My dad was a roof top Korean. After he left the ROK Army in 1971, he swore to never use a gun again. My dad broke his promise to himself so he could keep his promise to me: to raise me never wanting for basic human needs. To me the story of rooftop Koreans is about a generation of Koreans who survived the Korean War, fought in Vietnam, and later on the roofs so their families could live the American dream. Thanks for sharing their story
It may be just my opinion, but these are the kind of people who built America and made it the land of opportunity, by their hard work and determination. True Americans. Massive respect to your father and his compatriots. It's sad that your father had to break his promise and I suspect that decision cost him something deep inside, so my respect for people such as he is only increased.
Damned. That's a perspective that I hadn't considered until you shared this. I was stationed in Korea & saw how hard mandatory service was for a lot of Korean men. My job's (USAF Security Forces) Korean counter of Air Police has a lot of suicides. So I could see how setting that aside would be a relief. Then having to take arms up again after that. That's massive determination & must have mentally hung over many of the roof top Koreans. Thank you for sharing this perspective & my thanks to your dad for his service to both of his countries.
they are not true americans bruh they litterally isolate themselves in a korea town... they live in a community filled with koreans they speak korean all their shops had korean language on it but oogga booga pea brain american think he has gun he shoot ppl he true american ooga booga loooool at you
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..." They look pretty well regulated to me. Props to any American regardless of background who uses their rights to stand up for themselves.
riots is not defense of the state? 🤔 Pretty sure is a fucking mob with guns, in small groups, with no coordination and most likely to be shot by anyone whipping out a gun...since again no one could coordinate or communicate. Well Regulated....seems to be the problem that was missing.
Simple: They're operating on emotions, not logic. A lot more people these days are raised to act on their emotions and not think of the consequences. Riots are just one of the results of that.
If you listen to the song by ice cube , there was a lot of racial animosity between blacks and Koreans. The blacks viewed the Koreans as invaders (sound familiar ?). This was also summarized in the opening scenes of John singleton film “Boyz in the ‘hood”
I served in the army with a man that was of Korean decent from LA. We always joked and said he was our secret weapon the rooftop Korean. Turns out his dad was actually one of the rooftop Koreans.
@@johnychrist5475 thats fair, but ive been out for a little over ten years now and once you add veterans and prior service it gets a bit harder to say yeah I know that guy without some specifics
I’m Mexican-American. I was a teen when this went down, living in the San Fernando Valley. When I saw that these Korean business owners were defending their businesses, I thought it was one of the greatest thing I’d ever seen. I’ve heard some criticize them, and I’ve always been like “Wth would you do, NOT defend your property against criminals?” Good for them. 👏🏻 👏🏻
As an Asian dude from the other side of the coast, I was proud that these Koreans bear arms to protect theirs. I was 10, a week from my 11th birthday and this was all over the news. My dad was glued to the TV. We experienced hate crime from them in the 80s and wasn't surprised what was going on in LA. They broke our window twice and smoke bomb our house. Parents thought the house was on fire, rushing us out. I was just a toddler then. They would sit on their porch laughing at us panicking. Then they would assault us when we called them out. Even striking the children. They had no mercy, no moral values.
I was 21 when this happened. My dad, who was a captain in the korean army, had a store in downtown LA. He told my older brother and me that we needed to protect our business. The three of us got there to find that the other korean store owners were already on the roof armed. Spent 3 days on that roof taking turns keeping watch. Shot warning shots and got shot at but fortunately no one got hurt. Thank you for this video, it brought tears to my eyes
@@TReid2298 Let me begin by saying I lived in Washington DC during that era and the homicide of Blacks on Koreans was very high during that time. Yes, it was wrong for the shop owner to kill Latasha Harlins, but you have to understand the Koreans were on high alert. My father owned a business of putting up bullet-proof glasses and we never ran out of appointments due to this. Every Sunday at church, I would hear of my acquaintances or a friend's parents getting murdered during that time. Put yourself in their shoes, how would you react when you're getting robbed at gunpoint every week? Latasha was 15 not 12 BTW and again, I'm not justifying the murder of a 15-year-old girl.
My son is a sheriff deputy and he says keeping the peace only works until people decide they don’t want to anymore. It’s a kind of illusion people have bought into. As soon as a situation like this happens where thousands of people decide to riot nothing will stop them. You can bring in the national guard and start mowing people down I suppose. But when people cross the line into a riot of this capacity you best get the hell out.
@@wolfenrichtophen6010 it ain't about being accurate. If you're surrounded 50 to 1. You're just going to spray. I turned down the wrong street when the stuff was popping off in Baltimore and I almost got surrounded. Semi auto wouldn't have helped me out if I got stopped.
The bulk of these men weren't specifically just North Korean refugees that escaped to South Korea then immigrated to the US. They were also normal South Koreans as well, South Korea has had mandatory conscription since the armistice of the Korean War, they all more or less served their time in the ROKAF in some form or another and had military training. It showed in the sense of not specifically firearms training but how quickly they mobilized and organized their defences together so efficiently as a group.
This is why more nations should adopt conscript military service for young adults, like in Swizerland, Italy, Finland. It builds ones character and unifies the nation. Regards from Israel.
Better is a well organized volunteer civilian militia. The govt army is well known to create suicidal conditions amongst its solders and starts needless foreign wars.
@@trespire Our youth [South Koreans] loathe the conscription and they will try to find any means to escape it. In my class there are only a few who find it a necessity and duty.
I remember being very proud of the Koreans for how they responded to the riots and looting all over LA. I was disgusted how the LAPD went after the Koreans instead of the looters and burners all over the city. Koreans were the ONLY community that didn't join in the chaos but rather tried to protect their community. For that , the police went after the only group in LA that was law abiding.
이유는 간단하지. 미국 백인정권은 한국인들을 흑인폭동의 희생양으로 정했기 때문이지. 희생양은 반항해서는 안된다. 얌전히 흑인들에게 죽임을 당하고 재산을 약탈당해야만 한다. 그게 당시 미국정권의 방침이였다. 경찰은 그역할을 충실히 수행한거야. 그렇기 때문에 난 너희가 Roof Korean 이라고 영웅적 서사를 말하는게 너무 역겨워. 미국인 너희의 이중성
@@Maggozonk yeah it is. The BLM rioters were protected by the media and the "justice"system while people who protected themselves against the rampaging apes were prosecuted harshly
My father worked on Beverly and Normandie during the riots. He told me about the Koreans that helped him and his store. They helped him leave the area when it started to get really bad with an armed escort. People don’t really understand the level of lawlessness there was. I’m glad my father made it out safe and big respect to those Koreans that helped my Dad.
