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In America, Koreans are Christian or attend church at nearly three times the rate found in their mother country. Some 25 percent of Koreans in South Korea identify themselves as Christian. But about 70 percent of Koreans in the United States are affiliated with a church, if not for spiritual guidance, then at least for cultural connection. Within the U.S. population of 300 million, there are only about 1 million Koreans, and they are concentrated in gateway cities such as Los Angeles. Only 10 percent of the 10.2 million Asians in the U.S. are Korean.

As a result, immigrant Koreans often stick together. Kang said this "stick-togetherness" helps them whether they are first generation (having arrived in the United States after age 16 or so) or "1.5 generation" (having immigrated as children, sometimes old enough to remember their lives in Korea).

In the days after the shooting, classes were canceled. Most Korean American students went home to their parents. One reason was fear of ethnic reprisals. In the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Koreans suffered violence and property damage after a Korean American shot an African American.

Some Korean Americans across the country feared a similar reaction. But Chung said that most Korean students who remained in Blacksburg were not worried about a backlash. Instead, they were asking deep questions:

• What do we need to learn from this tragedy?
• What is God telling us?
• What should my life's priority be?

By Thursday, Korean American pastors from throughout the East Coast and Korean seminary students from Liberty planned to come pray on campus. But amid attempts to cope with the crisis, the entire campus involuntarily had become a reality TV show. Satellite trucks ringed Virginia Tech's Drillfield. One Christian leader called the media crush a "second trauma" for students.

The situation became abusive and manipulative. One KCCC leader told CT, "They were just leading us to say what they want[ed] us to say, trying to ask a lot of nosy questions that seemed irrelevant and could hurt a lot of people."

Church leaders were anxious. "We were worried about our pure motive for our prayer meeting being distorted," Chung said. He canceled the event.

Chung had been asking himself and others: "What role should we play in light of this rampage?" "I'm still asking God's wisdom," he said.

"I believe there will be a message from God. God is saying something—isn't he?—when he allows a tragedy of this size to happen in Blacksburg," Chung said. "This is happening in our front yard."

Concerning Cho, Chung told CT, "We need to pray for his parents and his sister [enduring] the worst nightmare of nightmares. To find strength to live, joy of living … will be almost impossible without Christ."

Korean Baptist Church, a first-generation immigrant church established in the early 1980s, is a congregation of 250.

Blacksburg's other Korean church, Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, is a 1.5- and second-generation church that favors English-language worship. Korea Campus Crusade for Christ, the Baptist church's de facto student outreach arm, arrived at Virginia Tech about 10 years ago. Perhaps a quarter of the 90 students involved with KCCC are "seekers"—young people interested in knowing more about a relationship with Christ.

The dynamic within the Korean American community is not unlike that of many American communities. University students leave their families, which range in faith from unchurched and uninterested to devoutly Christian. Like other students, they are dealing with identity issues and deciding where God and the church fit into their lives.

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June 2007, Vol. 51, No. 6