Reactions to Violence in Los Angeles, Beamed Across the Globe

KOREA

“Korean people are now donating money to help the victimized Korean-Americans, but they should realize that this is different than helping flood victims or fire victims.

“They should realize that that these Korean-Americans are paying a dear tuition on our behalf to learn the wisdom of how to live harmoniously with colored people. Material aid is secondary. . . .

“Black people are a very unfortunate people, but they are good people. We Koreans must be the race to understand their culture and who render help and hope to them.”

Lee Kwang Kyu, commentary, Chosun Ilbo

“If Koreans had set fire to the American residence area near Itaewon, looted the assets and killed American citizens, what would the American government have done? It surely would have mobilized the American military in Korea and shot at the ‘rebels’ and, if necessary, would have dispatched military forces from home.”

Editorial, Hangyoreh Shinmoon

JAPAN

“Japanese companies are finding themselves the target of great expectations for efforts to rebuild Los Angeles after the riots. But the companies themselves are bemused, with most high-ranking officials viewing recovery from the riots that followed the Rodney King verdict as an internal U.S. problem.”

Editorial, Daily Yomiuri

“What’s the difference between Japanese cops and American cops? Japanese cops torture suspects in substitute prisons and get away with it. American cops beat suspects in public and get away with it.”

Letter to the editor, Mainichi Daily News

“The riots have made the world aware that the U.S. cannot continue to ignore its poor and deprived if it wishes to preserve social harmony and to retain moral persuasiveness in urging other nations to solve human-rights issues.”

Editorial, Japan Times

NEW ZEALAND

“Denial merely invites subsequent surprise. The police and city authorities in Los Angeles were surprised. Maybe they should not have been. The warning signs have been there for decades, and there are warning signs here too.”

Oliver Riddell, commentary, Christchurch Press

SINGAPORE

“The good that may come from this century’s worst racial violence in the U.S. is that its complacent elite may sit up and decide that race is an issue involving real questions of equity and justice, that it is fed by economic and other disparities which hurt real people, that liberal economy and polity do not absolve government of the duty to adopt socially responsible policies and programs.”

Editorial, Straits Times

“The Singapore government took the big decision more than 20 years ago to abolish trial by jury because it recognized the inherent weakness of the system. It was not prepared to leave the administration of justice in the hands of seven laymen. The Rodney King verdict has reassured me that we did the right thing.”

Sia Cheong Yew, columnist, Straits Times

TAIWAN

“No country can long play a leading role in the world while internal problems keep multiplying.”

Louie Ran, analysis, China Times Express

THAILAND

“The more mob rule can be used to explain the violence, the less blame attaches to the gross miscarriage of justice that turned long-suffering frustration into violent hate. That would help the mainstream American conscience dismiss the tragic incidents as the work of uncontrolled mobs, serving neither the interests of America nor the world.”

Editorial, Bangkok Post

HONG KONG

“Equal justice under the law or a biased verdict in favor of the white race? If the videotape had shown four African-American policemen savagely beating a white man, I do not doubt the verdict would have been anything other than guilty.”

Letter to the editor, South China Morning Post.

CHINA

“You who proclaim the importance of human rights, waving your clubs, condemning and interfering in other countries’ affairs--why don’t you open your eyes and look at your own domestic situation?”

Commentary, People’s Daily