It makes little sense to assign one motive to all of the Korean women involved in Seattle’s sex business
And the option of sticking with sex work was the one that each of them chose, and continued to choose, every day
In Kim’s case, the plea offer came soon after her lawyer, Tom Conom, challenged the validity of testimony she gave to police after being arrested. Kim was questioned by Shearer and other authorities, along with someone identified as “FBI translator John Lim.”
According to a motion Conom filed with the King County Superior Court in March, Kim’s primary language is Korean and her understanding of English is “rudimentary” (an assertion that checks out-texts Kim exchanged with undercover detectives, later reproduced as evidence in police reports, reflect a far from fluent grasp of English). Yet during Kim’s questioning by police, the translator hardly translated anything, wrote Conom. A transcript of the interrogation makes clear that “Kim misunderstood many questions” and may not have even understood why she was under arrest.
According to the transcript, Kim’s responses 
during the interview were frequently unintelligible-including when she was asked if she understood her Miranda rights. And when she was asked, in English, whether she would like her rights read with translation, whether she would like to continue the questioning, or whether there was “anything about that you didn’t understand,” her reply was, “OK, yes.”
The officers proceeded with the interrogation. Lim didn’t translate the Miranda rights or Shearer’s questions. No one sought clarification as to what Kim had intended her “OK, yes” to be a response to.
But even if the FBI’s Lim had been more helpful, Kim’s interrogation wouldn’t have passed legal muster.