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Koreans
Should Help 9/11 Victims
From Korea Times
August 20, 2002
By Change, Rae-Joon
On September 11th, there will be diverse ceremonies to honor the
victims of the terrorist attacks and their families.
On this day, New York City will be commemorating the one-year anniversary
of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Events are planned
at Battery Park and in many churches. Amongst other parades, families
will march carrying portraits of the victims.
The Korean community also seems to be arranging their own ceremonies
to commemorate the one-year anniversary of terrorist attack. In
addition, they are claiming that they will console the families
of the victims by participating in the ceremonies that New York
City is sponsoring.
However, these events are going to be held not because the Korean
community desires deeply from its heart to honor the victims and
console the families, but because it is "ones moral duty."
The leaders of the Korean community who have been shouting "Korean
Society unification" are observing a strict silence concerning
the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Moreover, the
Korean American Association of New York (KAANY) has not even grasped
the details of ceremonies regarding the 9/11 attacks.
Although the Korean Society honors the victims and consoles the
families, they do not seem to be putting forth the utmost efforts
to help settle the immediate problems related to the terrorist attacks.
A family member of one of the victim says with slight bitterness,
"I hear that many ceremonies are going to be held in the Korean
Society as well" but adds "However, they seem to be having
these ceremonies not because they want to pay tributes to the victims
and the families, but because they just feel that they are obliged
to have these events."
Kim Pyung-Gyum, President of the Korean Bereaved Family Organization,
says that "Besides the ceremonies sponsored by New York City
and New York State, I have not received any official information
about the ceremonies sponsored by the Korean Society."
It has been already almost a year since the horrible terrorist
attack. All of us are the victims of 9/11 terrorist attack, however,
we should learn to help out people who are in worse situation with
deep affection and concern.
Translated from Korean by Julia Yook.
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