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INNER-CITY ENVOYS: A group of inner-city high school students has just returned from a trip to South Korea as part of a program to increase understanding between African Americans and Korean Americans.
The fourth trip of its kind, the 10-day visit to South Korea is sponsored by the New York-based Korea Society, headed by Donald Greg, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, and funded by the Federation of Korean Industries, an alliance of major corporations such as Hyundai.
Greg started the trips after Korean citizens approached him about what could be done to ease racial tensions in the wake of the 1992 riots. Greg teamed up with the Rev. Fred Newkirk, a Quaker minister who heads Inner Cities Ministries in Long Beach, and chose African American students for the trip.
This year, Newkirk brought African American, Latino and Korean American youths to South Korea. The group toured Buddhist temples, high schools and the demilitarized zone at the border of North Korea and South Korea, Newkirk said.
“It’s quite a unique program,” he said.
“The kids found that Koreans had been oppressed too, and they had a religious experience in common,” Greg said. “They even found that Korean kids are interested in rap.
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