(Prayers and sorrow as Koreans apologise for the quiet gunman, The Times, 4.20, 면 단, Richard Lloyd Parry)
조승희 가족이 조용하고, 거의 말이 없었던 것으로 기억하는 소년이 그렇게 많은 사람들을 죽일 수 있었다는 데에 당혹하고 믿을 수 없다고 한 가운데, 한국 기독교인들은 어제 서울에서 대량살인의 희생자들의 영혼을 위한 기도를 드렸다.
살인에 명확한 인종적인 동기가 없음에도 불구하고, 이 사건은 한국에서 불안을 야기했으며, 조 씨의 아동기에서 어떤 요소가 그를 살인하게 했을 지에 대한 분석을 이끌어냈다.
살인범의 어머니의 오빠인 김씨는 AP와의 인터뷰에서 “어렸을 때 말이 없었다. 아주 조용했지만, 문제가 있을 거라고 보일 만큼 특별한 점은 없었다. 우리는 걔가 너무 조용해서 걱정을 했고, 얘기를 더 하도록 권했다”
조 씨의 부모는 서울에서 헌책방을 운영했으며 1992년 보다 나은 생활을 위해 미국으로 이주했다.
“내 동생이 아이들을 걱정하는 것처럼 보이지 않았다. 동생은 아이들을 부양하기 위해 돈을 벌려고 얼마나 열심히 일해야 하는지에 대해서만 얘기했다. 한국에서는 동생 가족이 힘들게 먹고 살았다. 헌책방에서는 돈을 별로 벌지 못했다. 승희는 어렸을 때 말을 안 해서 부모를 걱정시켰지만, 행동은 바르게 했다. 아이들을 잘못 키운 책임을 어떻게 보상할 수 있을지 모르겠다. 부모가 그렇게 먼 나라까지 가서 그렇게 열심히 일했는데, 승희가 어떻게 이런 일을 했는지 모르겠다.”
50대 중반의 김 씨는 조 씨 가족이 미국이민 이후 한국을 방문한 적이 없었기 때문에 텔레비전 뉴스에서 조 씨를 알아보지 못했다고 말했다.
한국에서 조 씨 부모는 서울의 방 두개짜리 작은 연립주택에서 살았었다.
한겨레신문은 사설에서 조 씨의 경우가 미국에 있는 많은 한국 이민자들이 직면하는 문제, 즉 부모들이 일하느라 너무 바빠서 아이들을 잘 돌볼 수 없다는 문제를 잘 보여준다고 말했다.
South Korean Christians prayed in Seoul for the souls of the victims of the massacre yesterday as the family of Cho Seung Hui expressed bafflement and disbelief that the quiet, almost mute, boy they remembered could have killed so many people.
“Among the 32 killed were bright students who could have contributed greatly to society, and it’s a big loss for all of us,” Cardinal Nicolas Cheong Jin Suk told the congregation, standing before a display of white flowers and an American flag at Myongdong Cathedral in central Seoul. “As a South Korean, I can’t help feeling apologetic about how a Korean man caused such a shocking incident.”
Despite the absence of any obvious racial motive for the killings, they have provoked disquiet in South Korea, and inevitable analysis of what factors in his early life might have driven him to kill.
“He didn’t talk much when he was young,” a brother of the dead killer’s mother, identified only as Mr Kim, told the Associated Press. “He was very quiet, but he didn’t display any peculiarities to suggest he may have problems. We were concerned about him being too quiet and encouraged him to talk more.”
Cho’s parents ran a secondhand bookshop in Seoul and moved to the US in 1992 in search of a more prosperous life. “[His mother] said the children were studying well,” Mr Kim said.
“She didn’t seem worried about her children at all. She just talked about how hard she had to work to make a living to support the children. They had trouble making ends meet in Korea. The book store they had didn’t make much money. Seung Hui troubled his parents when he was young because he wouldn’t talk, but he was well behaved.
“I don’t know how I can compensate for the responsibility for raising my kids improperly. I don’t know how he could do this when his parents went to a country far away and worked hard.”
Mr Kim, who said he was in his mid-fifties, said he could not recognise Cho from the television footage because his family had not visited South Korea since emigrating.
“I am devastated,” he said between heavy sighs. “I don’t know what I can tell the victims’ families and the US citizens. I sincerely apologise . . . as a family member.”
In South Korea, Cho’s parents lived in a small two-room apartment in Seoul.
In an editorial, the Hankyoreh newspaper wrote that Cho’s case illustrated a problem many South Korean immigrants faced in the US, where many parents worked too hard to care for their children.