National Korean Presbyterian Council offers condolences to grieving families at Virginia Tech
The Layman Online, April 26, 2007
The National Korean Presbyterian Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is extending its “sincere condolences to grieving families that have lost their loving sons and daughters and the grieving VT student body that has lost dear friends and classmates” in the wake of the deadly shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16.
Seung-Hui Cho killed 30 people before shooting himself in the head, police told CNN on Wednesday. But they said investigators still don’t know why Cho launched the bloody attack on his fellow students at Virginia Tech, nor has there been anything to indicate a motive or close link between the 23-year-old loner and his victims.
Cho grew up in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Centreville, Va., Jeff Ahn, president of the League of Korean-Americans Virginia Inc., told CNN. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Cho was a legal permanent resident and had a green card. The Department of Homeland Security said Cho had emigrated from South Korea when he was 8.
In a letter to Charles W. Steger, president of Virginia Tech, Myong Bae Choi, moderator of the National Korean Presbyterian Council, wrote, “In the midst of wailing in broken heart, we cry out to our merciful God to stretch out God’s caring hand to comfort and heal all those who are afflicted by the unfathomable tragedy.”
“We are calling all of our Korean American congregations to have a vigil service to remember the victims and their families,” Choi wrote, “and to pray for the deliverance of the VT community and the nation from anguish of heart and brokenness of spirit.
“We also pray with all our heart and soul that God may strengthen your loving VT community with faith and hope so that it can soar out of the tragedy to become a great learning institution that helps people live with caring and loving heart more than ever.”
The National Korean Presbyterian Council, according to the PCUSA, is a “racial ethnic caucus under the National Asian Presbyterian Council, representing 400 Korean-American churches in the PCUSA. It is the second-largest racial ethnic caucus in the denomination with about 50,000 active members.”