[S]ome members of Princeton's Korean community fear that mass murderer Cho Seung-Hui's profile as a quiet loner seething with anger could reflect poorly on them.

The behaviors of other Korean students may be unfairly scrutinized and judged in the wake of the nation's worst mass killing Monday, some students said.

"Just because one is reserved and doesn't socialize as much doesn't mean they're harboring ominous thoughts," said Andrew Yang, a sophomore from South Korea. "There may be social barriers at work. There may be language barriers at work or maybe they just don't want to socially engage themselves as much. But given the inflammatory nature of this incident, people might construe a quiet, reserved Asian guy differently now. They may have thoughts about him that they might not have before this incident...."

Students on the Princeton campus yesterday worried that Sun-Kyung Cho's brother's actions would cast a pall on Korean students across the nation.

"Because I am at Princeton, I do not fear repercussions," said Chung. "Many people here are thoughtful, informed and rational. They won't blame the action of one person to a race that that person was associated with. However, I can see that in high schools and in some areas in Virginia, many people may be seriously afraid because racial issues tend to arise in highly racially concentrated areas."

Chung said he has received no negative feedback in the wake of the shootings.

"So far none of my American or other international friends are calling Koreans names," he said.

In fact, Yang said, many people on campus expressed surprise that media reports focused on the ethnic background of Cho, a permanent legal resident who moved to this country as a child.

"I don't think the media should fixate on certain issues like ethnicity and blow them out of proportion," Yang said. "This is not a matter of race or ethnicity. It doesn't say anything about the position of Koreans in this society or in universities. It had to do with his upbringing or the personal situation he was in." [Link]