South Koreans want Cho to be considered non-Korean because of time spent abroad

Look at a portion of this article from the Washington Post:

And from Seoul, South Koreans and their government appealed to Americans not to let the carnage generate racial prejudice against the 2 million South Koreans who live in the United States.

At the same time, a number of South Koreans noted that Cho had lived in the United States for most of his life and said that he should not be considered a South Korean even though he carries a South Korean passport.

"a number of South Koreans . . .should not considered a South Korean even though he carries a South Korean passport"???? So, should emigrating South Koreans be rendered non-Korean after some threshold of being abroad? How long are these South Koreans thinking that threshold should be?


Look, if this guy really did come over when he was 8, then he probably had no choice in the matter, as it was up to his parents whether to bring him along, or leave him behind.

Cho could've naturalized if he wanted to, but I wonder if he even thought of these concepts of nationality and citizenship.

It's all annoying legalism, which people discard whenever convenient (see my post below), and trying to box people into these defined identities.

Here is the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041701924.html

Chosun Ilbo: "Virginia Tech Shooter Was Korean"

Ugh, this article totally annoys me because of its two consecutive sentences that contradict each other!

The first two sentences of the article follow:

"The gunman behind the massacre at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia has been identified as Korean-American student Cho Seung-hui, police said. A permanent legal resident, Cho was a senior majoring in English and lived in Centerville, Virginia."

Hello!!! If he was a permanent legal resident, then he was Korean, not Korean-American. If he had naturalized and obtained US nationality, then he would be a Korean-American, or American.

Here is the link to the article:


I'm really sorry, but I can't get the "insert link" button to work right now on my computer, so the address is below:

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200704/200704180010.html