John Yoo is the infamous Korean-American attorney who was at the Department of Justice during the Bush Administration years who provided justification of torture as part of interrogation practices in the post-911 world.   John Yoo bravely showed his face on Jon Stewart’s show who is well known for humorously humiliating many of his guests, especially the controversial ones. There were some awkward moments but John Yoo survived.

It was eight years ago today that nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.  The September 11 attacks brings back vivid memories that scarred a nation but its those scars that remind us of those innocent people who were killed by terrorists.  There were numerous Korean-Americans who lost their lives as well as 28 citizens of South Korea.

I remember that day vividly.  It was the most perfect September day; a beautiful morning.  I was on the bus traveling down 5th Ave and right before I got off the bus, I remember seeing everyone on 5th Ave standing still and looking southward.  My simple assumption was that it was people staring at some movie set off of 5th Ave.  After getting off the bus, I stared down 5th Ave and it took me a few seconds to realize people were staring at the billows of smoke coming from the World Trade Center.  My first thoughts were that the WTC was on fire!  Everyone I saw standing on 5th Ave was stunned and frozen.  I had just been up the north tower on the top floor the month before in the Windows on the World restaurant.

I walked quickly down 5th Ave to get to work and everyone was standing still, just staring in disbelief.  As soon as I got into the office, I passed a conference room filled with people watching live coverage on TV.  It was right at that moment that I heard shouts of “OMG!” and that’s when the second plane had hit the other tower.  We all know the history of that day and we should never forget those moments and that day.  Let us remember all the victims of 9/11.  We at Korean Beacon would like to honor the memories of those Koreans who passed away during those attacks.  These are the names of those who we know were of Korean descent.

Casey Cho, Frederic Kim Han, Joon Koo Kang, Andrew Jay-Hoon Kim, Lawrence Don Kim, Bon-Seok Koo, Dong Chul Lee, Hyun-Joon (Paul) Lee, Linda Lee, Myung-Woo Lee, Richard Yun Choon Lee, Stuart (Soo-Jin) Lee, Chin Sun Pak, Gye-Hyong Park,