James Kim (August 9, 1971December 4, 2006) was an American television personality and technology analyst for the former

TechTV TechTV was an American cable television channel with a focus on technology. It was launched as ZDTV on May 11, 1998, by computer magazine publisher Ziff Davis, Ziff-Davis following two short-lived technology-based programs by the company. Init ...

international

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

network, reviewing products for shows including ''

The Screen Savers ''The Screen Savers'' is an American TV show that aired on TechTV from 1998 to 2005. The show launched concurrently with the channel ZDTV (later known as TechTV) on May 11, 1998. ''The Screen Savers'' originally centered on computers, new techn ...

'', ''Call for Help'', and '' Fresh Gear''. At the time of his death he was working as a senior editor of

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

and

digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital signal (signal processing), digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical sampling (signal processing), ...

for CNET, where he wrote more than 400 product reviews. He also cohosted a weekly video podcast for CNET's gadget blog, Crave, and a weekly audio podcast, ''The MP3 Insider'' (both podcasts were cohosted with Veronica Belmont). Kim's disappearance, death, and his family's ordeal made them the subject of a brief, but intense period of news coverage in December 2006.

Early life

Kim graduated from Ballard High School in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, in 1989 and from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

in 1993 where he double-majored in government and English and played for the varsity lacrosse team. The son of Spencer H. Kim, an aerospace company executive and internationalist, he and his wife, Kati, owned two retail stores in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Career

Kim was most widely known as a television personality on the international cable network

, where he was a senior technology analyst for TechTV Labs. He made frequent appearances testing new products for shows including ''

'', ''Call for Help'', '' Fresh Gear'', and '' AudioFile''. He was best known for his "Lab Rats" segments, in which he reviewed the latest electronic gadgets. After leaving TechTV, he became a senior editor for CNET, a technology trade journal, which he had joined in 2004. He wrote product reviews and co-hosted a weekly podcast for CNET's gadget blog, Crave. Prior to working for TechTV, he had been a legal assistant at law firms in New York and France; a media relations assistant for baseball's American League; and a script reader for Miramax Films.

Snowbound

After spending the 2006 Thanksgiving holiday in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, the Kim family (James, Kati, and their two daughters, 4-year old Penelope and 7-month old Sabine) set out for their home in San Francisco. On Saturday, November 25, 2006, having left

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, on their way to Tu Tu' Tun Lodge, a resort located near Gold Beach, Oregon, they apparently missed a turnoff from

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

Oregon Route 42 Oregon Route 42 (OR 42) is an Oregon state highway which runs between U.S. Route 101 on the Oregon Coast, near Coos Bay, and Green, a few miles south of Roseburg on Interstate 5. OR 42 traverses the Coos Bay–Roseburg Highway No.&n ...

, a main route to the

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

. Instead of returning to the exit, they consulted a highway map and picked a secondary route along Bear Camp Road that skirted the Wild Rogue Wilderness, a remote area of southwestern Oregon. After encountering heavy snow at high elevation on Bear Camp Road, the Kims backtracked and ventured onto BLM Road 34-8-36 (North Fork Galice Creek Road) (), a paved logging road supervised by the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands, U.S. federal lands. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the BLM oversees more than of land, or one ...

(BLM) thinking that could be an option. A road gate intended to prevent such mistakes was open despite BLM rules requiring that it be closed. Media outlets reported that vandals had cut a lock on it, but a subsequent investigation showed that BLM employees had left it open to avoid trapping local hunters and others who might have ventured past it. After 23 miles of slow travel along BLM Road 34-8-36, the Kims stopped at about 1:00 am on November 26 because of fatigue and bad weather (). As more snow fell around their immobilized Saab 9-2X station wagon, they kept warm by running the engine. When it ran out of fuel, they made a campfire of dried wood and magazines. Later, they burned the car's tires to signal rescuers. Search efforts began shortly after November 30, when Kim's coworkers filed a missing persons report with the San Francisco Police Department. After investigators learned that the Kims used their credit card at a local restaurant,

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

teams, including local and state police, more than 80 civilian volunteers, the Oregon Army National Guard and several helicopters hired by Spencer spent several days looking for them along area highways and roads, to no avail. On December 2, Kim left his family to look for help, wearing tennis shoes, a jacket, and light clothing. He believed the nearest town ( Galice) was located four miles away after studying a map with Kati. He promised her he would turn back the same day if he failed to find anyone, but he did not return. He backtracked about 11 miles down BLM Road 34-8-36 before leaving the roadway and electing to follow a ravine northeast down the mountain.

Search

Although the Kims had a

cellular phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radi ...

with them, their remote location in the mountains was out of range of a

cellular network A cellular network or mobile network is a telecommunications network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless network, wireless and the network is distributed over land areas called ''cells'', each served by at least one fixed-locatio ...

, rendering the phone unusable for voice calls. Despite it being so, it would play a key role in their rescue. Cell phone text messages may go through even when there appears to be no signal, in part because

text messaging Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile phones, tablet computers, smartwatches, desktops/laptops, or ...

is a

store-and-forward Store and forward is a telecommunications technique in which information is sent to an intermediate station where it is kept and sent at a later time to the final destination or to another intermediate station. The intermediate station, or node ...

service. Two Edge Wireless engineers, Eric Fuqua and Noah Pugsley, contacted search and rescue authorities offering their help in the search. On Saturday, December 2, they began searching through the data logs of

cell site A cell site, cell phone tower, cell base tower, or cellular base station is a cellular frequencies, cellular-enabled mobile device site where antenna (electronics), antennas and electronic communications equipment are placed (typically on a Rad ...

s, trying to find records of repeaters to which the Kims' cell phone may have connected. They discovered that on November 26, 2006, at around 1:30am, it made a brief automatic connection to a cell site near Glendale, Oregon, and retrieved two text messages. Temporary atmospheric conditions, such as

tropospheric ducting Tropospheric propagation describes electromagnetic propagation in relation to the troposphere. The service area from a VHF or UHF radio transmitter extends to just beyond the optical horizon, at which point signals start to rapidly reduce in st ...

