Free Chol Soo Lee

Free Chol Soo Lee

7.3

Aug 12 2022

1h 23m

Documentary, Crime

On June 3, 1973, a man was murdered in a busy intersection of San Francisco’s Chinatown as part of an ongoing gang war. Chol Soo Lee, a 20-year-old Korean immigrant who had previous run-ins with the law, was arrested and convicted based on flimsy evidence and the eyewitness accounts of white tourists who couldn’t distinguish between Asian features. Sentenced to life in prison, Chol Soo Lee would spend years fighting to survive behind bars before journalist K.W. Lee took an interest in his case. The intrepid reporter’s investigation would galvanize a first-of-its-kind pan-Asian American grassroots movement to fight for Chol Soo Lee’s freedom, ultimately inspiring a new generation of social justice activists.

Chol Soo Lee

Chol Soo Lee

Self (archive footage)

Sebastian Yoon

Sebastian Yoon

Narrator (voice)

Ranko Yamada

Ranko Yamada

Self - Friend; Defense Committee

K.W. Lee

K.W. Lee

Self - Investigative Reporter