Kim Young-Guk

Type	CHARACTER
Kim Young-Guk
Appears in	Grand Theft Auto IV
Voiced by	Unknown
Biographical information
Full name	Kim Young-Guk
Nationality	North Korean
Status	Deceased
Date of birth	1978
Place of birth	North Korea
Date of death	2008 (Age 30)
Home	Liberty City
Family	Park Young-Guk (Father)
Main affiliation	Korean Mob Derrick McReary
Vehicle(s)	PMP 600 Reefer
Businesses	Counterfeit Mr Fuk's Ricebox
Physical description
Gender	Male

Kim Young-Guk (김영국) is a minor charcter in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Description

Kim is a North Korean who tried to bring "Superdollars", or counterfeit US dollars made overseas, into Liberty City. The first time he tried, in 2003, he failed and was arrested, but fled. The second time however, in 2008, he got help from a friend of his father, Derrick McReary and Derrick's friend Niko Bellic. Derrick and Niko had to protect Kim's boat from the other attacking boats. After doing this successfully, Derrick and Niko followed Kim to his docking point in Industrial, Bohan.

Later, Kim became the leader of the Korean Mob in Alderney. Gambetti Family leader, Don Jon Gravelli saw the Korean Mob as a threat and wanted to eliminate Kim. Gravelli soon obtained governmental clearance to do so from his friend working at United Liberty Paper and sent Niko Bellic to Kim's HQ in the restaurant Mr. Fuk's Rice Box.

Bellic headed over to the restaurant and after killing all the guards inside, he caught up with Kim, who was fleeing the restaurant. During his last moments, Kim pleads to Niko by telling him he is "good friends with Irish junkie man", meaning Derrick McReary. However Niko ignores him (if Niko had killed Derrick during the mission Blood Brothers, he replies sardonically to Kim that "Irish junkie man is dead") and then kills him. After this, the Korean mobs become hostile to Niko if he fires or start a fight in their territory.

His name may have been inspired by North Korea's (in 2008) dictator Kim Jong-il (since the name Jong or Jung is spoken in a Germanic dialect since the name Jong is used as a noun in the Dutch language, meaning young as similar to Jung, it also means young in German and Swedish more likely to mock the stereotype of Koreans of looking younger just like the typical look of a Germanic and Scandinavian person having a square shaped face, small flat lips, flat straight nose, and an epicanthal fold on his eyes (which is common in Germanic populations such as in Scandinavia and some countries of the former Eastern Bloc), or even more likely "Gook", a derogatory and racist term for Asian people (referring to people of Cambodian, Chinese (Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan), Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Singaporean, and Vietnamese origin), but his third name "Guk" refers to a penis since it is similar to the word "Kuk", which means cock in Swedish (if the name Guk is spoken in a Swedish dialect, it would sound like as kuk (means cock)).

LCPD Database record

Surname: Young-Guk First Name: Kim Age: 30 Place of Birth: North Korea Affiliations: N/A Criminal Record: 2003 - Trademark Counterfeiting Notes: North Korean national. Deported after being caught entering the country with counterfeit goods. Reports indicate that he may return to the US soon.

Mission Appearances

GTA IV

• Babysitting
• Dining Out (Killed)

Trivia

• Kim Young-Guk may be based on O Se-won, close adviser to North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and son of O Kuk-ryol, a military general suspected by the US government as a key figure in North Korea's currency counterfeiting activities and its production of Superdollars. O Se-won is suspected to work in his fathers counterfeiting business as Kim Young-Guk work's for his father, Park Young-Guk. Derrick McReary's relationship with Kim Young-Guk may be further based on alleged business relations between IRA leader Seán Garland and agents of the North Korean government involved in the sale and distribution of Superdollars.
• If the player blows up the vehicle Kim was to escape in before he has a chance to enter it, he will then run around aimlessly until he is killed. If he is thrown out of the car once he tries to make his getaway, he will then pull out a SMG and attempt to kill the player with it.
• In the game files, there are actually three different facial models for Kim, yet two of them are never seen in-game. One is the one that is seen in the game, of Kim with a rough beard. The second is of Kim with slightly lighter skin, darker eyes and a slight goatee instead of a beard. The third is Kim with light grey hair, very faint eyebrows and clean shaven. It is unknown why these two other models were not used in-game.
• Just like most of the Chinese character names in GTA IV/Chinatown Wars, the name Kim is incorrectly used as a given name and Young-Guk as a family name. In Korea, family names are written always first, then the given names. Besides, Kim is a very popular surname in Korea.