‘Free Chol Soo Lee’

How young Korean immigrant’s wrongful conviction led to pan-Asian American movement

Born in 1952 in Seoul during the turmoil of the 1950-53 Korean War, Chol Soo Lee had no idea what would lay ahead of him when he was yanked away from his homeland at the mere age of 12 to be reunited with his mother in San Francisco.

Growing up in the city’s Chinatown as “the only Korean” kid with no English communication skills, Lee soon fell into the isolated life of a youth at risk, moving from foster homes to a juvenile hall and even a psychiatric facility at one point.

But it was in 1973 when the life of the self-described “young street punk” turned upside-down, following the news of the killing of Yip Yee Tak, an alleged local gang member in Chinatown.

The documentary, “Free Chol Soo Lee,” charts the complex story of the then-20-year-old Korean immigrant who was racially profiled and wrongfully convicted of murder after a questionable police investigation and eyewitness testimonies given by white tourists.

Using ample archival footage, firsthand accounts and narration drawn from Lee’s own writings, directors Julie Ha and Eugene Yi follow Lee as he is swiftly sentenced to life behind bars — and later put on death row — and struggles to survive in what was known as one of the most violent prisons in California.

It then moves on to another watershed moment in Lee’s life in 1977: his fateful encounter with Kyung Won Lee, “the only Korean reporter in the mainstream (American) media” at the time.

With keen eyes, journalist Lee launches what turns out to be a fiveyear-long investigative report on the case, exposing racial bias and injustice in the U.S. criminal justice system, including the fact that the police and the judge had misidentified the young inmate as “Chinese.”

But the film doesn’t limit itself to discussing Lee’s story in the judicial context alone. Instead, it further delves into how the case ushered in an extraordinary grassroots social justice campaign that united the intergenerational Asian American community to advocate for his fair retrial — a largely forgotten historical chapter in present-day U.S. society.

From conservative, elderly immigrants to third-generation student activists, the community joined forces to lead a landmark pan-Asian American movement from the late 1970s to the early 1980s until a retrial was granted in 1982.

On March 28, 1983, after spending nearly a decade behind bars, Lee was freed.

During her recent interview with NPR, the documentary’s co-director, Ha, explained that it was Lee’s funeral in 2014 and her conversation with activists, who fought together to win his freedom decades earlier, which eventually drove her to capture the case in film.

“It was our generational responsibility to tell it and that we could not allow it to stay lost in history. It needed to be known and told anew,” she was quoted as saying.

Amid the rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) following the COVID-19 outbreak, Ha expressed hope for viewers to take inspiration from the documentary’s portrayal of the collective resistance movement led by the Asian American community.

“That’s such a powerful statement and act, and I think it’s definitely something we need to hear today,” she said.

“Free Chol Soo Lee,” which has been acquired by global streaming platform, film distributor and production company Mubi, will premiere in New York City on Aug. 12, followed by a special one-night-only screening in more than 180 theaters across the country on Aug. 17. After the event, it is scheduled to roll out gradually in other select local theaters in the U.S.