AFRICAN-AMERICANS, KOREANS TRY TO HEAL DEEP WOUNDS.

Byline: TONY CASTRO

Staff Writer

The 350 marchers who made the recent 1.4-mile trek down Wilshire Boulevard from Koreatown to MacArthur Park made up in symbolism what they lacked in numbers.

Actor Danny Glover and civil-rights attorney Connie Rice marched alongside Korean merchants and churchgoers, Los Angeles Police Department officers and activists from Homies Unidos.

African-Americans, Koreans, whites and Latinos sought to underscore an ethnic unity they hope marks a dramatic change since the 1992 riots that destroyed 2,000 Korean businesses and exposed wide rifts between Koreans and other minority groups.

The march meant to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the riots suddenly served as a memorial for the 32 Virginia Tech students killed April 16 by Korean student Seung-hui Cho, creating fears of a racist backlash among Korean-Americans.

"The Korean-American community is really concerned," said Kyeyoung Park, an associate professor of anthropology and member of the Center for Korean Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Particularly here, where the Korean-American was scapegoated in 1992 civil unrest."

Fifteen years ago, Korean merchants, especially those working in South Los Angeles, became the target of black rioters in what Koreans came to know as "sa-i-gu," which translates to April 29.

"People think the riots were only about Rodney King, but it was more than Rodney King," said Chester Tate, an African-American who lives near the intersection of Florence and Normandie, the flashpoint for the four days of violence. "It was also over incidents like the Latasha Harlins killing over a bottle of juice."

Latasha was a 15-year-old African-American girl who was fatally shot on March 16, 1991, by Soon Ja Du, a Korean-American store owner in South Los Angeles.

A security camera captured images of the teen putting a $1.79 bottle of orange juice into her backpack. Du apparently saw this but did not notice that the girl had then approached the store counter with money in her hand.

African-Americans and Koreans now say there has been noticeable improvement in relations between the two groups in the past 15 years -- progress that was emphasized by last week's march.

"There is still deep pain," says Lee Jung-Hui, whose son, Edward, tried to protect Koreatown merchants but was killed when one of them mistook him for a looter and shot him. "But we all must learn to forgive one another and change the world for the better."

tony.castro(at)dailynews.com

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