Gang Seong-ho, the chairman of New York Police Advisory Committee, stayed up three nights in a row patrolling Flushing, New York, where many Koreans reside. Gang guards people home late at night and helps local police on crime prevention as a large portion of the police force is concentrated in the accident site.

New York Police Advisory Committee was formed in 1994 to safeguard Korean community in the area as Koreans Association's Crime Prevention Committee, and was officially recognized by NYPD two years later and changed to the current title. Among 80 members, 27 of them are patrolmen who are formally trained at Police Academy for 16 weeks. Currently, there are three patrol cars, but NYPD has promised to subsidize two to three more.

However, Gang is also directly affected by the terrible incident. His 35 year-old nephew who was working at a financial services company located in the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center is missing. Gang says he is heart-broken by the tragedy, but he cannot abandon his duty as a leader and search for his nephew.

Koreans residing in New York, from accountants to grocery owners, are putting their efforts together, and Kim stressed that Koreans should help each other to overcome the state of panic and the damage caused by the attack.

(Baek Seung-jae, whitesj@chosun.com )