'As Virginia Tech shooter, Cho Seung-hui appears in

Times Square, hardworking Korean immigrants cry,

'You drive a dagger into our hearts.'

                                                 [Chosun Ilbo, South Korea]

The Korea Herald, South Korea

Koreans Feel Collective Guilt Over the Massacre

Having traditionally been trained to think of themselves as members of a family, group and nation rather than as individuals, Koreans have shouldered collective responsibility for the slayings.

EDITORIAL

April 19, 2007

South Korea - The Korea Herald - Original Article (English)

Koreans, who have had close and wide-ranging contact with Americans since the 1950-53 Korean War, have come to believe that they are well acquainted with what America and its people are really like. The Virginia Tech tragedy raises serious doubts about this widely held conviction.

Many Koreans were dumbfounded and ashamed when they learned that a Korean student had shot and killed over 30 people at Virginia Tech University. This initial reaction was followed by concern about a potential backlash against Koreans in the United States and Korea as a nation.

Behind these reactions is an apparent a sense of collective guilt on the part of the Korean people over this heinous crime committed by a fellow Korean. Having traditionally been trained to think of themselves as members of a family, group and nation rather than as individuals, Koreans have shouldered collective responsibility for the slayings, and they feared that Koreans in the United States would soon be targeted for ethnically-based reprisal attacks.

But almost all of the scores of e-mails that we at The Korea Herald have received from the United States have reassured us that there will be no racial, political or other form of retribution against Korea and Koreans. The writers made every effort to convince us that ethnicity had no place in the crime, and that it was committed by a deranged individual who happened to be Korean.

Among the e-mails is one from Kathy L. Cronin, who wrote: "Please convey to the people of Korea that America is a vast and diverse nation of vast and diverse backgrounds, opinions, abilities, and mental aptitudes. There may be individuals who voice an opinion which 99.999 percent of the people in America would vehemently disavow."

Some of the e-mails also gave us valuable advice. They urged us to reflect on our own emotionally-charged responses against the United States when a U.S. armored vehicle accidentally killed two Korean schoolgirls in 2002. We have much to learn from the Virginia Tech tragedy.