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The gunman in the US university massacre had troubled his parents as a child because he would not speak, news reports in South Korea said today.
Cho Seung-hui left South Korea with his family in 1992 to seek a better life in the United States, Cho’s grandfather told the Dong-a Ilbo daily.
Cho killed himself and 32 others at Virginia Tech in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern US history.
Relatives said they had minimal contact with the family after they left South Korea.
“How could he have done such a thing if he had any sympathy for his parents, who went all the way to another country because they couldn’t make ends meet and endured hardships,” Cho’s maternal grandfather, identified only by his last name Kim, was quoted as saying.
The 81-year-old Kim said Cho “troubled his parents a lot when he was young because he couldn’t speak well, but was well-behaved,” the report said.
In a separate interview with the Hankyoreh newspaper, Kim said the relatives were worried that Cho might even be mute.
Kim said Cho’s parents ran a small used-book store in Seoul before they left South Korea. Cho’s father used to work in Saudi Arabia before he got married, Kim told the newspaper.
He said Cho’s family had only a little money when they left for the US and that his daughter would only call occasionally, around holidays, according to the Hankyoreh report.
Cho’s uncle – his mother’s younger brother – also told the Dong-a Ilbo that he was unaware of how Cho’s family was doing.
“I don’t know even know my sister’s phone number,” the uncle said, adding he last talked to Cho’s mother in October, the report said.
“Before she emigrated in 1992, she told me she was leaving for her children’s’ education. Since she emigrated, I haven’t seen her for nearly 15 years,” the uncle – also identified by just his last name Kim – was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, South Koreans mourned the deaths of those killed in the Virginia Tech shootings at a special church service today, some fighting back tears from the guilt that a fellow South Korean was responsible for the massacre.
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