@@play4keeps77 a lot people were injured, died, or lost businesses. I only hear stories from my family but May 2020 looting was pretty wild in lawlessness too, not near the riots but how spread out the chaos was, they just consciously did it in nicer areas (there was some people just protesting)
My father and uncles, most of whom were ROK vets, all took up arms to defend their stores. I was in high school. Your typical rebellious teen. With a growing sense of dread, wonder, and excitement, I learned what real responsibility and earned respect was all about.
There are numerous Crips testimonies, saying that they bought their guns from the police, and MS13 stands for Mason with the occult number 13 attached to it - yes, all these gangs work for their Masters in the US Government and US Authorities, who are predominently Freemason members being the top gang on the food chain. Total intel on the enemy within in UA-cam video "The Swiss Beast - Home of the Devil; Part 1 Nazi-Templars" also on channel Giureh. We are being ruled by a foreign power, that has become domestic and has taken over all key positions in society.
My dad was part of this. A hardworker who did everything to support his family. Their clothing store unfortunately got looted, insurance bankrupted, the lawyer representing them ran off with the money. They defended their land but unfortunately barely anyone helped them afterwards. Moving to the U.S was a bad move on their part but at least this legend remains.
There's nothing more American than defending your property from those who would unlawfully take it. I'm proud of the Roof Koreans for defending their property, as well as for their great contributions to this country. Glad to have many Korean-American friends!
Too bad we don't consider our morals and the general health of our nation to be our property. Now everyone thinks as long as they've got THEIR lifted pickup, everything's peachy. We kinda got had on the EXTREME focus on material wealth as a sign of prosperity. Obviously property rights is a foundational part of any functioning civilization, but we forgot everything else. If we hadn't, these riots wouldn't have even happened. And I don't mean that King would have been treated more fairly. In fact, he was treated just fine. A good beating for causing all that goddamn trouble is a small price to pay and frankly more humane than 20 years in jail.
I was there visiting a friend during these riots, the whole apartment complex I was staying at went out to the street with bats, swords, crow bars, one guy had a bow and arrow...it got nasty,was a war zone, everyone got hurt.... I saw the Korean guys on the buildings down the street...the mob moved towards us....it was bloody... you have no idea how bad it was...
Just realized how brilliant it was to use the radio station as a makeshift 911. Since they were speaking Korean the rioters couldn’t eaves drop and know what was going down. Similar to Navajo code-talkers.
Fun fact: In Koreatown, there was a toy store. This toy store obviously sold toys but they also sold toy guns. The Koreans used these toy guns to scatter them on the roof so when a helicopter recorded the roof, there would be a stash of ‘weapons’. The rioters would look on tv and hesitate to attack this makeshift fort. Edit: MOM IM FAMOUS😂
5:51 Actually, that part isn't true. Most Korean Americans in LA were South Koreans, and North Korean defectors were very few. But South Korea has conscription, and those men had to serve for three years when they were young (it's shortened now). Quite a few of them were Vietnam War veterans. Obviously, they all knew how to use guns, and they were very organized when operating in units
@@मालिक-य2य No it's not. It's an objective and verifiable fact that most Koreans in LA, especially those on the rooftops were South Koreans. There are very few North Koreans living in the US because they can't freely emigrate or even travel unlike South Koreans
@@성이름-p9t6t You must be of Korean ethnicity. If you look more closely into the history of the country of your heritage, and read about what happened with the partition of Korea into North and South, followed by the Korean War, you will understand that many modern day South Koreans actually originated from the northern part of Korea, and either fled to the South after 1945 when the Soviet Army had invaded North Korea in the latter days of WWII, resulting in the partition of Korea into a North Korea controlled by the Communists, and a South Korea occupied by the US Army, or, they fled to the South during the chaos of the war, before the war ended in a ceasefire and the DMZ was established. The Korean war was a back and forth affair, like the tide sweeping in and out, with the North Korean army first invading South Korea, taking Seoul, and pushing the remnants of the South Korean army and US forces all the way down to the southern tip of Busan, before reinforcements from the US and United Nations arrived to push the North Koreans back up north again, taking Pyongyang and crossing the Yalu River. At that point, China sent a huge PLA force of over 100,000 soldiers sweeping in from the mountains to surprise the US/ UN forces on Thanksgiving Day 1950 and drove the US/UN and South Korean Army forces back down South again. A large number of North Koreans who had now seen what Kim Il-Sung's Communism was like decided then to flee south with the retreating US/UN forces. The rest of the war went back and forth around the 38th Parallel, and the border was finally fixed at the Ceasefire lines in 1952 which became the DMZ. During that time, many Korean families were torn apart, as some were able to flee from the north to the south, and others either were not able to do so, or chose to stay in the north. So, yeah, I caught that line about Koreans fleeing from the North also, and thought about it, and yes, it's actually true. A lot of South Koreans are from families that were originally from the North, and had fled during that chaotic time period. Fleeing from the North, to the South, of course, became much, much harder once the Kim regime had established its control over North Korea after the war and hardened the DMZ into a heavily mined and guarded and very difficult to cross barrier.
@@मालिक-य2य during the Vietnam war South Korea was also involved in special forces sector. The North Vietnamese and the Vietcong called them tigers for how ruthless they were. Also the majority of South Korean men served for three years in the South Korean for a minimum of three years. He's not saying this just because he's Korean he's saying this because it's factual.
No one exercises their rights more than those who have fled from hardship to get here. They’ve fought and died to get here, and they’ll do the same to keep the rights and livelihood they came here for.
