Newswatch

By Star-Bulletin Staff

Wednesday, October 2, 1996

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Dong Kang, the first Korean national to sail around the world, gets a hug from his mom, Oh Kyung Pun, on his arrival yesterday at the Waikiki Yacht Club after a 2 1/2-year voyage.
Photo by Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin

To become the first Korean national to sail solo around the world, the 27-year-old Kang had to overcome an emotional challenge greater than anything he faced at sea.

Twenty-six days after leaving Hawaii on March 21, 1994, Kang arrived in Pago Pago, American Samoa, where he learned that his father, Shin Dae Kang, had committed suicide in the wake of the South Central Los Angeles riots.

Haunted by the feeling that his father might still be alive had he not gone sailing, Kang lost his desire to resume the odyssey after returning home to Los Angeles for the funeral.

"It broke me up," he said. "I really got down on myself."

But his mother, Oh Kyung Pun, and supporters encouraged him to continue and he took up the challenge again two months later.

On Aug. 4, he left Balboa for Honolulu on the last leg of his 30,000 nautical mile adventure. Kang arrived at Hawaii Yacht Club to the cheers of about 30 flag-waving supporters at 4:35 p.m.

Overcoming his father's death, Kang said, "had to be the biggest obstacle. But the only way to pay my father back for all that he did for me was to be here."

Among those who greeted Kang was Brian "BJ" Caldwell, who completed his solo world voyage last Saturday.

The Hawaii Medical Service Association is a partner in the Queen's/HMSA Premier Plan, which will be available Nov. 1, pending approval by the state insurance commissioner.

For most Oahu residents, care would be provided by the 485 physicians in the Queen's group and hospitalization would be at Queen's Medical Center. But the plan would provide coverage by a state wide network totaling 800 physicians and the services of other hospitals.

In comparison, the services of about 2,000 Hawaii physicians are available under HMSA's established preferred provider plan.

Police are seeking to charge the Wilikina Drive juvenile - identified as the infant's father - as an adult, with first-degree assault.

He was baby-sitting his daughter for three hours Aug. 6 while the child's mother, 15, and grandmother went shopping, police said.

Upon their return, the father showed the child's mother a large bruise on the left side of the infant's face. When questioned by the child's mother, he told her the cat had scratched the baby. He later changed his story saying a friend was watching the child and was responsible for bruising her, the affidavit said.

He then said he had dropped the infant while reaching for a videotape on the floor and also admitted to biting her.

The baby was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital and later transferred to Ka piolani Hospital. A doctor who examined the infant discovered bleeding in her brain, separated retinas causing blindness, fractured ribs and a leg and a bite mark on her right cheek.

The doctor also said the child was expected to suffer permanent brain damage and that the extent could not be determined until she is older. A Circuit Court judge waived jurisdiction over the teen-age father Monday. He faces assault charges as an adult.

Police/Fire


By Star-Bulletin staff

The husband, 33, was booked for investigation of attempted murder. Their 11-year-old daughter witnessed the incident, police said.

His wife was asleep when he arrived home around 1 a.m., but he began arguing with her and twisting her legs, police said. When she threatened to call police, he allegedly began choking her until she lost consciousness. He left home and was arrested upon his return.

The woman was treated at St. Francis-West Hospital.

She died at the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center yesterday, police said.

Her passenger, a 24-year-old woman, and the other driver, a 25-year-old man, are both in fair condition at Queen's Hospital.

The woman was headed north on Lualualei Homestead Road about 6:25 a.m. yesterday when the pickup truck crossed the center line and collided head-on with her car, police said.