KAs, Koreans Discuss Fallout From Shootings
By ALEX HERBACH
RAFU STAFF WRITER
Saturday, April 21, 2007

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the American government responded by putting the entire Japanese American population living in America behind barbed wire fences. After the World Trade Center attacks in 2001, Middle Eastern communities became targets of verbal threats, theft and murder.

With the release of the Virginia Tech gunman’s name Tuesday, the Korean com­munity fears the same fallout and they’re taking every precaution to make sure it never happens.

“We join in expressing sorrow to the families of the victims, and we will monitor the aftermath of the tragedy and express our strong hope that there will be no backlash against Asian Americans or Korean Americans in particular,” said Stewart Kwoh, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

The number of responses like the one from the APALC has been staggering. Numerous condolences and demonstra­tions of solidarity have been offered by Korean political and religious authorities and by Korean American community figures. On Wednesday, citizens held a candlelight vigil outside of Seoul City Hall. South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun called his shock at the events “be­yond description.”

The attack has come at a critical time for American-South Korean political dialogue. Currently, there are ongoing talks between the Seoul government and Congress that would allow South Ko­rean visitors to travel in America without having to secure visas. While some fear these talks may become more vulnerable considering the Virginia Tech shooter’s immigration status, authorities feel the two issues will remain separate.

“If the shootings were committed by a Korean tourist then that could create a problem. But because the killer already held a green card, I don’t think it becomes a visa problem,” said Min-Gyo Koo, research fellow at USC’s Korean Studies Institute.

The American economic presence in South Korea remains well received and there are no visible signs that the U.S. government wants it any other way. Earlier this month, a free-trade agreement be­tween South Korea and the United States was completed and is currently awaiting ratification from the Senate.

But the history of the countries’ rela­tionship hasn’t been dictated only by har­mony. While a degree from an American university gives graduates a commanding presence in the South Korean business world, American culture is still met with suspicion. In 1994, a young Korean stu­dent returned home from his studies in the United States and brutally murdered his parents by stabbing them and then burning their bodies. The incident was met with outrage and the prevailing theory was that his exposure to American pop culture led to his breakdown.

There has been no such outcry regard­ing the tragedy at Virginia Tech; South Koreans do not blame the shootings implicitly on the culture here. However, newspapers and media outlets there are taking the position, as are many Ameri­cans, that lax gun purchasing laws are responsible for the tragedy. (It is illegal for South Korean citizens to own private firearms.)

In a country with over two million Korean residents, nearly 93,000 of them are currently enrolled in American schools. As Korean students try to deal with the tragedy amid the revelation of the shooter’s heritage, different reac­tions have surfaced.

“I was a little bit surprised, but it wasn’t as traumatizing to me as it was for some of my friends,” said USC stu­dent Diana Lee, a member of the Korean Campus Ministry. “My roommate took it really hard because [the shooter] was Korean. She felt terrible.”

Most students have been dealing with the tragedy as one might expect. They’ve placed concerned phone calls to friends who attend VT, stayed up­dated by watching the news, attended vigils and memorials, talked and grieved together. Hardly any have concerned themselves with the possibility of racial backlash.

That is, until they received calls from home.

“We all got calls from our parents,” said Lee. “They told us to be careful, to not tell people that we are Korean, to not say anything back to people who might say something negative to us.”

Korean parents all over the country are taking every measure to ensure their children’s safety. Some have pulled their children out of school in fear of possible retaliatory actions. It would seem the parents are more anxious than the ones who are closest to the tragedy: the students. The events were horrific, perhaps the most vicious in our history. But even after such misfortune, some have found a way to ignore their fears and move on.

“Our parents are concerned, but not necessarily the students on campus,” said Lee. “Because I live in L.A. and because we are so diverse here, I’m not too worried.”