Annnnnnnd i was right lol typical trash. On March 16th 1991, 15 year old Latasha Harlins walked into Empire Liquor in LA just before 10 a.m. With money in hand, she put a $1.79 bottle of orange juice in her back pack. The store owner, Soon Ja Du, saw this and accused the little girl of stealing. When Latasha walked up to the counter to pay for the orange juice, Soon snatched Latasha up by her sweater and began pulling at Latasha's backpack. Latasha, again.. 15.. struck Soon two times causing Soon to let Latasha go. Soon then angrily thre a stool at Latasha.. who is, again.. 15. Latasha picked up the bottle of juice that had dropped on the floor durring the scuffle and handed it to Soon, who snatched it from Latasha. Latasha turned and walked away. She got about three feet before Soon blew Latasha's brains out with a revolver.. over $1.75 orange juice.. that Latasha intended to purchase. At trial, Soon said she feared for her life. Soon said it was self defense to shoot a 15 year old child in the back of the head when she is walking away from you. The jury found Soon guilty of voluntary manslaughter, an offense that carries a maximum prison sentence of 16 years. However, the trial judge, Joyce Karlin, sentenced Soon to five years of probation, 10 years of suspended prison, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine. A state appeals court later unanimously upheld Judge Karlin's sentencing decision, 3-0, on April 21, 1992, about a week before the LA riots. In July 1992, the Harlins family was awarded $300,000 in settlement.. after lawyer fees.. burial costs... Soon Ja Du MURDERED a 15 year old CHILD and never lost a DAY of freedom. Moreover, the way the Asian community had been treating the black community in Los Angeles before this specific incident was deplorable at best. So, with ALL disrespect, FUCK "saigu".. FUCK April 29th.. FUCK this bullshit ass narrative that they push.. Korean store were targeted because of what the fuck they did. Period. Tell the whole fuckin story if you gon tell it.
This story genuinely gets me emotional. Like seriously pumped up. The absolute spirit of America, and the reason why we have our amendments. Some of my favorite people in history.
This actually a prime example of how self defense actually works in groups. The government was not expecting this and the media tried to make Koreans look racist. Most groups do not organize like this and are infiltrated by informants.
Unfortunately, this whole video is bullshit. That whole area around Olympic and Western was burned to the ground. This jerk who made this video left out a whole lot of details.
They didn't try to make them look racist, there had been race related issues in the past between the Korean store owners and the surrounding Black residents. Regardless of that, during the actual riots most the store owners where clearly the ones playing defense with their businesses on the line.
yeah rodney shouldn't have led them on a high speed chase. Then after said chase acted uncooperative the whole fucking time. lmao if he would have crashed he would have gotten smoked by a pissed off husband and father. would have been a better outcome
@@augustopinochet3830 lmao stfu yes even if he did all that the cops were still wrong to beat him two wrongs dont make a right but with that being said looting was wrong and most looters didn't give a single fuck about rodney they just wanted free shit
@@augustopinochet3830 this wasn’t about Rodney King, this was brewing for years due to the unjust treatment of black people in Los Angeles by the police department. The officers being acquitted only caused the eruption that had been waiting to explode. Might want to learn about the history of the LA police department before making such ignorant comments.
@@jamvan2k isn't he yelling the rioters and looters? What happened to Rodney and the verdicts IS AND WAS a complete shitshow and people were justified to be angry but how does that justify random local business being destroyed? What if your brother or grandparent got beat up and later your family business burned down? Would you still shrug your arms and side with the rioters? I'd be fucking furious, my family in Mexico have their own shops they own and I'd be there defending them if shit ever went down, especially when you consider some of those stores also double as their homes
“It’s not right. It’s not right what y’all doing. I came from the ghetto too” I’d be lying if I said this didn’t bring a tear to my eye :/ hit me hard in the feels bro
I'm Taiwanese grew up in LA, my Korean friend's uncle is one of those rooftop Koreans, I went to their house often, just after school and stay in their house waiting for my family to pick me up, we talked about this thing a couple times, which he described the 1992 LA Riot was like a real mini battle where he has to gear up and use radio and be prepare to shoot. He also complain that LA did nothing to protect them because they're Asians, the police literally block the roads and prevent Koreans leaving Korean Town, they had no choice but put up a fight, he's still mad at the level of racism that was done to them, like the cops all went to white people cities like Beverly Hills protecting these white people, then cut off the road from Korean Town to Beverly Hill, and allowing these black mobs and Latino mobs coming into Korean Town from South LA destroying the Korean Town and killing Korean people, LAPD literally left Koreans to die on their own, but Koreans did not die because many of them are military trained in Korea, just like Taiwan, we all did 2 years of military service at the time, so every adult male Korean knows how to assemble a gun, dissemble a gun, clean a gun, and load a gun, and turn on and off the safety on gun, they have all the basic gun knowledge, and gun store owners who are Koreans are also very active, they instantly help organize, and give out guns to Korean males who have serve in military, even females got a gun just for their own safety in case there's no men around her. He said even after all these years, he still feel LA is very hostile towards Asian and Korean people, he doesn't like so many non-Asian people coming to Korean Town these day only because they love K pop, I can tell he has some trauma and grudge due to this incident, and as an Asian living in LA, I do feel a strong racism vibe in LA, especially after age of 18, you're out of school and start knowing people who are older and who are outsiders to LA, they're very hostile toward Asians, I can understand and agree why he doesn't like non-Asian coming to Korean Town, it's like they only like Koreans suddenly because K pop is trendy, and anything about Korean nowadays is trendy, he felt like being treated as an object, an object for these non-Asian Americans to show off that they know some Koreans and been to Korean Town, he literally called these people being fake, because that was not how they treated him and other Koreans back then.
Racism exists everywhere. Worse in some parts but everywhere. Just be aware and be successful in you life. Do not be poor. Educate yourself and your children. Defend what is yours. That's what is importand and that's what the Korean immigrants did. Just like any other free Americans would. Me? I am also a Korean American. I now live in VA, orginially from Hawaii. I simply understand what I want to do and need to do within the laws of this great country. USA is the nation of immigrants. Historically? No one owns anything. It's what you make of it. Whoever is in power, get to control the bulk of it. It's as simple as that. I stand tall with the LA Korean Americans. Always have.
There weren’t that many North Koreans that made their way to USA as migrants. Most of those roof Koreans were from South Korea, but nearly everyone had done their military service, and a lot of them had served in Vietnam and some in Korean War. They were extremely well organised.
