"You are a traitor to Koreans," read one editorial
in a Korean paper. Another titled its piece "Sunny
Park, a pioneer for Korean-Americans!" Those sentiments
bracketed the range of opinions expressed in a flood of
e-mails and phone calls that I've received recently.
To the angry members of the Korean community in the United
States, as well as those in South Korea, I was the betrayer:
a Korean Judas. I even had to call the FBI for protection
because of threats from some local Koreans. Among the
more than 2,000 e-mails I received, the words "I
know where to find you" in big, blood-red letters
flashed on my computer monitor.
How did I attract so much attention? On Nov. 16, 2002,
I participated in a fund-raiser for Sgt. Mark Walker from
Acworth to help with his legal defense.
During a military exercise in June 2002, Sgt. Walker was
driving an armored military vehicle that killed two teenage
Korean girls on a narrow country road in South Korea.
A joint investigative team declared that the incident
was an accident, but court-martial proceedings were ordered
because of political pressure from anti-American demonstrators.
Local Korean-American community members have rallied behind
Sgt. Walker because he is a fellow U.S. citizen in a difficult
situation in our former country. "We didn't help
a murderer of Koreans, but helped our neighbor who is
in trouble," I told television reporters calling
from Seoul and New York when word of our involvement spread
on the Internet.
When Sgt. Walker was acquitted at the court-martial, my
phone started ringing and my computer began filling up
with e-mails from strangers. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
and the Korea Times covered the story of the fund-raiser,
which spread around the globe overnight. People found
me personally by searching out the Web site I am affiliated
with. It had to shut down for three weeks because of the
volume of mail.
Many of the letters asserted that I am no longer a Korean
because I "betrayed Koreans by helping the murder
of Koreans." These people proclaimed that I had effectively
renounced my right to claim to be a man of Korean heritage.
Some offered to kill me if I ever visited Korea.
Such venom brought back old agonies and memories that
I never want to deal with again. When I was pondering
whether to become a U.S. citizen, I went through a grueling
two-month period during which I did some intensive soul-searching
before taking a "full oath of allegiance to the United
States," as new citizens are required to do. I did,
and I am proud.
I am just one of more than a million Korean-Americans
who are dealing with a renewed agony as news stories such
as Sgt. Walker's tug my heart in two directions.
Conflicts between our old and new countries still throw
Korean-Americans into confusion. I find some consolation
from the fact that more than 120,000 pro-American Koreans
rallied in South Korea to denounce anti-Americanism and
North Korean instigators.
I have a message for the South Koreans with whom I share
a heritage: You in Korea will forever stay in our hearts,
but we are Americans. Please take care of the Americans
in South Korea, as they are now fellow citizens of mine
who are protecting you from nuclear-armed North Korea.
And please remember Americans made supreme sacrifices
to protect our life and freedom during the Korean War.
I also have a message for my fellow U.S. citizens: South
Korea was, is and will be an ally to us as they were.
However, the Korean-American community is in a unique
and troublesome situation. Many Americans still view and
portray us as foreigners.
We are a 100-year-old American community, we pay taxes,
and we send our kids to the combat front lines to fight
for America. We make great contributions to the American
economy, schools and society.
America: You can continue to count on us. Can we count
on you?
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