Posted on 04/22/2007 6:33:52 PM PDT by blam
Koreans offer their apologies for shootings
By Toby Harnden in Centreville
Last Updated: 12:54am BST 23/04/2007
Outside a church where the parents of Cho Seung-hui, the Virginia Tech killer, worship, one member of the congregation offered tearful apologies for his actions and lamented the shame he had brought on the Korean community.
"I am so sorry, I am so sorry," said Hae Kim, 50, clutching her bible and weeping as she spoke of the "nightmare" of Cho killing 32 people and himself a week ago today. "I say sorry to the families of the victims. We blame ourselves," she said.
South Korean and American flags flew outside the small single-storey Korean Presbyterian Church. One person arriving for the 11am service said that Cho's parents, Seung-tae and Hyang-im, had attended the previous Sunday. Few wanted to discuss what had happened and most denied knowing the Chos.
A woman bringing trays of food for the meal after the service said Cho's parents were devastated and perhaps suicidal. "Their dream has been broken. They don't want to live when their son has killed so many people. They're very depressed. But it's not their fault - the kid had a problem." Cho's parents moved to Centreville, in the Washington DC commuter belt of suburban Virginia, in 1992 when he was eight.
Their decision to leave Korea for more opportunities for their children bore fruit when Cho's elder sister Sun-kyung won a place at Princeton. But Cho was always painfully shy and as a child withdrew into himself and rarely uttered a word. He lost himself in video games and was a constant worry to his parents, who seldom mentioned him to others, instead reflecting proudly on the achievements of Sun-kyung.
In statement issued on Friday on behalf of the Cho family, Sun-kyung Cho, the killer's sister, who works for the US state department, said; "We are humbled by this darkness. We feel hopeless, helpless and lost."
"Many of us blame the parents," said Miss Kim, who, like the Chos, works in the dry-cleaning business. "How did they not know his thinking? It is very hard to understand. "But his parents couldn't speak English well and didn't have good communication with their son."
At other church services over the weekend, Cho's victims were remembered. A few miles from the Korean church, Reema Samaha, 18, a dancer who attended the same high school as Cho, was buried.
Her father Joe, one of the 1,800 people who attended a memorial service at St Timothy's Catholic Church in Chantilly, offered his condolences to Cho's family, "which has also lost a son".
Not their fault, there’s nothing for them to apologize for.
I am glad that their daughter has done well, and is making a meaningful contribution.
I am sorry for the loss of their son. It seems that their son was lost to them rather long before the horrific events. He alone, if sane, was responsible for his actions. If insane, he was not responsible, and all we can do is share our sorrow for his trouble.
I do believe his parents are devestated.
They came here for the right reasons. Worked hard. Their daughter proved herself but their son, go tlost some how. No parent would want this to happen to their child. I’m sorry for his parents too. Dreams for their son were replaced with shame and regret.
That community in VA and in the country has a whole has nothing to apologize for but sadly no apology by anyone is good enough either.
The sadness these people feel is only surpassed by those who have lost so much.
It is terrible and so hard to comprehend: so much loss of promising life.
Oh for crying out loud, get a grip on yourself!
I can't help wishing there was a way to convey that to them.
Nobody has explained that thing he had written on his arm yet... As far as I know anyway.
BTW, Presbyterians are not known for their terror attacks, Muslims are.
What was written on his arm?
Unlikely, although his being (perhaps heavily) influenced by Islam is a distinct possibility. Releasing his entire, unedited opus would probably shine a bright light on the subject. .....and that's precisely why it'll never be released. Both the feds and the Islamist-excusing MSM have vested interests in keeping all connections between violence/terrorism and Islam quashed.
I tried to find a Korean forum to tell them that ethnicity had nothing to do with this, but came up blank.
Mentally ill people are known for doing this sort of thing, and it’s clear that he’s been mentally ill since early childhood. Meanwhile, with the huge amount of info that’s been made public about him, there’s not so much as a crumb indicating he had the faintest connection to Islam. Do you really think a Muslim bent on conducting a religiously-motivated terrorist attack on a US campus would spend years attending classes and turning in violent, twisted creative writing assignments to draw attention to himself?
Or maybe he converted to Nazism, baby. Gene!
It’s sad that the Korean community feels a need to apologize for the treacherous actions of one sick man, who just happens to be Korean.
This guy was a bad seed or a mentally ill seed, irrespective of race.
It’s not a Korean-American issue, it’s a Wacko-American issue. No apology needed from innocent people
Cho was a demon possessed jerk - and he is responsible. He is in Hell now.
Ditto.
It has nothing to do with his Korean ancestry.
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