I was 14 when it all went down, had some “Roof Top Koreans” next door to my apartment and just down the street, Mexican market owners were on roof tops too. They had AKs, Uzis, and other long rifles. At night time it was hard to sleep, a lot of the smoke from surrounding burning buildings would somehow enter our home. It was surreal.
Crazy you was there lol but the Mexicans was riot with the blks ppl lol they was the only ones in China Town rioting lol it’s okay those there know it wasn’t over Rodney King.
I was among the 1100 Marines deployed to LA. It was my last official deployment, as I EASd on 23 May 1992. I waved, pumped my fist, pounded my heart, and shouted encouragement and support to every armed Korean I saw. Those folks were grade A badasses. Anyone who knows anything about ROK Marines knows that they are not to be fucked with. I'm still shocked that there weren't stacks of looter bodies in front of every structure in Koreatown.
Amazing story and the pride hits me for sure. In one of the videos where they interviewed David, he said the Koreans would try to shoot around the rioters/looters to scare them off. He specifically said they didn't want to hit them (unless they had to) so they were missing on purpose. Thanks for your service
The reason there wasnt stacks of looter bodies is because those koreans had honor and understood that the looters were americans too. I wish i could say the same for many of americans that are native born who just want an excuse to kill.
저때 미국 주류 언론들은 한국인들이 이유없이 흑인을 공격한다면서 한인들을 한국 갱스터라고 까지 부르면서 흑인과 한국인간의 갈등을 계속 부추김. 왜냐하면 미국 백인경찰이 로드니킹이라는 흑인을 사망하게한것에 대한 비난을 피해야 할 필요가 있었기 때문에 엉뚱하게 한국인들을 희생자로 삼아 몰아가고 미국 경찰들은 현장에서 도망침. 진짜 양심없는 미국이고 웃긴 미국인들임
I did my Basic training and AIT at Ft Sill, OK in 1982. We had a prior South Korean ROCK soldier in our Platoon. He never said a word - and read his bible every evening. Our Drill Sgts gave him nothing but respect, and let us know how badass this man was. I'll never forget the time we were taking a break after a real hard day of training. Our DS walked over to us and said to the Korean-"Our basic training is like being in the Boy Scouts to you isn't it ?". He just looked up and with a big smile nodded "Yes". He was , without a doubt,one of the best soldiers I've served with.
They're called ROK Marines, for REPUBLIC OF KOREA. They were good but mostly just highly motivated. (I worked with them several times in various countries, they were good for watching your backs. USMC 1973 -1978
@@nathanhunter8740 There is ROK Army also. Most people Join the ROK Army as mandatory service. ROK Marines tier-wise is in between the US Marines and US Navy Seals, Much of Korean military training is handed down from US military, however, because Korean culture is socially bureaucratic to begin with, most civilians are pretty disciplined, but the discipline in Korean military is more hardcore compared to the US. I'm a korean but also a US army vet as well. Thank you guys for your service. Many of the ROK marine veterans mentioned may well have served in vietnam (especially the older ones). You can also look up ROK Marines in Vietnam War on youtube, they were one of the most feared groups by the Viet commies with the highest sniper KED out of all nations that served in Vietnam.
@@nathanhunter8740 The ROKMC were dedicated, motivated, and tough. Maybe a little lacking on advanced skills, but they learned fast and could run a machine gun like no one's business. Absolutely the best guys to have at your backs. USMC 2007 - 2011
I’m not Korean, I’m an Okie but I was there in Long beach on a rooftop. I was with my employer with guns protecting his businesses. It was total chaos. At one point I counted 17 buildings burning around us. I’ll never forget the stupidity I witnessed. That experience changed my life.
I found out my neighbor who was a ww2 veteran ran over the lady across the streets dog , so I leveraged this information against him & once a week 4 five years I got hand stuff & light kissing from him until he passed
@@firebird4491 This just isn't true. People use this argument for the war on drugs which is completely different. Being tougher on violent criminals charged with murder, rape or robbery and not releasing them out into the population a few days later after their arrest does stop them from committing more crimes. As things are right now people are being caught and released just to continue what they were originally arrested for
As a non-Korean American this story always fills me with a sense of national pride, the Korean community will always be a welcomed part of America's identity.
That guy who yelled "It's not right, I came from the ghetto too" that hit hard. Why does it take being the same ethnicity for people to band together? Why didn't shop owners in general band together like this?
Unfortunately the African American community don't care about each other, you don't see any other ethnicity destroying their own community like the African American community does. This might seem racist but it's fact. Jews didn't do this to themselves when they were poor in the start of the 20th century. Italians didn't sell drugs to their own community, Mexican / Latin urban communities defend their community. It's only the African communities that do this kind of stuff, it's unfortunately ingrained in their culture to hate the system due to generations of wrong doing. Now that they have the opportunity to assimilate into a free western society they can't because their culture says not to trust the system.
@@shaunsteele8244 That doesn't apply to every black person, and they had less of a chance than anyone else. It's right to protest for the chance to be on the same playing field, but never right to form an emotional mob. Mobs don't think, people think. When people get into a mob, they only see anonymity and the worst a chance to vandalize.
I was living in L.A. at that time. The cops left and everyone/businesses in certain pockets were 100% on their own. These Koreans did what they had to do not only for their business, but more importantly..for their lives! It was a war zone! After it was over what did Mayor Bradley and the cops that left these men on their own do? They went back and arrested the Koreans and confiscated their weapons! When the SHTF you’re on your own and need a community of like minded people. Remember that when some people talk about a certain kind of “Control”
After I saw the vid of the one poor random trucker dude get pulled out of his truck and beaten to death in the middle of the intersection I knew it was a warzone. 2nd amendment isn't just for use against a tyrannical government, but for a lack of government at all. Roof Koreans are the best example of using your rights as an American. Right to liberty, life, and happiness. We will defend it rightfully with force.
@@firebeardlongfellow5295 Reginald Denny thankfully survived his attack. He had a fractured skull and was left with impaired speech and difficulty walking but he survived somehow. When I saw the footage I thought he died too but some good samaritans got him to the hospital in time
I remember seeing the photo in the La Times of those Koreans atop that store that was mentioned in this video. It is a time honored tradition, 'looters will be shot'.
