be recognized.

Why do you think that is?
I think it is because he was too Westernized and democratic. Looking at his ideals on leadership, you can see how it’s contradictory to Korea’s style of pseudo democracy. Syngman Rhee is the biggest historical problem to begin with. Lee Myung-bak (이명박) just put Rhee’s statue up again last August. Students had torn it down when they overthrew Rhee in the 60s. They have a revisionist history movement in Korean politics now and are honoring a lot of bad people who were previously excluded. The Korean activists involved in the 60’s anti-Rhee demonstrations are wondering what is going on. Koreans have manipulated history and Dosan’s legacy to fit their needs not true history or Dosan’s teaching. Even President Lee Myung-bak is a person who has manipulated the teachings of my grandfather. President Lee is a liar and a corrupt leader like all the other presidents have been.

All my Korean-ness revolves around me being kind of like a watchdog. Even though my grandfather was a great Korean patriot, I don’t really do it because he is Korean. I do it because he is my grandfather. That is where it becomes personal and people just don’t understand. Newspaper reporters come over here and ask me some of the most asinine questions. They don’t agree with my opinions but they don’t look at it from my personal point of view. Korean and Korean American journalism is a joke, anyway. The Korean press is so censored and contrived.

My Uncle Ralph made an interesting comment stating that he had never seen his father and that he was a picture on a wall. I can understand because I have never met my grandfather but I have studied a lot about him so in that context, he was a picture on a wall that I took down and put in my hands and studied. My uncle, on the other hand, just looked at that picture on the wall and never studied Korean history. I’ve actually built a website and there have been multiple books that I’ve worked on. I’ve done a lot that people may not know because I don’t advertise that I’m doing all this stuff. A lot of people only hear me when I’m ranting and raving. Plus, if I spoke Korean fluently it’d be a lot different. Learning Korean made me angrier as I heard more stupid things people were saying about Dosan, Korean history and about me. I gave up speaking Korea pretty much. Also, being half Korean throws a whole other curveball to the whole deal.

Over the years, what kind of reaction have do you usually get from people when they learn who your grandfather and family is and the fact that you are a mixed Korean?
It’s a generational thing. When I speak with high school and college kids, it’s always a more open exchange of information and I am who I am. With the older generation it is a nightmare. This one guy, Suh Young Hoon, who was the vice-president of the Korean Red Cross and president of KBS TV for a while, took me to a Dosan Memorial Foundation board of directors meeting when I lived in Seoul. My older full Korean cousin Robert was there too. He had us both stand up. I had been there studying and had been in their faces for years because they were not upholding Dosan’s democratic ideals. So he looks at Robert and tells him that Koreans wished he would be doing what I was doing because he had full Korean blood. It was a direct strike at me being half. My cousin, who was not interested in Korean matters like me was working for the Army at the time. He had only been to Korea a couple times. He just looked at them and said, “I might have the blood but that Philip (me) has the spirit so you are stuck with him. I’m happy doing what I do.”

A lot of these people have bull shitted the public about my grandfather and how much they know about his life and teachings. With me, I don’t give a crap what I say because if I feel it is the truth I’m going to say it. These people cringe when I’m around. It’s like this Hong Myung-ki guy – Mike Hong is his American stage name. I’m trying to get him erased out of the Dosan picture. He is a liar and has used Dosan in the worst way possible. I hate him. His father was a collaborator with the Japanese. While my grandfather was in prison his father is showing propaganda films for the Japanese and producing them. The Hongs became one of the richest families in Korea because they kissed the feet of the Japanese. The Hongs also interfered with my Uncle Philip when my uncle was trying to help develop the Korean film industry. This guy is now the head of the Dosan Memorial Foundation in the United States. He is such an opportunist. I have to deal with that kind of bull shit. Mike Hong is a business guy that has lots of money but is ethically bankrupt. That is the biggest problem with Koreans – money operates so much of their mentality. Also, the South Korean consul generals have no regard for the truth. It is just so pathetic the way the Korean government plays into the evil hands of opportunistic Korean Americans. Dosan is constantly abused as a stepping stone. He deserves better.

