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THE VIRGINIA TECH SHOOTINGS

Koreans express shame, sorrow over massacre

By N.C. Aizenman and Pamela Constable, The Washington Post; The Associated Press contributed to this report
April 18, 2007

WASHINGTON

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When Yung Yang, a South Korean-born secretary in Annandale, Va., heard the first rumors that the man who had killed 32 people at Virginia Tech was Asian, she said a fervent prayer: Please don't let him be Korean.

Tuesday, Yang's eyes filled with tears as she recalled her anguish on learning that Cho Seung Hui not only hailed from South Korea but had grown up in the same Korean-American community in Northern Virginia.

""I am so sorry about this,"" said, Yang, 30, clasping her hands together as though begging forgiveness. ""Every Korean person is so very sorry.""

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It was a sentiment echoed across the Washington area's 52,000-strong Korean-born community, as one of the region's most educated and established immigrant groups grappled with the notion that such a horrific act could have been committed by one of their own.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the government hoped the shootings would not ""stir up racial prejudice or confrontation.""

""We are in shock beyond description,"" said Cho Byung Je, a ministry official handling North American affairs. ""We convey deep condolences to victims, families and the American people.""

At least two Korean-language radio stations that serve Washington suspended their regular programming so Korean-American listeners could call in to vent their shock.

""I hope everyone can see this as a tragic, random act of violence and keep the broad-brushing of the racial aspect out of it,"" said Mark Keam, a founder of the Korean American Coalition of Greater Washington.

Young Bong Kim, senior pastor of McLean, Va.-based Korean United Methodist Church of Greater Washington, shared an e-mail from one of his parishioners.

""People in my office look at me differently,"" wrote the man, a government employee working in Washington. ""I feel like I gotta do something to show that I'm a good neighbor.""

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