This really captures a core Korean ethnic trait. Koreans are masters of self-organization ( coordinating logistics independently of authority), rooted in a deep skepticism of entrusting critical matters to the higher ups and a powerful ability to unify swiftly when facing existential threats. Generations of being overlooked or left to fend for themselves by government have sharpened this self-reliance, just as American cops left Koreatown as a buffer zone to protect their "real citizens." Living on a peninsula with no easy escape has fostered a "fight to the end" mentality, making Korea a true fortress civilization and what ultimately saved Koreatown.
Many of the male Korean immigrants in LA were trained via compulsary military service in Korea. They did not fuck around, and it makes me absolutely burst with American patriotism. I fucking love the rooftop Koreans using their God-given right to defend what they earned.
This only shows one side of it, the glory. The roof top korean were demonized by the media and politicans. Many were arrested and tried in court. Really messed up if you ask me. But it should show the negative repercussions that came with it as well.
The riots were planned and set to happen just like the blm terrorist riots we have. The government hates nothing more then citizens defending themselves.
I fully agree here, the entire world needs to be shown just how little the Government gives a fuck about any of us, that they would try and drag people through the wringer for picking up the slack when they were abandoned. God, that makes me absolutely *_Livid._*
@@odin1185 our society is ass backwards. The parallel to the LA riot and the Rittenhouse case is similar. Not to mention how in Texas school shooting the cops just stood there for 40 mins. They even arrested a mom that tried to go in I believe.
@@mdiesel23 just broke today, that the police and us marshals stopped the funeral home worker from going after this guy before he even got into the school.... Smfh... The whole situation in Uvalde smells like the swamp sacrificed these children to push their political great reset agenda
Lol, wheres all the americans being american in the last decade then? Constant violent riots and hostile takeovers and only cartels and roof koreans have any desire to defend themselves or be "American"
That's right, if you work and live in the United States, you are an American. Even if they were Koreans, the settled Koreans had to become Americans as well.
@@rawnature8148 so are people from brazil and the such but that don't matter when saying American you usually mean a US citizen bc it's in the name United States of America no need to be a smart ass over it
The thing is they don’t know the reason the riots happened. Sadly they don’t know the treatment of US systems upon blacks, brown, yellow, and many other underserved groups for many years. You forget that literally 20 years before these riots you had state governments literally justifying violence, discrimination, and poverty against certain groups through their policy. You had cops syndicates that targeted certain groups on purpose. Many stories of white mob groups fighting segregation, civil rights, and equity against other groups. Politicians calling black women “welfare queens”. Cutting back social programs that mostly poorer people relied on. De-unionizing the labor section, segregating housing and so much more. All of these were the reasons these riots happened and why they exploded so big. The history matters. While these “roof top Koreans” were looking out for their businesses, many probably don’t know the violent US histories and how that literally caused these riots. We can either focus on the responses to a problem caused by a problem, or fix the problem at its roots to prevent there being another “riot”.
I came to the comments hoping someone felt the same way about these brave ass Koreans as me lol. Pretty sad when foreigners defend and uphold what our country was founded on more so than those that are born in said country..
they are koreans. Born and raised and trained in Korea. Koreans are territorial, they just won't let you just come and destroy their shit. It might be good to have people like that in the USA, it is actually 100% good, but they are not american.
I was a broke ass 22 year old musician who had just moved to LA when this happened. I was living in my van and ran out of money for gas so I was stuck parked on a side street in Culver City. Not too much happened in my immediate area but I did see an elderly Latina grandma chase a bunch of kids out of her yard with a shotgun and she fired it in the air. It was a couple of scary nights though. I went on to be a touring drummer but I’ll never forget those days thinking, “Why tf did I leave Colorado”? Lol.
South Koreans are wonderful immigrants. In Australia, they feed the homeless a hot meal 6 days a week, they do it rain, hail or cold. They help and contribute in many different ways that are so admirable.
I was living in LA when this went down, these guys are true Americans. When I would tell me friends on the East Coast about this they thought I was lying
No, they not Americans - this brainwashed patrioty is a real problem - like standing every morning in front of a flag and swearing alliance to it. There was a nation in Europe back between 1939 and 1945 what used to do that, and nowadays you only find this happening in North Korea and China. This people were immigrants defending their new homes because unlike the rich, fat west, they know what it means losing what you worked hard for and they just decided, not again, not today.
Watched this stuff from the east coast live...... there really was a clusterfuck going on with news coming in. It really wasn't until well after it was all over that we started to get a proper idea of what happened. And yeah, taking up arms to defend your family, friends and possessions.... I wouldn't presume to say that only Americans do this (we saw good people in South Africa defending their communities from rioting scum in a very similar manner not long ago), but that said this still sounds damned American to me. Interesting side note: a few months back after asking my mother if she remembered the roof Koreans and finding out she did not. I started to ask everyone I knew irl, both thoese who were old enough to see it go down and people too young to have done so..... and almost nobody remembered the roof Koreans.
They were not true Americans most of them were here illegally and were a bunch of cowards and liars. When the uprising started they placed "Black-owned" in their business windows which is the reason why the true resident of the community lashed out for being condescending and thoughtless, not to mention the countless years of blatant racism they cast out towards the community. Those Koreans didn't even live in the neighborhood most lived 45 minutes to an hour away from either the valley, Eagle Rock, or Korea town. They didn't care about the people of the community. The only thing they cared about was money. If you were black and going into one of their businesses the first thing you heard was "Hurry up and buy". They were very rude and sneaky. One time my grandmother took her car to a Korean mechanic to get a CPU replaced, the mechanic instead of replacing it with a new he tried to slide in an old one that was laying in the shop trying to pawn it off as a new one. I told him to get a new one or im going to report you. He had the nerve to get upset because he got caught. While ranting his exact words were " Go away, get out my shop, I hate you monkeys" that's a day in the life of your "True Americans"
Showed this to my grandpa, who was a fireman at the time. To hear those vivid memories is quite something. He also got to watch that sears at 7:47 burn down.
