Police Officials Hold Briefing to Reassure Koreatown of Safety

At a somber news conference Tuesday that began with a prayer by an elderly Korean-American minister for “peace and security,” top Los Angeles Police Department officials told the Korean-language news media that Koreatown will be protected in the event of civil unrest.

“We would like to reassure everyone that officers will be on the streets,” said Cmdr. David J. Gascon, spokesman for Police Chief Willie L. Williams. “They will be cruising in the streets. They’re going to be visible in the area.”

Noting that “no one suffered more than the Korean community” during last year’s riots, Gascon also vowed that “we will not have another April 29, 1992, in this city.”

Gascon, Police Commissioner Michael Yamaki and Capt. Julius I. Davis, head of the Police Department’s Wilshire Division, held the 90-minute briefing in Koreatown to inform the Korean-language media of the LAPD’s preparedness in the event of unrest after verdicts are announced in the Rodney G. King civil rights trial.

The meeting drew Korean community leaders and more than three dozen reporters, most of them from local Korean-language news media and Los Angeles-based correspondents for South Korean TV networks and newspapers.

Davis, whose command includes Koreatown, said that as soon as the verdicts are handed down, a “visible presence of police officers” from the Wilshire, Rampart and Hollywood divisions will be deployed to Koreatown.

All three officials said they were troubled by reports of Korean-American merchants arming themselves and urged Korean-language reporters to communicate their concern to the community.

Davis urged them to pass along a message: “Don’t bring weapons into the streets.” He noted that a Korean-American youth was killed last year by an armed civilian who mistook him for a looter.

If there is unrest, people should stay inside their businesses and homes, Yamaki said, and not take to the street wielding weapons.

“If a black-and-white unit rolls up, (police) don’t know whether you are good or bad,” Yamaki said. “The only thing they see is that gun. . . . Let the officer come to the store” if there is trouble.

Davis dismissed rumors that Koreatown has been targeted for another round of looting and burning.

Yohngsohk Choe, Korean-American coordinator for the Wilshire Community Police Council, said he felt a “little more comfortable” after the hearing the police officials’ remarks. “Until now, the Korean community has been getting only bits and pieces of information,” he said.

Asked if his fears were calmed by what he heard in the news conference, Gene Kim, president of the Koreatown Assn. of Los Angeles, said: “We have to believe them; that’s all we can do.”