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The mass funeral of victims of Beslan, North Osetia, Russia, is held in rainy weather Monday. A mother of an 11-year-old victim sobs, holding a portrait of her child./AFP
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MOSCOW -- It has been confirmed that among the terrorists who took hostages at a school in North Ossetia, Russia, there were some Korean-Russians (Goryeo-in in Korean), greatly shocking expatriate Koreans residing in Russia and the Korean-Russian community. Anxiety is increasing among them that they may become victims of terrorism targeting non-Caucasians committed by skinheads and gangs.
¡°Although they were not Korean citizens, as they were ethnic Koreans, we are taking additional measures such as requesting their precise identity from authorities."
As both of the Russian words referring to a Korean-Russian and a [South/North] Korean is the same -- ¡°Kareiski¡± -- and the foreign news agencies are translating that word into ¡°Korean¡± in their news coverage, the embassy considers that more accurate and swift work of identity confirmation should be carried out, in order to prevent a plunge in the national image of Korea and Korean expatriates in Russia.
Earlier, Russian news agency RIA Novosti, quoting Sergei Fridinsky, deputy prosecutor general for the Southern Federal District, reported Monday afternoon (local time) that, ¡°The attackers are composed of diverse nationalities and there were Chechens, Tatars, Kazakhs and even Koreans among the attackers.¡¯
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A suspect in the school hostage taking incident in Beslan, North Osetia, is captured by the masked police and revealed to the public though TV. /AP
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Currently, according to official Russian data, there are 148,000 ¡°Goryeo-in¡± residing in Russia, and about 8,500 of them live in the North Caucasus region. As terrorism against non-Caucasians such as the Africans and the East Asians has occurred frequently recently, it is believed that it would considerably impact Korean expatriates overseas.
After terrorist attacks took place against two passenger planes on Aug. 24 in Russia, the Korean embassy has been posting written advice in Korean newspapers issued in Russia asking Korean expatriates to take special precautions of their personal safety and advising them to be careful not to expose themselves to terrorism.
(Chung Byeong-seon, bschung@chosun.com )
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