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Oakland shootings revive memories of VA Tech massacre

Posted April. 04, 2012 06:18,   

한국어

Media outlets and people in the Oakland area are calling Monday`s shooting rampage the “second Cho Seung-hui incident” because the crime was committed by a Korean American.

The Korean-American community is also fearful that Americans’ perception of Koreans in the U.S. will deteriorate in the wake of a string of violent crimes committed by Korean Americans.

Oakland area media said Monday that the incident reminded people of the 2007 shooting spree committed by Korean-American student Cho at Virginia Tech, which resulted in 33 people killed, the worst college massacre in American history. Mainstream American media have yet to issue reports that link the latest shootings with Cho`s rampage, but such reporting is spreading fast among media outlets in the San Francisco Bay area and Internet media.

A blogger put a post reading, “Korean, handgun and classroom, What a deadly recipe,” thus implying that the two incidents are similar in that the culprits were Korean Americans. Most Twitter messages paid respects to the deceased, but one Web user using the ID "guimimile" said, “33 killed at Virginia Tech in 2007, seven killed in Oikos, Oakland in 2012. Killers in both incidents are Koreans! Let’s probe Koreans.”

Fears have also risen over potential hardships that the Korean community in the U.S. could suffer.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan in a news conference called the incident a grave tragedy for the city, especially the Korean community, saying “This will pose a question to the Korean community for a long time. We should warmly embrace them and their families.”

The Korean community is all the more shocked over the latest incident due to a string of violent crimes involving Koreans this year. In February, Baek Jeong-soo killed four people before committing suicide at a public sauna in Atlanta run by a Korean American. Early this month, another Korean American took hostages at a Saehan Bank branch in Buena Park, California.

So Heon, vice chairman of the Federation of Korean Associations, said, “It is all the more regrettable that such an incident has occurred at a time when Korea’s stature is escalating in American society,” adding, “Negative perceptions toward the Korean community, which had improved for some time after the Cho Seung-hui incident, have subsided somewhat. It is thus worrisome that such negative sentiment will rise again.”