I have two things to add to the story. (Yes I was there as a National Guardsmen). #1 The Koreans not only wore White headbands but white arm bands and marked their vehicles with white ribbon. This is important because that is EXACTLY the way an Observer/Controller marks himself and his vehicle during a field exercise. It sounds weird, but the military is trained to ignore people or vehicles marked this way. By the time we figured out that this was 'Real World' and NOT a training exercise the Koreans would be through our check point and gone. (yep, we would just wave them through, just like we were trained to do with an O/C). When you have seconds to react, you will fall back on your training. In this case "He is marked with White Engineer tape, he doesn't count", move along Sir, lets keep this intersection clear. #2 Another cause of the looting was some helicopter footage of 1/2 a dozen cops standing by while a large store was being looted. Several news choppers had filmed it. It seemed like that 'dramatic' footage was replayed about every 8 minutes . . .for HOURS, on every network. At some point thousands of people decided AT THE SAME TIME, 'I have seen enough, I'm going to get 'my share' of all that 'free stuff'.
Man, That's crazy stuff. I only wish we had half the National Guard AND Citizen Response to each riot and every night of looting that have occurred over the last couple of years. What we got was great, but Not enough to become a deterrent.
My family had just moved out of Long Beach when this happened. My dad still worked in defense contracting in the area and he had to drive into it everyday. He said they went in convoys that were armed to the teeth and full of Vietnam vets like him. Seems pretty crazy but at the time people just adapted and lived with it. Hats off to the Koreans who defended theirs.
The blacks and Hispanics not only targeted the Koreans; but they targeted other black and hispanic business owners too. This was a riot of criminals vs law abiding citizens. Hats off to those Koreans who took up arms. The right to bear arms shall not be infringed!
@@coolgamers2794 yup, just like in the beginning of the video of the black shop owner screaming at the top of his lungs as his shop was made from the ground up burnt to the ground, a man that got out of the ghettos to pursue a better life to have his entire livelyhood burnt away buy their own fellow african me. That one almost brought men to a tear.
They were not all on the roof I was there with Korean business I frequently ate at cannot say much only that they were kind hard working and friendly.also the men were some of the toughest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.saw it all nothing happened to their business god bless them all. I wish all Americans had the courage they have
This video overlooked a key event that was the reason why Koreatown was the prime target of black looters. The trial of liquor store owner Soon Ja Du for shooting Latasha Harlins. The incident happened 13 days after the Rodney King beating. Tensions between Koreans and Blacks were already strained because Blacks thought that Koreans were profiting off their alcohol vice while Koreans feared for their lives frequently getting robbed at gunpoint. Koreans were armed not just because of past military experience, but because they had to defend themselves before the LA Riots even occurred.
Yeah the death of Latasha Harlin, over a bottle of orange juice was the prime reason African Americans targeted Korea town. This video doesn't explain that. In fact it states the death of Rodney king was the prime reason behind the 92 riots but doesn't explain why African Americans targeted Korea town, and that was because of the death of 15yr old Latasha Harlin shot by Korean liquor store owner, Soon Ja Du.
I was one of those men guarding Parker center . Without the korean civilian militias, the destruction and death would have been weeks longer . That's a fact .
Meanwhile in Inglewood, a bunch of us neighborhood kids got together to help keep our block from burning down, including the Korean-owned burger joint we hung out in all the time. Mr Young and his family never ever turned a customer away. About a year before then at the tail end of 1990, my dad was jobless and we barely made ends meet. Somehow Mr Young found out and told me to sweep the front of the store sometimes and he'd hook me up with "a little food." It was almost always a gigantic beef and chicken bowl or some burgers and fries to take for my family. I never forgot and so of course during the second day of rioting when they started trying to loot stuff around Inglewood (For example the Ralphs on LaBrea at Centinela across the street from my house) a gang of us teenagers just sat outside his shop meanmuggin' anyone who looked like they were gonna try something. Koreans didn't disenfranchise OUR block and we certainly were NOT gonna let some outsiders from some other part of LA destroy our area just so they can get free shit. I was 14 years old at the time, barely a freshman at Inglewood HS, and all I kept on saying for 4 days was "If everyone is mad at the cops, the 'man', and institutionalized racism, then what's the point of burning down OUR OWN neighborhood?! We barely have stuff, and now it's gonna be gone for real!" I get the emotions, don't really agree with the actions, but that's why riots are the language of a people who's voices have been stolen.
I also believe as an Asian male and a POC that a lot of this instigation from the news and politicians are just to (corny as hell but) divide and conquer. Easy to make money when politicians can sell identity politics to the public and get people to believe in tribalism. I'd defend my Black and White neighbors any day. Sad that there was a point in time that it seemed things did calm down in real life. I remember BET including Asian rappers and I remember when Dave Chappelles humor was inclusive and would make fun of everyone in a low brow way. Nowadays it seems a lot of it has gone away and the internets influenced too many people to act the way they do. Sadly... Btw your story was badass! Kudos to you bro
"that's why riots are the language of a people who's voices have been stolen" martin luther never said that, on the contrary, his entire struggle was based on non-violent protests, "Oppressing someone else, just because you were oppressed, corrupts your struggle.."
They are more american than most americans i see that let rioters walk all over them, the only other one that is on their level is kyle rittenhouse, nobody else did sh!t
Born and raised in Los Angeles county, my wife and I were newly married and living in Woodland Hills. I commuted past LAX to the Hawthorne airport and my wife worked for Crusader insurance. We had gone to the Dodgers game with my parents and drove back home on the freeway through the spreading chaos and fires seen in that stock montage you included ( at 4:05) ... the roof Koreans were the bright spot of the whole week, 2A forever ! My wife's company worked hard to help business owners recover as best possible.
As a Marine Corps veteran that spent some time at the Korean DMZ during the height of the recent North Korean threat (2015 - 2017) ROK (Republic Of Korea) Marines will rock your world before you even realize they arrived. They will then thank you as they rummage over your dead corpse for anything useful. Their nickname is "무적 해병" which literally translates to "The Invincible Marines". They earned this nickname from the Americans in 1967 where they took over Khánh Hòa in Vietnam; Taking out nearly 400 Vietnamese in under 48 hours, taking zero casualties, capturing 122 POW's, "liberating" over 300 firearms all with a 16 man Squad from the White Horse division, zero aerial support, and being out of range of communications. They were though to be dead for about a week before they returned in cattle trucks full of guns, gear, prisoners, and an absurd amount of alcohol. At this time, Korea was still newly separated and the ROK Marines had only hand-me-downs from Germany and the U.S. I never knew that a group of retired ROK Marines were organized during the L.A. Riots, but it's no wonder why Korea-Town was so well defended.
