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".
Well put, you are correct.
RGR - this kid was off the charts from the git go - our laws enabled this to happen - if anyone should aplogize it should be our congress.
Demon-possessed jerk. A salient observation, if I may say so myself.
Why should they apologize? Now the Mooselimbs, they should apologize.
In a limited sense, this is an admirable expression of outrage and disgust and shame that one would never expect to see from, for example, members of the Religion of Peace.
However, in general, I see it as a rather sad and puzzling over-reaction. I don't blame Koreans for this any more than I blame the Irish for the Oklahoma City bombing, or the Italians for the actions of Sacco and Vanzetti.
-ccm
It really is too bad they feel this way. I think eventually, someone will speak out on this subject to try and help ease their feelings about this. Maybe in some way it could help out. I do understand very clearly how they view things, I work for a Japanese company, we see this “shame” factor a lot. I don’t know if the Koreans are similar in this way, but I assume it may be quite similar.
and to gogeo:
With all due respect,
Even though this is not directly about me, it is indirectly a LOT about me and my family. I’m not going to go into details, but I am originally from the area being dicussed, so I do have close and personal ties to this whole mess. It’ been very difficult to say the least. And just in case someone is wondering, no, none of my direct family members were killed.
It’s because Koreans, like much of the world, think at least part of the time in tribal terms. When the tribe does well, all members of the tribe feel good; when the tribe does something bad, all members of the tribe feel responsible. Americans represent a radical change in this point of view—we think that the individual is responsible for both good and bad, and so tribal thinking just puzzles us.
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