South Korea and Taiwan support for Maui relief effort

As Hawaii continues to grapple with the devastation of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, international aid is beginning to roll into the islands to support relief efforts on Maui after flames destroyed the historic town of Lahaina.

On Monday, the South Korean government announced it would contribute $2 million in aid for Maui and South Korean Consul General of Honolulu Lee Seo Young met with Lt. Gov. Silvia Luke on Wednesday.

As Lee met with Luke, the Taipei Economic &Cultural Office in Honolulu, Taiwan’s de facto consulate in Hawaii, announced that the Taiwanese government would be pledging a cash donation of $500,000 to the Hawaii Community Foundation to aid in Maui relief.

In a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the Republic of Korea’s Honolulu Consulate said that “the assistance is expected to help the Hawaii state government swiftly handle the aftermath of the disaster and Hawaii residents to return to their daily lives, and to contribute to deepening friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries.”

In media release sent out Wednesday, TECO noted that this year marks 30 years since establishing “sister state” relationship between Hawaii and Taiwan, paving the way for sister city and county relationships across the islands. Maui County has a sister county relationship with Taiwan’s Pingtung County, which like Maui, is a tropical region known for tourism and agriculture.

In its media release, TECO said “during the past 30 years, (the) two sides have worked together on areas of mutual interests and collaborative projects in many fields, including trade, culture, education, etc, which have benefited both sides as well as forged a closer and deeper friendship between the two peoples.”

A Korean official told the Star- Advertiser that $1.5 million of the South Korean pledge is in cash, and an additional $500,000 would be used to purchase drinking water, food blankets and other supplies from local Korean markets in Hawaii and deliver them to the state government for distribution.

Hawaii occupies a special place in the history of both countries.

Sun Yat-sen — the Chinese revolutionary who overthrew the Qing Dynasty and is regarded as the “father of Modern China” by both the governments in Beijing and in Taipei — moved to Hawaii at the age of 13 in 1878, where his older brother Sun Mei was working as a rice merchant and shopkeeper on Oahu.

Sun Yat-sen would graduate from ‘Iolani School before continuing his education in Hong Kong. Sun Mei moved to Maui where he opened the Kahului General Store and leased thousands of acres to establish the Sun Mei Ranch. Later, after Sun Yat-sen’s participation in a failed attempt to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, he and his family went into exile and returned to Hawaii to live on his brother’s Maui property.

Hawaii became a hub for Chinese revolutionary organizing, with Chinese businesses and groups across the islands raising money to support Sun Yat-sen’s fight against the Qing Dynasty until it was finally toppled in 1911. In its media release, TECO said Taiwan’s donation honors the “fondest memory of founding father Dr. Sun Yat-sen” and the history of both Honolulu and Maui as “revolution bases for the Republic of China, the first republic in Asia.”

The South Korean Consulate said in its statement to the Star- Advertiser that the Korean aid package carries “particular significance” because Hawaii is the place where Korean immigration to the United States began in 1903.

The first Koreans came to Hawaii to work the plantations, but the islands would soon become a destination for Korean revolutionaries fleeing Imperial Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula and became a hotbed for the Korean independence movement. One of those exiled revolutionaries, Syngman Rhee, would become the Republic of Korea’s controversial first president.

Hawaii is still deeply linked to both Taiwan and South Korea. According to the most recent data from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, South Korea is Hawaii’s No. 2 source of international imports and No. 6 international export market, while Taiwan is Hawaii’s No. 10 source of international exports and No. 9 international export market.

“The United States sent 1.8 million military service members, of which 37,000 lost their lives to defend the Republic of Korea during the Korean War,” Lee told the Star-Advertiser. “Since then, the alliance between the ROK and U.S. has contributed to the Republic of Korea becoming the 10th largest economic power in the world.”

The Maui fires began on the morning of Aug. 8 amid a mixture of dry conditions and strong winds from Hurricane Dora to the south. The powerful winds spread the flames extremely rapidly, straining Maui’s firefighting resources as firefighters battled multiple wildfires across the island simultaneously. Firefighting efforts continue on Maui and the death toll in Lahaina is expected to rise as authorities keep searching for human remains.

Droughts and storms are becoming more commonplace in the Hawaiian Islands and around the world as global temperatures rise.

In its statement, the South Korean Consulate said that “amid the deepening humanitarian crisis triggered by increasing damage from fires caused by climate change and the growing demand for international cooperation over the crisis, the Korean government will take part in the efforts to resolve global issues and will continue to contribute to disaster relief operations overseas in order to fulfill its vision to become a global pivotal state.”

TECO said that through “donations to international collaborations in fighting climate change and various challenges for the globe, the government of Taiwan will keep practicing the spirit of ‘Taiwan Can Help,’ and Taiwan is helping.”