There was a murder years ago at Sunny Hills High School involving some Koreans. The administrators and some Koreans asked me to come down for cultural sensitivity talk between the Caucasians and the Koreans because I’m half. They felt I’m right in the middle so I can talk on both sides. We’re talking about racism and generalizations of culture and misunderstanding and all of this and they had a panel of us. Some Korean parent came up to me after the session and says that it is too bad that my last name is Cuddy. Meaning that if my last name was Ahn that it would have been better. I had just got finished talking about this stuff and I’m thinking some Koreans will never get it. I wanted to spit in her face. She did not hear a thing anyone said.

When I worked at Good Samaritan Hospital, we were having a meeting over the menu because they had put some Korean foods on the menu. I’m sitting right in the middle and not by design but by circumstance, all the Koreans were on the left side and all of the white people are on the right side. I’m sitting there in the middle laughing to myself. I talk to these guys about japchae (잡채), sweet potato noodles, and tell them that maybe we could introduce it to the menu because there a lot of people who order it at Korean restaurants and many who enjoy japchae are not Korean. When you are talking about Korean food, you want food that non-Koreans will eat because of your costs and all that kind of stuff. So I suggested this to Sodexo which is a huge nationwide industrial food company that handles meals for hospitals, hotels and schools. The area director is sitting there and I told him we could go get some samples or he could get it from one of these purveyors. He looks at me and says, “I’m not going to any mom and pop store to buy any Korean food.” This guy is so ignorant and was still thinking Koreans are involved in MASH. I was planning on having him meet with a major Korean supplier Ottugee which has a very large regional distribution center in East LA. People can’t get away from being egocentric and unaware.

Outside of maintaining family/Korean/Korean-American history, what is your current profession?
I now work with University of Hawaii commercializing some of their biomedical technology my company licensed. I am working with a biochemist developing treatment for jellyfish stings. We are working on getting a topical application and an IV treatment in the market. Jellyfish stings can be really nasty and painful. We work with the “box jellyfish” and some species can kill you in five minutes. It is amazing to learn about something so unique. It is very cutting edge stuff and I enjoy working in this area. It is much different than working in the Korean community and with Korean history. This work approaches the truth in a different way than how most people deal with truth. I am so busy and focused I don’t have time for Korean issues anymore. A lot of Koreans don’t understand why I say “no” when they ask me to do something I used to do or for something I used to give. Compared to most I have given Koreans and Korean Americans more than enough already. I am more committed to this biomed work than my Korean heritage these days. It has been a great opportunity for me and I am grateful for it.

I know a lot of jerks in LA who are glad I am not involved with Korean stuff and Dosan as much these days. Some of the things going on are absolutely dishonest and disgraceful. Koreans can be so disrespectful of the truth and capitalize on the gullible nature of people. It’s sad.

I know that you were heavily involved in the surfing industry at one time. Are you still surfing and involved in the industry?
I started surfing in Hawaii when I was 12. I was there with my parents and they wanted to go do something and looked for something to keep me busy. So, they took me down to Waikiki and put me on a surfboard. I’m still addicted 45 years later. I surf as much as possible. I love it.

I surfed in Korea in Jeju-do. In 1990, I surfed there and might have been the first one to surf there. The Korean Customs officers actually confiscated my surfboards because they only had seen windsurfers and there was no sail. So, at Kimpo airport they took my surfboards and locked them up in customs. I had to call a friend of my mom in the South Korean government to get them released. He felt very bad about the situation and got me a room at the Shilla – right above the surf break.

I actually worked in the industry making surfboards when I was really young. After I got out of high school, I didn’t go to college and went to the North Shore of Hawaii and lived there for a while. I surfed the North Shore every winter from 1974 to 1988. I rode some big waves over there but nothing like the guys who ride the real big waves today. I had a great time and it was fun. It was a lot different than now and a lot less commercialized. I could have never gotten into surfing if I grew up in Korea.

Later, I got into running surf contests. I was president of a surf club a couple times out in Malibu. I have some awards from the Coastal Commission and the State Parks for cleaning up beaches in the Malibu area. I worked club contests at first and then did professional contests. I not only organized them but I was also a judge for 15 years for both amateur and pro short board and long board completion. During the last few years I was putting on clinics to teach people how to judge. I worked fundraising for Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times which was a camp for kids with cancer. The actual camp is up in Idyllwild. Basically, we had this contest with hundreds of surfers from all over California and we would raise money. After the contest, the entire camp came down to Leo Carrillo Beach. The surf club would take the kids into the water surfing, tide pooling, kayaking, we would give them lunch and all kinds of stuff so they could have this great beach experience. I did that for a long time. It’s still going on today, 22 years later. I volunteered for 12 years. I work with other surf related charity programs behind the scenes these days.

