By John E. Carey
The Washington Times
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Cho Seung-Hui, a Virginia Tech senior and South Korean national, was identified publicly Tuesday as the murderer in the multiple homicide Virginia Tech tragedy.
Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims killed and wounded plus the ten of thousands of living victims at Virginia Tech, at Blacksburg, among the families and extended families and the greater world of people impacted by such a terrible tragedy.
But there are three other victims many of us probably have not considered: the parents and sister of Cho Seung-Hui and the members of the greater Korean American community.
Police arrived at the Centreville home of the parents of Cho Seung-Hui after dark on Monday night. The parents were informed that their son was the key suspect in the Virginia Tech shootings. The police had warrants to permit a search of the parents’ home. Neighbors reported seeing “flashes like lightening” from within the home as police photographers apparently took pictures inside the house.
Police identified the suspect’s father as Cho Seong-tae, 61. He and his wife, Cho Seung-Hui’s mother, own and operate a small dry cleaning and laundry in northern Virginia.
Having learned that their son was the prime suspect in the murder of so many people at Virginia Tech, the Korean American parents of Cho Seung-Hui were terrified, in shock, and ashamed all at the same time. We have learned, though a source that asked for anonymity, that as soon as the police left the residence, Cho Seong-tae and his wife, began to make preparations to go into hiding at the Republic of Korea (South Korea) embassy in Washington D.C.
Several people in the Korean American community in the Washington D.C. area told us the Cho’s and their daughter are having several fears and feelings. They are shocked, amazed and ashamed. They have lost face.Asians often see themselves as part of a vast group dynamic. The family, the village, the church or other community unit is primary.
The key cultural concept that Americans often forget, misunderstand or flat have never heard of is the Asian concept of “face.” Many Americans do know that “loss of face” means a loss of self-image or pride. But that is only the Junior High School level of understanding.
Asians believe in losing face in terms of dishonoring the family, the group, the country or the culture. Cho Seong-tae and his wife, we are told, believe that their son has so dishonored the family that the damage to them is irreparable. They are discussing the future possibilities of returning to South Korea or moving to some other place like Canada.
Cho Seong-tae and his wife and perhaps their daughter feel so badly that they in a very real sense are victims of the Virginia Tech tragedy too.
Han, a Korean American that also owns and operates a small laundry business, told us that the Chos are most definitely feeling shame, pain and dishonor – no matter that the parents were not even in Blacksburg. She said they probably feel that their business in Virginia and perhaps in the United States is now ruined.
Yung, also a Korean American woman who runs a laundry, echoed this belief. “I was shocked to hear that a Korean American was involved in the shooting. Our community is very inter-related and we all know one another. Every Korean American is feeling some shame and loss of face.”
Korean Americans are renown for their hard work, devotion to family and church going ways. One Korean American man told me he had lived in the United States 20 years and never taken a vacation. He worked six days a week all twenty years.
To show the depth of sorrow within the Korean American community and in South Korea itself, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun held a special meeting with aides Wednesday to discuss the shooting. His office has issued two statements of condolence about the mass killings.
Less than 24 hours after it was publicly known that a Korean American apparently committed these heinous crimes, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said, “I and my fellow citizens can only feel shock and a wrenching of our hearts.”
He continued, “I hope US society can get over such immense sadness and find a sense of composure as soon as possible.”About 100,000 South Koreans study in the United States, making them the largest foreign student group in the country.
The United States also has a big ethnic-Korean community.
Every American should understand and appreciate the the deep distress, sorrow, sympathy and shame felt among Korean American community and in South Korea itself. Many of these people are unwitting victims themselves.
John E. Carey is former president of International Defense Consultants, Inc. and a frequent contributor to the Washington Times.
http://johnib.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/the-campus-security-question/
http://johnib.wordpress.com/2007/04/19/open-letter-to-hokies-of-virginia-tech/
http://johnib.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/vt-shooter-sent-manifesto-to-nbc-news/
http://johnib.wordpress.com/2007/04/18/virginia-tech-woefully-unprepared-for-an-emergency/
April 21, 2007 at 5:01 pm |
The mass murdurer here clearly was troubled from early on, at least from middle school. My question is what did the family do to intervene? Apparently they did nothing except send the kid down to Blacksburg. I have no sympathy or respect for the family
April 23, 2007 at 12:42 pm |
Your comments about Korean Americans are very perceptive. What I will do in response is to act on my first impulse at the time of the shooting and go visit a former student who is here on a Visa at the family restaurant. I know he is hurting and ashamed.
April 24, 2007 at 10:59 am |
[...] Read our own view on this from Saturday’s Washington Times: http://johnib.wordpress.com/2007/04/21/unwitting-korean-victims-of-virginia-tech-tragedy/ [...]
April 26, 2007 at 7:22 pm |
Media of South Korea reported, “The criminal is Chinese or Japanese” just behind the event.
When it was understood that the criminal was South Korean, it was reported, “The bad one
is an American society”.
And now reported, “Cho is not guilty. The victim doesn’t hate him either. He will go to the heaven.”
South Korean’s selfishness is abnormal.