From his second-floor office in a Western Avenue mini-mall, Bong W. Kim looked sadly at the Koreatown businesses' half-empty parking area.

"The parking lot is occupied by tenants, not customers," said Kim, president of Han Mi Immigration Corp., a notary public service catering to immigrants. "Business is almost dead now."

To Kim and many other Koreatown merchants, the number of parked cars signifies a decline in the once-thriving business district since the Los Angeles riots two years ago.

Korean American business owners suffered an estimated $400 million in damages during the riots, and Koreatown--home to many of those businesses and a symbol of Korean business success--was a particular target of the looting and arson that followed the not-guilty verdicts in the first Rodney G. King beating trial. Total riot damage was estimated at $1 billion.

In the two years after the riots, damaged or destroyed buildings have been rebuilt or repaired in Koreatown at a faster pace than in other heavily damaged areas of the city (82% in Koreatown versus 50% citywide). But many of the refurbished buildings are empty, and many others house businesses coping with drastically reduced sales since the riots, according to Koreatown merchants.

Efforts to revitalize Koreatown business have been crippled by a sluggish California economy, a rising crime rate in Koreatown and surrounding neighborhoods, a general fear of the area that developed after the civil unrest among previously dependable customers and even the Northridge earthquake, according to the area's merchants.

A Dun & Bradstreet study last year of Koreatown and South-Central Los Angeles found that 40% of businesses damaged during the riots shut down permanently within six months of the riots. Major problems were the lack of insurance to cover damages and the inability to get loans.

Owners of many of the Koreatown businesses that managed to stay open said revenues are down as much as 50% from pre-riot levels.

Kim, 68, said he is barely surviving. After working in the immigration business for over 40 years, he said he decided to set up his own company seven years ago to help Korean immigrants with their naturalization paperwork.

The business was doing well before the riots, but it dipped 50% immediately after the violence, he said. Business has improved only minimally in the intervening two years, Kim said, estimating that he now has about 60% of the business that he had before the riots.