I had also worked for Seagram’s out of New York. I was an events operations director – but my whole deal was surfing. The main brand I was helping to build was Margaritaville tequila. So the programs that I worked on for two years raised the national sales for Margaritaville tequila. It got weird because we had a lot of young kids and alcohol sponsorship sent a mixed message. I quit the alcohol sponsorship and that was pretty much for making a living running contests.

I’ve always surfed and it is more fun since I don’t work with contests anymore. I was able to get back into just surfing. I keep boards in Hawaii and out in Malibu and try to surf every chance I get.

I’ve also worked in the surf clothing industry for a couple companies. I worked for Von Dutch, too.

Okay, we have to ask… How did your appearance on Bobby Flay’s BBQ with Bobby Flay come about?
I ran this group called the United Surfers Association and that was the biz we ran our contests under. We were listed in the phone book. I had just run a big contest in Malibu and I was sitting in my office on a Monday. This random lady calls me and asks me if this was a surfing company. I told her it was and she told me she was from some TV production office. I didn’t know who Bobby Flay was at the time. She told me they were looking for some surfers to do a barbecue and asked if I knew any surfers who barbecue. I told her: “Lady, we all do!” It’s part of the whole surf culture. She tells me that they are putting on a show and wanted some surfers who can barbecue. I told her that I can barbecue and asked her what they wanted me to cook. So we were talking and then I said how about kalbi Korean barbecue and that I’m half Korean. She said that they had never had kalbi before. This was around 2004 so it was when Bobby Flay’s show was just starting out. I asked her when they wanted to do this. She said how about tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning. This was at like 1:30 on Monday afternoon and she asked if I could round up about 5-6 people and, by the way, it is in Santa Barbara. What had happened was another group was scheduled to do the show but had dropped out, so I was just a last minute call. Santa Barbara is like an hour and a half away. I was thinking I surf at that spot but it was the wrong time of the year because it is a winter spot and it was in July at that time. Lucky enough it turned out to be sunny with rideable waves. I had to have at least one girl – preferably attractive. So, we agree and by 5pm I had rounded up the people for the show. Mary Osborne is a very beautiful pro woman surfer and the other guys were pro surfers. The only problem was that Mary was a vegetarian. However, she smelled the kalbi cooking with its savory aroma tasted the kalbi and loved the stuff! They didn’t pay us but they bought the food and all the beer we could drink. By the end of the filming, I was just shitfaced. If you carefully look at the clip you can tell the difference in the tone of my voice where I’m almost slurring my words. Bobby had a great time; we had a great time and it just all happened in a matter of hours. It is not my claim to fame, but every now and then someone will tell me, “You were on Bobby Flay.” It was fun and I enjoyed it.

A couple summers ago KAC LA had a big fund-raiser BBQ. One of the members knew I was on BBQ with Bobby Flay cooking kalbi on the beach in 2004 so KAC asked me to participate. I butchered, marinated and cooked 400 pounds of kalbi by myself to help KAC LA raise some funds. I sold it all in three hours and gave them KAC LA all the money. It was thousands. I think I gave more than any of the other food booths. It was fun but I doubt I would ever do it again.

Random:

What is your current relationship status and what do you look for in terms of relationships?
These days I’m too busy with jellyfish biz and work long hours by choice. I truly enjoy my work.

Taking care of my mom who is 97 limits my time in a big way, too. Plus, being a surfer has really made me a mess when it comes to committing to a date or a date with the waves. With the highly restricted free time I have if there is surf – I’m going to the beach. It seems like Hawaii has a lot more women who could deal with my lifestyle.

I’ve lived with a Caucasian girl for five years but the more involved I got with the Korean heritage it was harder for her. I’ve had some Korean girlfriends both here and in Korea. But, it’s hard being Dosan’s grandson and trying to be myself. Most Korean women can’t handle a free spirited surfer or that I was a construction worker or that I don’t have some sort of suit and tie job or sit behind a desk for a corporation. They think because I’m Dosan’s grandson I have money. I’m jaded.

