Less than two weeks after meeting at a World Cup watch party in Koreatown, Nate Yi and Peter Kim have become something like family.
Kim, a 70-year-old knife and scissor sharpener, has spent decades driving and biking around Koreatown looking for customers. Now he calls 38-year-old Yi to chat about his day and catch up.
Sometimes Kim rambles, recounting even the smallest details of his day — conversations that can last for hours — but Yi listens because, he says, he simply wants to make sure Kim is happy.
Their friendship has also filled a void Yi didn’t realize he was missing.
Both of Yi’s grandfathers died before he was born, he said. Years ago, his mother encouraged him to travel to Korea after graduating from college, a trip that helped the Korean American learn enough of the language to communicate comfortably. Then three years ago, his mother died.
To Yi, it feels like everything is connected.
“Not having a grandpa, and then my mom playing a part in me connecting with my culture, and then him being both,” Yi said.
“It feels like I’ve known him my whole life,” Yi said. “We get along. Simply put, I don’t overthink it. I just ride the wave and I’m just being nice to him and trying to take care of him and check in on him.”
Since meeting Kim, Yi has listened to him over the phone, but also helped raise nearly $20,000 in a GoFundMe campaign.
He wants to support the neighborhood elder and to give him an easier life.
On a recent afternoon in June, the two met at the Koreatown Galleria on Olympic Boulevard, where Kim often spends time in the food court chatting with other seniors. Kim and Yi bounced between Korean and English — Kim speaking mostly in Korean, but sometimes slipping into the Korean dialect from his hometown in the South Jeolla Province.
Later that afternoon, the pair met one of Kim’s newest customers that Yi found for him on social media, who reached out after Yi’s videos went viral.
Before Kim began sharpening the man’s collection of kitchen knives, the customer surprised him with a custom-made leather apron.
Kim and Yi first crossed paths at the Mexico vs. South Korea World Cup watch party at Seoul International Park on June 18.
Yi had gone to the event with his partner and spent several minutes searching for a place to sit. While the city’s official watch party inside the park was packed, a Koreatown resident had also set up an informal viewing area outside the soccer field. After squeezing into a spot there, Yi’s partner noticed Kim standing off to the side.
Yi walked over and encouraged Kim to take a seat.
“He’s extremely selfless,” Yi said. “And so he was like, ‘No, I don’t need to.’ So I had to gently kind of nudge him to sit there.”
Kim said he came to the watch party partly to watch soccer, but also hoping to find new customers.
“I’m half human, half ghost,” he said with a laugh, explaining that he spends most days wandering the neighborhood looking for work.
Kim stayed for the first half of the match before disappearing back into the crowd. Later that week, Yi posted a video on Instagram, asking if anyone recognized the elderly man.
Kim was born in Mokpo in South Korea before moving to Brazil with his family in the 1970s. He immigrated to Los Angeles in 1992, hoping to build a new life.
Kim struggled to find steady work and was scammed multiple times, he said, making it difficult to get back on his feet. Eventually, after trying to figure out how he could make a living, he began sharpening knives and scissors.
These days, Kim often spends more than 12 hours a day riding around the neighborhood looking for work. At 70, with a lingering shoulder injury, he can no longer start working before sunrise as he used to. On some days, he earns less than $100.
His chance meeting with Yi has changed his perspective on life.
“I’ve met an angel,” he says of Yi. “My life changed from the minute I met him. I have hope now.”
Yi now calls Kim daily just to chat. One night, Kim called from a McDonald’s just to tell Yi about his day.
Kim said the money that’s coming his way will first go toward fixing his bicycle, which he relies on every day to get around Koreatown. Eventually, he hopes to buy a van.
He wants to use it to give rides to elderly neighbors who need help getting to doctor’s appointments, the grocery store or wherever else they need to go.
Kim doesn’t have grand plans for the money.
“This money is God’s money,” he said in Korean. “I can’t just use it however I want.”
Yi said he’s taking things one day at a time.
“I’m just going to try and make sure that he’s happy and that he’s taken care of,” Yi said. “So that he can keep doing what he does for as long as he can.”
