I just read a disturbing article on Fox News of the impact the Korean nationality of the Virgina Tech shooter has had on the Korean people. One blog set up in Korea had one commenter stating that he was ashamed to be Korean. Officially, President Roh has sent condolensces multiple times to the US and to President Bush.

…

Meanwhile, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun held a special meeting with aides Wednesday to discuss the shooting, as the public expressed shame over a South Korean citizen being identified as the gunman.

“I. and our people. cannot contain our feelings of huge shock and grief,” said Roh during a news conference. “I pray for the souls of those killed and offer words of comfort from my heart for those injured, the bereaved families and the U.S. people.”

It was the third time that Roh has offered condolences since Tuesday. Roh also sent a similar message Wednesday to President Bush, his office said.

The case topped the front pages of nearly all South Korean newspapers Wednesday, which also voiced worries that the incident may trigger racial hatred in the U.S. and worsen relations between the strong allies.

…

Fox News Link here.

Closer to home, my Daughter’s Korean-American friend came by to walk her to the bus stop as she usually does every morning and we had our usual couple-minute chat. This morning was a little different. She was not her usual happy self and she looked to the floor and muttered, “I guess you heard the shooter was Korean.” It was clear that the shock and shame had extended to the American Koreans too. I could only call upon our family’s sense of relief that the Asian shooter was not Chinese, or the proverbial shoe would have been on our family’s foot this morning instead. When some of us get hurt, we all get hurt – the world has become a very small place indeed.

So, I offer the following open letter to the Korean people with the hope that someone in Korea will pick it up and send it along the blogoshere and internet there…..

Dear Brothers and Sisters of South Korea:

We share together the shock and anguish of the families of the students, faculty and staff of Virginia Tech who lost loved ones and mourn the loss of innocence that such violence can bring, and also pray for strength in these trying times. We also hold in prayer the shooter’s family as their grief for the loss of their loved one and what must be their feeling of horrible shame and guilt, of not just what Mr. Cho did, but that he did not get the help he so desperately needed.

That the shooter was Korean is irrelevant. A young man of promise, who was hurting and in dire need of help has died and taken many other innocent lives with him, young and old, of all races and many nationalities and countries of origin. May your people and our people go forward with a shared sense of purpose to find not only meaning in what appears to be a senseless act, but also to try to avoid these tragedies in the future.

I think I can speak for my fellow Americans in holding hands with you to go through this tragedy together and to strengthen the bonds which our peoples first shared when our blood was shed together with yours in the pursuit of freedom on the battlefields of your great nation. Both of our nations have suffered the great agony of war and bloodshed. We can only hope that we will all work together to ensure that the victims – all of them – will not be forgotten and have not died in vain. I pray for healing in both our lands.

Your American Friend,

MBT