edward taehan chang, a professor of ethnic studies and founding director of the young oak kim center for korean american studies at the university of california, riverside, has identified the la riots as a turning point for the development of a korean american identity separate from that of korean immigrants and that was more politically active. "what was an immigrant korean identity began to shift. the korean-american identity was born ... they learned a valuable lesson that we have to become much more engaged and politically involved, and that political empowerment is very much part of the korean-american future."