OH YEAH, been around a few ROK's before, they don't play well with others!! And these guys were WELL motivated. This is how the 2nd Amendment is supposed to work!!
All South Koreans are required to serve 2y in the military and have to fulfill this by 38y old. Every S Korean knows military tactics, how to handle guns, etc. There is mandatory military service to this day. It used to be 3y before the 2000s. They only recently shaved it down to 2y. After 2y service, you are required to serve 1w every yr or so until a certain age to keep up your shooting and mobilization skills
It's because the government had zero interest in the safety of one of its minority populations. They were fully prepared to watch the death toll rise from their comfy mansions while their armed guards stood watch. The Democratic leaders in the utopia of California only care about others when it's time to gather voters.
@@fortesting5147 semperfi! koreans say "pil seung" or 필승 which simply means "victory" or "triumph". The ROK Marines have never lost a battle even when it was one platoon against an entire battalion of North Koreans during the korean war.
Koreans were targeted by the rioting mobs because Koreans had made successes of their lives, built thriving small businesses, and looked different to the rioting mob. Nothing but full respect to the Roof Koreans who bravely fought back and protected their families and businesses.
They were also targeted because how Latasha H. was shot and killed by a Korean store owner. I'm not calling myself an expert because i wasn't born by the time the riots even broke out and how i'm just now learning about this. But most of the 1992 riots was gang mentality and it seems like a plausible justification that rioters and looters would target koreatown because of this.
@@obunga4233 people talk about that but also forget the amount of korena store owners killed and beaten prior to that. one store owner was executed a week earlier . violence begets violence. it’s sad
@@obunga4233 They were targeted because media covered up the fact that 85% of Koreans murdered were by blacks. When they don't show how Koreans were being murdered, DemoKKKrat media was out to start a race war by highlighting Harlan story over and over.
That's not true, the Koreans weren't targeted because they were Korean that's a B's other store owners of different race was targeted also black and white and Mexican. In riot the rioters see a lot of stores as fair game
This is what the 2nd amendment was meant to enforce. The people’s right to defend themselves and their property when the police are not there during critical times (which they usually aren’t)
The LAPD did pretty much the same thing as the Uvalde cops. Set up a perimeter around South Central to prevent the riots to spread to the suburbs. They let the city burn which was expected, that's why their inactions were not gone after. You should have seen the Rampart police station, they literally made a fortress
I favor gun control but I agree with your assessment. Ppl should definitely have the right to defend themselves, this was not lost on the Koreans that day, but I feel it HAS been lost on today's Americans...the right to defend your life is invaluable but to take another's on a whim, is not a right, nor a privilege, it SHOULD be an exception, but this country has gone mad...
It's there to defend ourselves against the state as well, if necessary. So long as the 2nd Amendment stands they can't do absolutely whatever they want. It's a constant thorn in their side. They cannot stand the idea of individuals being able to defend themselves. They'll never have true absolute power so long as the private sector is armed. They're already far more powerful than they were ever intended to be but the 2A helps to keep it contained.
In new zealand, that is not the law. i know 1st hand, 1 can not protect your property. even armed or unarmed. you can get jailed for 2 or 3 years for defending or stopping someone damaging your property...
Which is exactly why the DNC wants to disarm every law-abiding American gun owner and just leave the illegal ones on the market to the hands of drug cartels and other criminals. The 1992 riot and subsequent smaller ones since prove that 2nd amendment is necessary, it has its downsides but no legislation or legal right is pitch perfect. Let's go Brandon.
yea but we saw with the modern BLM and Antifa riots they dont care people got arrested by the hundreds for trying to stop the rioters no 2a when leftist have power . Rittenhouse ,that couple in their yard, the guy in the white truck , the air force officer all arrested and heavily charged just for trying to survive . not to mention the right wing counter protesters clearly on camera being the victim of the attacks all arrested for defending themselves AFTER blm attacked them
They were not North Koreans. They immigrated from South Korea, where they had military training. Military training is mandatory for all South Korean men.
There are North Korean defectors who've fled the country and who have since settled down and had families. But I highly doubt there were any Koreans from the north involved in this. Maybe one, at most.
in Chinese there a idiom called ''do not mess with the humble/meek people.''(''别欺负老实人''). The one who have the loudest voice in the house isn't the most horrified one, but if a honest and humble guy gets bullied until a breakpoint, the guy will transform to a one punch man
Sorry, but, what part of this was well regulated? This is why you kill each other so much, you don't even understand what The words "well regulated" mean. Don't worry the rest of the world is disgusted with Americans right now, you are a first world country with third world values......... Every day I hear someone talk about how America is turning into a 3rd world, you have the right wing taking away your freedoms, basically pissing on you and calling it rain. Then you have the left wing too spineless to do literally anything, so your country is just regressing and returning to an unstable unsuccessful 3rd world nobody.....
@@tomwithey711 the national guard is very very much an extension of the army, you would be hard pressed to find any militia in history that looked like the well equip trained and sustained national guard. militia is and has always been normal people grabbing there weapons to defend there home, it aint a payed job like the national guard
I'd always heard the legends, but this is even better than what I heard. I just about teared up to the USMC vet calling all other Korean USMC vets to the area. 15 doesn't seem like much, but when it's Vietnam era USMC vets, 15 is plenty.
Could you imagine what would have happened if those looters had gotten into the gun stores? These brave Koreans weren't just protecting themselves, they were protecting the entire community.
Too bad they're allowing their idiotic government here in Korea to keep them cowering in fear over the coof. Mask mandates outdoors relaxed about 2 months ago, yet 99% of these lemmings are still masked up. Even in their cars. Alone.
These guys were badass. A lot of these scenes remind me of the rioting that happened in Chicago in 2020 and here we are still arguing about 2nd amendment rights. “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. -Winston Churchill
I can’t really explain why this video made me emotional, maybe the pride of those Korean’s or there sense of friendship and dedication towards defending their livelihood. I would be proud to know them, I’ve always liked Korean’s. 2A for life and liberty.