I seriously talked about marriage with a Korean girlfriend in Seoul. Unfortunately, her father hated me because I was half. He absolutely forbid any marriage to a half-breed, He beat her up one night when she said she wanted to get married. I was bummed. I realized it was useless to keep fighting it. I was heartbroken for years.

I hope it would be cool to have a half Korean girlfriend. I have met a few I would like to get to know better. However, I meant it when I said I have no time. When I was in Korea, a lot of us half Koreans would hang out together. It was some of the best times I had in Korea. I think with the whole understanding of the situation of being half there was a lot of commonality. I think there are way more opportunities now for younger folks. When I was young I hardly met any half Korean women I could go out with.

Do you have any hobbies or interests that you do to relax?
I used to like to build stuff and liked wood work. I want to learn how to carve some day. I was always involved with community projects and volunteering for something, so that is kind of like my hobby. If I’m not surfing, I love to free dive and to swim. I used to go fishing but don’t really do much anymore.

Is there anybody in particular that you admire?
I don’t know if it is lessons of humility but when I was working with the kids with cancer I was in awe of some of these kids for their will to fight the fight. Some of them had the shittiest future in front of them and all the crap of dealing with going in and out of the hospital. When we got them on the beach they really felt alive. Some of them were terminal. In the beginning years of the beach day we lost a lot of them – about six out of ten dying before the next year. But, with better medicine things changed and about seven out of ten live. I know it changed my way of thinking. You never would think that us party hearty dead beat surfers would be community minded and able to interact with these kids. They were so appreciative.

I respect my family for what they went through and who they became. Dosan is a given – who could go to jail a half a dozen times, get tortured and still love Koreans. My grandmother was a true pioneer and may have loved me more than anyone I know. My Uncle Philip and my mom were as patriotic to Korea and America as anyone could be. My mom and dad really gave me a good life. They are all strong role models.

I respect a lot of people, believe it or not, as opinionated as I am. I met almost all Korea’s presidents, Clinton and Gore, famous Hollywood people, smart educators, and big biz folks, blah – blah- blah. But, I would still say those kids with cancer I got close to are who I admire most.

Do you like soju?
Yes, I enjoy soju. I actually like it better than beer.

Oh yeah, I had North Korean wine the other night at this doctor friend of mine’s house! He’s actually from the North and came here a long time ago and went there a few years ago on a medical mission. He brought back some bottles of this North Korean wine. It had this plastic (not even cork or a screw top) top that just inserted on top of the bottle. It was like somebody took rubbing alcohol and mixed it with grape juice but we drank it. We were laughing because it was so funny to be drinking North Korean wine. I wonder what the soju tastes like in North Korea.

What are some of your favorite websites?
I don’t really have many but my favorites would be the Surf Reports. I do a lot of research and I use the internet mainly for informational purposes. The Internet is a tool for working for me more than a social center. I try to stay away if I can.

I don’t have Facebook or Twitter and don’t really want to have them because I don’t want to be exposed to people I don’t know. I’m in a different mindset about social media.

Of course – www.halfkorean.com is a favorite.

How did you find out about HalfKorean.com and what did you think about HalfKorean.com when you first saw it?
God, I can’t even remember how I found it. I thought it was great and really cool to have website for us. It was and is meaningful to me. Thanks for all you have done to make this happen.

Any words that you would like to pass on to the mixed Korean community?
I would just say that you should try to be yourself and have the courage to speak out when you should. Fate chooses our relatives, we choose our friends. When I was younger there wasn’t many like us. It’s not always easy not to fit into the so-called norm. However, it is also great to be different than most everybody else. Regardless of what traditional Koreans want the world to be it is headed towards globalization. Ethnocentricity is not an acceptable way of thinking any longer. The mixing of races happens more and more each day. It’s just the evolution of society.

We want to thank Flip for taking the time to do this interview with us! We have known him for many years (pretty much since the beginning of this website!) and are extremely pleased to have finally had a chance to sit down for an interview.

If you are interested in learning more on Flip’s family, please check out the following websites: Dosan, Susan Ahn Cuddy and Philip Ahn.

Interview by: David Lee Sanders

Posted: 8/16/2012

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