UNDERSTANDING THE RIOTS--SIX MONTHS LATER : Touched by Fire / A Legacy of Pain and Hope : THE VICTIMS : Emotional and Physical Scars Are Slow to Heal

For many Californians, the riots were more than a momentary blip on the screen--they were a flash point for lasting and fundamental changes in their lives. The devastation left a legacy of broken dreams for many, awakened a sense of social justice in some, unleashed anger and hatred in others, and rekindled a spirit of hope among others. Six months after the riots, Times reporters visited some of the people and places touched by the extraordinary events of last spring and on these pages we tell their stories.

On the lot where Nate’s Liquors & Deli burned to the ground, a “For Sale” sign stands in bright yellow and brown, surrounded by a chain- link fence with yet another notice:

“Private Property. No Trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted: P.C. 602.”

Young-Soon Han, a refined-looking widow of 51 who used to own and operate Nate’s, at 8th Street and Vernon Avenue, appears forlorn beside the forbidding notice. She shakes her head and speaks softly, the words pouring out in a torrent of frustration.

“Even if I could get a loan, I can’t go back. My landlady doesn’t want to rebuild. She is 74 years old and she says it’s too much trouble to deal with the government trying to get a loan. So she wants to sell the lot and forget about it.”

Six months after the riots, Han--like many of the more than 200 merchants of Korean ancestry whose businesses were destroyed--has entered a twilight zone of uncertainty, sadness and loss.

In 1988, Young-Soon and her late husband, Sam-Kwon Han, opened Nate’s with the money they had earned during their nearly two decades in Los Angeles. A registered nurse, she had worked at St. Vincent and Westside hospitals until 3 1/2 years ago, when she quit to help her husband run the market. Shortly afterward, her husband became ill.

Since they were childless and lived frugally, the couple had by 1980 acquired a comfortable three-bedroom home at the edge of Hancock Park. In the next eight years, they saved enough to manage a sizable down payment to take over the operation of Nate’s. The rest they borrowed from a Korean bank. Business was brisk and the Hans, who had been high school sweethearts back in Taegu, their hometown, in South Korea, felt quite content with their life in Los Angeles.

Then, in January, 1989, Sam-Kwon Han’s cancer was diagnosed. Eight months later he was dead. With the help of a cousin and other family members, Young-Soon Han continued to operate the business.

“I felt as though my whole world was taken away from me with my husband’s death,” Han recalled. “People used to call us lovebirds because my husband and I were inseparable.”

She was still mourning his death 2 1/2 years later when looters burned her market to the ground after pillaging it on the night of April 29.

“I closed the store early and came home when neighbors warned me crowds were gathering 20 blocks away. That evening one of my customers called me and gave me a blow-by-blow description of what was happening. I had good relations with my customers. When I visit the neighborhood now, they hug me and ask, ‘When are you coming back?’

“Sure, occasionally, I had a few who tried to stir up trouble. But that was rare. I remember some kids came to the store and demanded, ‘Are you a U.S. citizen?’ When I told them I was a U.S. citizen long before they were born, they left without saying anything. Another time, a group of youngsters came and said, ‘You charge too much and probably don’t even pay taxes.’ So I told them I pay enough taxes to support a whole family.”

She was helped by her familiarity with the language, customs and culture, learned during her years as a nurse. Yet, that goodwill wasn’t enough to save her store when rioters targeted Koreans.

Since her market was destroyed, Han has joined a riot victims’ group, visiting with them every day. She hates to go home because it reminds her of all her problems.

In the weeks after the riots, “I was out until 2 and 3 o’clock in the morning with other victims. Nobody wanted to go home. We went to Piper’s on Western and drank coffee until the wee hours because we couldn’t afford anything more expensive. This is how we tried to get rid of the stress. A man in our group kept talking about killing himself. . . .

“I don’t know how I’m going to manage when the unemployment benefits stop coming this month. FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) will pay my mortgage through the end of November. But I’ve got to pay for food and utilities too. I feel like a beggar. . . .

“The tragedy of the riots is that people just don’t understand or care. Politicians use Korean-owned liquor stores as an excuse to cover up their shortcomings. They blame liquor stores for crime. Well, there are hundreds of fewer liquor stores since the riots, but the crime rate keeps increasing.

“I can’t even go back because my landlady won’t let me. Everything I had I put into that store--I didn’t even have a savings account. I lost everything--$450,000.”

Han had a $70,000 insurance policy on the store’s inventory but learned post-riot that she cannot collect because the company--supposedly headquartered in Ireland--is not licensed by the state.

“The agent from whom I bought the insurance is not around anymore. I get nowhere with the state Insurance Commission. If the victims were white, would the government get away with this?”

Han has applied for a Small Business Administration loan, hoping to start business again somewhere else. But the prospect of assuming a 30-year loan frightens her.

“I don’t think I’ll live another 30 years. But I have nothing left, so I have to try, just to survive. The last thing I want is to lose my home. I want to die in my house--I have so many memories.”

A few hours later, Han was held up in her driveway in broad daylight by a young man who held a gun to her head. “Just turn over your purse and don’t say a word or I’ll shoot,” he said. She complied.

“Perhaps the robbery was a way of letting me become less attached to my house in the event I end up losing it. After losing my husband, the store and the robbery, I don’t know what more I can lose. I just leave everything up to God.”