Pearl Kim, who is graduate of Plymouth Whitemarsh High School and is running as a Republican for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 5th Congressional District, will be participating in an event at Chestnut Hill College on Monday, October 15th (that is today) at 4:00 p.m. Pearl will be discussing the issues constituting her political platform. The event is sponsored by the Students’ Political Science Association and will be held at McCaffrey Hall.
The 5th Congressional District represents all of Delaware County and small parts of Montgomery County, Chester County and Philadelphia.
After graduating from high school, Pearl graduated from Bryn Mawr College and then Villanova’s law school. She went on to become a special victims prosecutor who worked for nine years as an assistant district attorney in the Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, where she focused intently on human trafficking. In her role, Kim secured the first conviction under PA’s human trafficking statute. She later became the head of the human trafficking unit in the district attorney’s office.
“I built my career as a special victims prosecutor — securing the first human trafficking conviction in Pennsylvania and working with legislators to update the law and expand protection to victims of trafficking and sex crimes,” Kim said in Philadelphia Magazine article about Philadelphia-area women running for Congress. “As a member of Congress, I will continue to expand protections for victims on human trafficking and work on a regulatory framework that protects sexual assault victims on college campuses.”
Pearl is the daughter of first-generation American citizens who immigrated from South Korea, Kim said another reason she wanted to run for Congress is to give others the same opportunity she was given.
“My parents immigrated to the United States from South Korea with next to nothing,” Kim said. “This country afforded me and my parents the opportunity to achieve the American dream. I am running for Congress because I want to ensure the opportunities afforded to me and my family are available to all Americans.”
Kim has also advocated for criminal justice reform, knowing that individuals for whom English is not their native language face challenges in the courtroom as both victims and defendants. Her work in this area led her to serve as a member of multiple committees and groups, including the Language Access Advisory Group for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts and the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Fairness’s Interpreter Services Committee.
Similarly, as part of her push for criminal justice reform, Kim has worked with numerous organizations that seek to provide opportunities for the disadvantaged and address problems of inequality, serving as a member of groups such as the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s Criminal Justice Advisory Committee and the Delaware County Women’s Commission.
Kim is facing Democratic Party candidate Mary Gay Scanlon.
Photo: Pearl Kim