Black Students to Visit S. Korea in Cultural Trip : Ambassadors: Christian organization is sponsoring a “mission of understanding” in an effort to erase stereotypes.

Stepping up efforts to improve relations between African-American and Korean-American communities, a Christian organization in South Korea is sponsoring an educational trip for 10 outstanding black high school and college students from Los Angeles.

The trip, the first of its kind for African-American students, was announced Monday at the Young Nak Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, the largest Korean church in the United States.

Four girls and six boys--four of them student body presidents of South-Central Los Angeles high schools--will spend two weeks in South Korea, visiting museums, schools and churches, sightseeing and meeting with people.

“We want to give these youngsters a wide exposure to what Korea and Koreans are,” said Young Nak elder Chin-Chang Song, who helped arrange the trip, which begins Oct. 23. “When they visit Korea and see a cross-section of Koreans and get a glimpse of Korean history, culture and the arts, they will be better able to see Korean-Americans in a larger context.”

The Rev. Jung-Nam Lee, pastor of the Valley Park Korean Baptist Church in Sepulveda, is leading an adult delegation of African-Americans this Friday on a trip sponsored by the Korean Press Center in Seoul. He called the students’ trip a “mission of understanding” that will be mutually beneficial.

“It will be a broadening experience not only for the African-American students but for Koreans in Korea who will meet them,” Lee said. “Seeing them can also help Koreans in Korea to put aside their negative feelings toward blacks too.”

On Thursday, the students, their relatives and the Rev. Carl Washington, of Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in South-Central Los Angeles, attended an orientation at Young Nak, on the edge of Chinatown.

After listening to several Korean-American speakers and watching a movie that showed Korean scenic spots, sports events, students in the classroom, artists and performers at work and holiday celebrations, one student raised his hand and asked:

“How do you greet people in Korea? Do you always have to bow?”

“Not necessarily,” Lee answered with a smile. “Many Koreans shake hands now. But it is polite to shake hands and also bow at the same time.”

Lee and the Rev. Daniel Kim, a younger man, demonstrated the way Koreans shake hands when their ages are different.

“The older person extends one hand, but the younger one receives the extended hand with both hands, and at the same time bows slightly,” Lee said. “Respect to elders is very much appreciated in the Korean culture.”

No one asked and speakers did not explain how Koreans greet members of the opposite sex. As a general rule, Koreans do not shake hands with members of the opposite sex because that involves physical contact. They prefer bowing.

Washington High School student body President Kaia Shivers, who attended the orientation with her mother, said the film on South Korea had heightened her excitement about the forthcoming trip.

“It was breathtaking,” she said. “I hope I can gather a lot of information so I can come back and inform other students.” Knowledge is a key to easing tensions between blacks and Koreans, she said, adding that it is important for African-Americans to know that not all Koreans are shopkeepers.

Masai Bolton, a freshman at Santa Monica City College, said he hopes to gain “a better understanding of the Korean culture and unite the two races--not just as people but as Christians.”

In the past decade, since Koreans in large numbers moved into inner cities to operate businesses, numerous Korean religious and educational organizations have invited African-American community leaders on expenses-paid trips to South Korea.

“This is a chance of a lifetime,” said Washington, who will accompany the students. He said he is taking the “cream of the crop” to South Korea.

Washington emphasized that the four student body presidents represent 8,000 students in South-Central Los Angeles, and that what they say after their trip will have a far-reaching impact.

The project has received enthusiastic approval of school officials. Upon their return, Los Angeles Unified School District board member Warren Furutani has arranged for them to speak to various groups.

In addition to Shivers and Bolton, the delegation includes Taucher Jones, a sophomore at El Camino College; Myesha White, a UCLA freshman; Hassan Freeman, a senior at Crenshaw High School; Jamie Singleton, senior at Jordan High in Watts; Malaika Howard, a UCLA sophomore, and her brother, UCLA freshman Aaron O. Howard.

Upon their arrival at Kimpo International Airport in Seoul, they are scheduled to hold a news conference with the Korean press.