Protests against racism triggered by the death of black George Floyd are spreading across the United States. As the looting occurs, the damage to the Korean American community is also increasing. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reports of damages were received at local missions by 126 Korean shops by the morning of the 4th. Philadelphia has the largest number of 56 cases, 14 in Chicago, 10 in Minneapolis, 10 in St. Louis, 6 in Raleigh, 4 in Washington DC, 4 in the Bronx, and 4 in Atlanta.


● "Korean shops, selling items that blacks need"

Why was the biggest Korean damage in Philadelphia? Philadelphia Korean President Sharon Hwang said in a telephone interview with SBS that "because Koreans in Philadelphia are doing a lot of the business that blacks (African-Americans) need." Local Koreans mainly run daily necessities, computers, cell phones, sneakers, and beauty supplies (beauty products), which are the items that black people need. As a straightforward example, about 30 of the 56 cases reported in Philadelphia are beauty supply stores. Beauty Supply is a place that sells wigs and beauty supplies that blacks need, and is considered a representative industry in the Korean community in Philadelphia. The exact amount of looting damage has not been estimated, but it is estimated at least $20 million locally and 24 billion won.


"There are no looting during the day," said Hwang. "People living around Korean shops at night pillage with me." It can be seen that some black people are plundering the goods they need in the turmoil of protests.

One of the causes is the'policy gap'. The state defense forces were deployed in downtown Philadelphia, but Hwang explained that there are no Koreans in the area, so there are no Korean defense forces here. The National Defense Force says it can't afford to worry about where there are Korean shops in response to protests in downtown. Even if I reported it to the police, I was dispatched a few hours later. Philadelphia Korean President Sharon Hwang asked the Governor's office to allow the National Guard to come to a place where Korean shops are located, but he answered "It's not that simple." Mr. Hwang said he would once again strongly request the Governor.


● "I bought a lot of goods to resume business..."

Philadelphia Korean shops have been closed for the past three months. Corona 19 Pandemic, because of the global pandemic. It is said that as the containment decree in the United States has eased, a large number of items have been purchased to resume operations from this month. As such, the looting damage is inevitable. Chairman Hwang wrote, "It is a poor situation in which there was little income from the pandemic and was looted this time."

The looting situation was truly'unhelpful'. He said he broke the lock with a chainsaw, opened the iron door, broke the glass window, and broke in. It was said that no locking system worked. Even if the alarm went off, the police did not come, and the owners had no choice but to watch the looting by CCTV at home. It has been reported that shops on a street have been looted entirely.


Shops that have not been looted are also said to be emergency. President Hwang said, "Korean shops that have not suffered damage are also busy getting their stuff out." It is to try to avoid looting by taking out the goods in advance. In addition, they have been told that they are completely obscured by the wooden board so that they cannot see what the store is. What makes Korean society more difficult is that I don't know when this will end.