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Cho's silence worried family, relatives say
April 19, 2007
By BO-MI LIM
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea — Cho Seung-hui was a worry to his family because he didn’t speak much as a child, his uncle said Thursday, and there were even concerns he might be mute.
But there were no early indications that the South Korean student who killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech had serious problems, said the uncle, who requested to be identified only by his last name, Kim.
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Cho “didn’t talk much when he was young. He was very quiet, but he didn’t display any peculiarities to suggest he may have problems,” Kim told the Associated Press in a telephone interview. “We were concerned about him being too quiet and encouraged him to talk more.”
Cho left South Korea with his family in 1992 to seek a better life in the United States, Kim said. The family never visited their homeland, and Kim said he did not recognize his nephew when his picture appeared on television as the shooter in the deadliest massacre in U.S. history.
“I am devastated,” Kim said between heavy sighs. “I don’t know what I can tell the victims’ families and the U.S. citizens. I sincerely apologize ... as a family member.”
In South Korea, Cho’s parents ran a small bookstore in Seoul, Kim said. The family lived in a two-room apartment no larger than 430 square feet.
“They had trouble making ends meet in Korea. The bookstore they had didn’t turn much profit,” Kim said.
He said his sister — Cho’s mother — occasionally called around holidays, but never mentioned having any problems with her son.
“She said the children were studying well. She didn’t seem worried about her children at all,” Kim said. “She just talked about how hard she had to work to make a living, to support the children.”
He said he has been unable to reach Cho’s mother since Monday’s massacre.
She and her husband now work at a dry cleaners in suburban Washington.
As a schoolboy in the United States, Cho’s speech problems and shyness made him a target for bullying and ridicule, former classmates said.
The South Korean immigrant almost never opened his mouth and would ignore attempts to strike up a conversation, said Chris Davids, a Virginia Tech senior who graduated from Westfield High School in Chantilly, Va., with Cho in 2003.
When Cho read out loud in class, other students laughed at his strange, deep voice that sounded “like he had something in his mouth,” Davids said.
In a video Cho mailed to NBC in the middle of his rampage at Virginia Tech, the 23-year-old portrays himself as persecuted and rants about rich kids.
Cho’s maternal grandfather also told South Korean newspapers that relatives were concerned about Cho not talking much as a child.
Cho “troubled his parents a lot when he was young because he couldn’t speak well, but was well-behaved,” the grandfather, who was identified by only his last name Kim, told the Dong-a Ilbo daily.
The family was worried that Cho might even be mute, the 81-year-old grandfather said in a separate interview with Hankyoreh newspaper.
In an editorial Thursday, the Hankyoreh said Cho’s case reflected problems faced by many South Korean immigrants in the United States.
“It is the reality of our immigrants that parents are so busy making a living that it’s not easy for them to have dialogue with young children,” the newspaper wrote.
“We should think about whether our society or our community abroad has been negligent in preventing conditions that could lead to such an aberration,” it said.
In Seoul, more than 1,000 people sang hymns and prayed for Cho’s victims at a special service at Myeongdong Cathedral, some fighting back tears. White flowers, candles and a U.S. flag adorned a small table in the center of the chapel.
“As a mother myself, my heart really aches as if it happened to my own children,” said Bang Myung-lan, a 48-year-old housewife, holding back tears. “As a Korean, I am deeply sorry for the deceased.”
Cardinal Nicolas Cheong Jin-suk urged parishioners to work together to prevent a recurrence of “such an unfortunate event.”
“Among the 32 killed were bright students who could have contributed greatly to society, and it’s a big loss for all of us,” the cardinal said. “As a South Korean, I can’t help feeling apologetic about how a Korean man caused such a shocking incident.”
“It is beyond my understanding how such a thing can occur — especially to think a Korean is responsible for this,” said 68-year-old Lee Chun-ja after the service. “It really tears my heart. Something like this should never happen again.”
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