Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Adventurer]

Virginia Korean community still reeling By JEAN H. LEE, Associated Press Writer
Sun Apr 22, 7:27 PM ET



CENTREVILLE, Va. - Korean Americans in the community where Seung-Hui Cho grew up are still reeling from the shock of learning that the Virginia Tech gunman was one of their own. But many say Cho was a stranger even among the tight-knit families who were his neighbors.

Cho moved to northern Virginia when he was 8 and was raised in a growing immigrant community where the pressure to succeed was overwhelming and seeking mental health care carries a stigma.

After the slayings, Korean Americans held prayer meetings and candlelight vigils as they struggled to understand how Cho slipped through the cracks.

"I think we failed him as a society at large," says Josephine Kim, a mental health expert who also emigrated from South Korea at age 8. "I think our community failed him, the school system failed him, and definitely the immigrant life really failed him."

She said the family was told in the U.S. that Cho suffered from autism � but no records show such a diagnosis.

When her brother landed at Virginia Tech as a freshman, Sun-Kyung Cho asked friends to watch out for him, Hong said.

And she said Korean society � Confucian, patriarchal, and steeped in pride, dignity and the importance of family � has long viewed mental illness as a taboo topic best kept in the closet.

Many Koreans consider it "a sign of bad blood or a sin to be depressed, Kim said. "It's against our culture to talk about these things."

In immigrant families, the generation gap often is exacerbated by the cultural divide of parents struggling to make ends meet while their children try to become American, she said.

"We respond to this tragedy as Americans and as Koreans, so let's pray for this nation, that this nation will heal," the Rev. Dihan Lee said in prayer.

Many sobbed openly. After praying, they scribbled messages of condolences and faith on Hokies banners to take back to the Blacksburg campus.

But Lee urged worshippers not to be ashamed of their Korean heritage.

"Right now there's a lot of shame being passed around, but it's really important to understand: This is not our shame ... even though we sense it."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070422/ap_on_re_us/virginia_tech_koreans

[EFLtrainer]

I was about to post this, along with a pointer to those saying it had nothing to do with Korean culture... and those saying it was only Korean culture... or any claiming it was simple... in any way.

[Adventurer]

[Junior]

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

[Kuros]

[flakfizer]

And in today's Herald there's article about Korea's very high suicide rate.

[Adventurer]

[stevemcgarrett]

Adventurer:

Good article and I believe blame can be assigned all around but certainly the Korean attitude toward mental health issues must be near or at the top.

wo buxi:

It does seem to be a bit at variance with the supposed "happy face" mentality some assert here, doesn't it?

[wo buxihuan hanguoren]

[Kuros]

[Hollywoodaction]

[stevemcgarrett]

Hollywoodaction liberally proclaimed:

[Hollywoodaction]

[Hollywoodaction]