June 12, 2000
Web posted at: 5:00 p.m. EDT

(CNN) – "Ten Thousand Sorrows" is the narrative of the Korean War and its effects through the eyes of a child. After her mother was hanged in an "honor killing" for lying with an American, Kim found herself left like refuse on the steps of a Seoul orphanage. Shunned for her Western features in Korea and ostracized for her Asian features in the United States, the child finds herself caught between two worlds, a stranger on an uncertain journey and years from a safe haven.

Elizabeth Kim is a journalist living in California. Struggling with ten-hour workdays and writing nights to finish her book, she found looking into the past difficult and at times almost gave up on the project. One day, she hopes to return to the land of her birth.

Chat Moderator: Welcome to Korea Chat, Elizabeth Kim.

Elizabeth Kim: Good Morning and thank you, everyone, for joining us here.

Chat Moderator: Please tell us about your book, "Ten Thousand Sorrows."

Elizabeth Kim: It is a book, a memoir, about a cataclysmic event from which everything else has sprung. That was the killing of my mother by members of her family when I was a child. From there, I went to an orphanage and a new life of travails in America.

The book is intended to be homage to this woman who lived and died unknown, but who had such a powerful force of good in my life.

Chat Moderator: Do you remember anything about your mother? What was she like?

Elizabeth Kim: I remember quite a bit. I remember spending quite a bit of time with her puttering in the rice fields, and working in our tiny home. The memory that is the clearest is, despite our isolation from the rest of society, she created a very loving world for just the two of us.

Question from Henry: Where in the U.S. did you settle?

Elizabeth Kim: I settled in the Southwest, and I am not any more specific than that simply because I want to protect the privacy of my adoptive parents.

Chat Moderator: Writing this book must have been very emotional and difficult. Why did you want to write it?

Elizabeth Kim: A good question. I never actually intended to write a memoir, but someone who knew something of my life story approached me.

At the time, I was working ten-hour days at a newspaper and writing a book in the middle of the night and on weekends. There were many times I would have quit the project, if I didn't have a contract signed.

Chat Moderator: Were you depressed as a child growing up in such a repressive adoptive family, or did you maintain hope that you would have a happy life eventually?

Elizabeth Kim: I have been extremely depressed all of my life. It has only been recently that hope has become a strong factor. But, as a child, literature kept me sane and kept my eyes focused on a world in which other people suffered and still triumphed.

Question from Henry: Would you have rather stayed in Korea?

Elizabeth Kim: Oh no. I feel very fortunate to be where I am today.

Chat Moderator: Do you have any contact or knowledge about your Korean family?

Elizabeth Kim: No. When they took me to the orphanage, they said that they didn't know my name or when I was born. So there is no record of any family members and no way for me to find them even if I wanted to.

And obviously none of us want a family reunion.

Question from Cachaos: Ms. Kim, do you believe the outcome of the talks between the North and South will be a closer relationship, and reconciliation?

Elizabeth Kim: I am not qualified to answer questions about the politics of Korea.

Question from Marduke: Any particular literary character? There are so few strong women in books?

Elizabeth Kim: I wasn't even looking for a woman role model. I was simply looking for experiences of other human beings, who were lonely and still found happiness, eventually.

And so for that need, Dickens and Shakespeare and Austin became my favorites as a child.

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Question from I: I am working on a memoir of my mother's experience during the Korean War. Do you have any suggestions for getting it published?

Elizabeth Kim: I wish you all the best, but because the deal for my memoir just fell into my lap unexpectedly and unlooked for, I don't have any hopeful tips that I can pass along. I wish I did.

Question from Henry: Have you been back there since you were a child?

Elizabeth Kim: Not yet. I definitely plan to go. But now, for the first time in my life, I can actually afford the trip. So I am just waiting until I know I will not have a nervous breakdown when the plane lands.

Chat Moderator: Tell us about your present career as a journalist.

Elizabeth Kim: Journalism just fell into my lap as well. I was looking for a job where I could take my daughter with me. I found that at a small weekly newspaper, discovered that I loved writing.

I found my calling, and just gradually it worked out that I went to larger and larger newspapers.

I think everyone takes something different from the book depending on his or her own viewpoints and life experiences. I am very happy with each individual experience in the book. It is simply the chronicle of my life. If people find things in it that are meaningful or relevant for them, I am very happy.

Chat Moderator: Thank you for joining us today!

Elizabeth Kim: Thank you very much.

Ms. Elizabeth Kim joined our chat via telephone from San Francisco. CNN provided a typist for her. The above is an edited version of the transcript.