, can briefly allow radio communications over larger distances than normal. Through the data logs, the engineers determined that the cell phone was in a specific area west of the cellular tower. They then used a computer program to determine which areas in the mountains were within a line-of-sight to the cellular tower. This narrowed the search area tremendously, and finally focused rescue efforts on Bear Camp Road. On the afternoon of December 4, John Rachor, a local helicopter pilot unaffiliated with any formal search effort, spotted Kati, Penelope, and Sabine walking on a remote road. After he radioed their position to authorities, they were airlifted out of the area and transferred to a nearby hospital. Law enforcement officials said that the discovery of the cellphone connection, and the subsequent analysis of the log data, was the critical breakthrough that ultimately resulted in Kati, Penelope, and Sabine's rescue by helicopter.

Death

Officials continued to search for Kim, at one point finding clothing that he had discarded along the way in the likely belief that he was too hot;

paradoxical undressing Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...

is a symptom of hypothermia. Optimistic Oregon officials stated, "These were placed with our belief that little signs are being left by James for anyone that may be trying to find him so that they can continue into the area that he's continuing to move in." On Wednesday, December 6 at 12:03 p.m., Kim's body was found in Big Windy Creek. () Lying on his back in one to two feet of icy water, he was fully clothed and had been carrying a backpack which contained his identification documents, among other miscellaneous items. He had walked about 16.2 miles (26 km) from the car to that point, and was only a mile from Black Bar Lodge, which, although closed for the winter, was fully stocked at the time. An autopsy revealed that he had died of

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...

and that his body had suffered no incapacitating physical injuries. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy guessed that he had died roughly two days after leaving the car.

Route

Because of Kim's background as a technology analyst, observers speculated that his family had used online mapping to find their route. However, Kati told state police that they had used a paper road map, an account supported by the

Oregon State Police The Oregon State Police (OSP) is a Police, law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of Oregon. The OSP enforces all of Oregon's criminal laws and assists local law enforcement agencies. Casey Codding has served as Superintendent (police), Superi ...

, which reported that they had used an official State of Oregon highway one. Kati later recounted that, after they had been stuck for four days and were studying it for help, both she and Kim noticed that a box in the corner bore the message: "Not all Roads Advisable, Check Weather Conditions". Bear Camp Road is lightly used between October and April, even by local residents, because of its difficult terrain, spotty maintenance, steep drop offs, and often inclement weather. As they drove along the road, the Kims passed three prominent warning signs that state: "Bear Camp Road May Be Blocked By Snowdrifts". Kati later told police that they had noticed only one.

Media

The Kims' ordeal became a lead story on most major U.S. news networks. In the hours after Kim's body was found, it became the highest rated article on MSNBC.com with a reported one million page views. CNN.com reported 755,000 views of its coverage of the story. Within a week, the Kims appeared on the cover of ''People'' magazine. Newspapers in the region, led by ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'' and the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', devoted heavy coverage to the events and their aftermath. ''The Oregonian'' was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for a distinguished example of local reporting of breaking news, presented in print or online or both, for their coverage of the Kims' story. The staff of ''The Oregonian'' was lauded for "its skillful and tenacious coverage of a family missing in the Oregon mountains, telling the tragic story both in print and online". On January 6, 2007, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' published an op-ed article written by Kim's father, Spencer H. Kim, criticizing various government entities that had in his estimation played roles in his son's death. He blamed the BLM for not locking the gate to the logging road, privacy laws that he claimed had delayed the start of search and rescue efforts, local authorities for "confusion, communication breakdowns and failures of leadership" during the search, and the Federal Aviation Administration for not keeping media aircraft out of the search area. On February 18, 2007, a memorial service was held for Kim at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. On September 12, 2007, Kati gave an exclusive interview of the ordeal to UK blogging site DollyMix. In December 2009, Kati, Penelope, and Sabine made a surprise appearance at a Christmas party being held by the membership of Josephine County Search and Rescue. In February 2011, the television show '' 20/20'' aired a special 2-hour episode, "The Wrong Turn", which included interviews with Kati. In September 2011, the television show ''20/20'' aired a second special 2-hour episode, "The Sixth Sense", which depicted the same story as in "The Wrong Turn". On August 27, 2017, the television show ''SOS: How to Survive'' aired a 1-hour episode, "Trapped in a Blizzard", which depicted the Kims' story with survival tips on how to survive in a similar situation.

References

External links

Google Earth Community
View the area with Google Earth, with waypoints marked includes timeline of events. * *
Obituary
in the '' Herald and News'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, James 1971 births 2000s missing person cases 2006 deaths 21st-century American non-fiction writers Accidental deaths in Oregon American bloggers American people of Korean descent American technology writers Television personalities from San Francisco Ballard High School (Louisville, Kentucky) alumni CNET Deaths from hypothermia Formerly missing American people Missing person cases in Oregon Oberlin College alumni TechTV people Television personalities from Louisville, Kentucky Writers from Louisville, Kentucky Writers from San Francisco Villanova University alumni