This will always be my favorite legend of the American Dream. When the government failed, immigrants banded together, took responsibility, and protected the lives and livelihoods of their community. Bad-fuckin-ass.
This is the true nature of the American dream. It doesn't matter if you were born here or you came here, it is open to all in this land. It's a beautiful thing that these true Americans were willing to fight for and defend their communities from violence and rioting. I am proud to have them in our country
ah yes, only the Korean store owner matters, not the exploited Latino seasonal agricultural worker. The American dream could give a fuck about immigrants, it once banned the whole of China from immigrating for trying to make a living in California as miners, and then did the same to Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans during the Great Depression. A hypocritical joke honestly.
I had no idea most of them were actually military veterans or that they used a radio station to coordinate their efforts. Awesome video and mad respect to the almighty Roof Koreans
The idea of turning the radio station into their own dispatch is genius. That way anyone with a FM radio can listen to the updates. Plus the had korean speaking staff on hand to translate information.
@@justindunlap1235 Even if they broadcast in English, having a radio channel constantly blasting that kind of coordinated stuff would be a massive "don't go there" vibe for low life looters
This men are American Heroes! We need a Movie of Rooftop Koreans! Directed by Martian Scorsese. A point of view of a Korean Store Owner during the LA Riots!
Fun Fact: the famous newspaper photo of the Korean standing on the sidewalk holding what I think was a Tec-9 was actually arrested. Reason is because according to LAPD it is okay to have a gun and protect your property, but once you leave that property, you are now brandishing a firearm in public which is illegal. Yeah if LAPD did their job and quickly suppressed the rioters then he didn't have to carry a gun in public. Plus maybe the LAPD should have put the cuffs on King when he was on the ground instead of beating him.
Is that True???? I admire the boldness of the U.S. police, but I think it's the law enforcement scene of the U.S. police where things happen that are so incomprehensible sometimes.
@@치안정보실 The problem is that there is no uniform code. Every department has their rules. Plus veteran officers have a tendency to think that the rules does not apply to them. Being police means following and enforcing rules. That is the nature of the job. If they have a problem with that then don't be an officer.
IIRC, there were 11.... ELEVEN police officers just standing around watching it happen. You're telling me eleven full grown men with police training can't put cuffs on ONE unarmed man?!
@@RN-ez1ii Actually one of those officers was a female officer of the CHP. It was the CHP that initiated the chase but for some reason the LAPD took over the situation.
@@homerj806 (?) The point still stands. AT THE VERY LEAST I counted 11 officers (more may have been off-camera) and I'm supposed to believe all of them couldn't manage to move one unarmed individual's hands a few inches to put cuffs on him? The general public also saw it was BS and that's part of the reason why the riots took place.
And take into consideration, this courageous seige lasted for 4 DAYS !!! , before " The Cavalry " showed up. If there ever was a case for 2nd Ammendment rights, this was it.
No, the case for 2A is tyrannical governments and foreign invasion. It is the ultimate right of self defense, of which defense on the street is an extension.
@@huwhitecavebeast1972 wrote "No, the case for 2A is tyrannical governments and foreign invasion. " Correct but you don't know your history. The Socialist both Nationalists and Internationalists, both used semi-organized mobs to take over. Heard of Kristallnacht? Nazi govt, using the green shirts and the brown shirts. Same thing in Russia and China. That is how they got rid of businesses and business owners. Meanwhile, the government officially stood by and let it happen. Same thing here in 1992, and again in 2020. These were semi-planned events, organized by govts.
@@huwhitecavebeast1972 always so funny how 2a enthusiasts will say they need the 2A to defend against "tyrannical governments." Brother, what the FUCK is your m4 gonna do against a tank when the military rolls up? what about drone strikes, gonna shoot it out the sky??
"Rooftop Koreans" is my favorite story of immigrants dealing with adversity. It shows what can happen when a community comes together and works toward a common cause, instead of turning on each other like a bunch of bucket-lobsters.
While after all this the US media portrayed the Koreans as the cause of all the riots, blaming them for creating the circumstances that lead to so many deaths, and just downgrading the Korean community as a whole. It still infuriates me to this day that some people have no clue of the series events that forced those men to defend their property in such way.
I’m just waiting for the some leftist jackass to be like “but they have insurance!” like all of the f***tards with literally zero understanding of reality did during the 2020 riots
@Jerry Lee that’s what they do. It’s their job. To create division while running cover for the super rich people Kanye was talking about. If you pay close attention these days the m e d 1 a is racist against whites, against blacks, against Hispanics etc etc etc. They deliberately make everyone fee angry & bitter towards other groups to keep us divided.
Korean-American Marines that served with me were badass warriors. These people do not quit and they do not whine about hardship. They are are also extremely dependable friends and they don't do dumb shit. They are good people to have around family
My dad a company during the riots i was only 6 but i still remember him infront of his business with a shotgun. Defending his family. There was fire and smoke all hell broke lose. My mother help me as she continues to work because we had to. bills to be paid. It was scary people were actually trying to break in while my dad had a gun. It was a nightmare.
Moved me to tears, I couldn’t think of anything more American than rallying your community together to take up arms in defense when the government has failed. I’d feel honored and blessed to live next to anyone of these people
This is an incredibly moving story. I'm not Korean or even Asian, but having grown up in a NJ town that went from mostly Italian population to Korean population during my time there, I have tremendous respect for them. They're super hard working people that like most immigrant populations just want to see their children have greater opportunities than they did. I love that they realized help wasn't coming, so they took matters into their own hands and did something. Great story!
Moving? Seriously? Granted, yes it's complicated. But we're literally talking about property being valued more than the people who are taking it. That's what insurance is for. Not to mention the fact that these people rioting have been oppressed systematically by the police for how long? Where they being opportunistic? Absolutely. But that's how black people have had to be to survive in this country for centuries.
Downplays? More like just pretends it never happened. I didn’t learn about the rooftop Koreans until I discovered guntube/liberty twitter. It’s not even taught in schools because, like most riots we see today, it makes a certain group look bad and we can’t be having any of that.
Media back then openly tried to make these guys the bad guys escalating the violence. What were they supposed to do? Let the looters destroy their shit and just watch?
Words can't express my admiration for those Koreans. They came here to live the American dream and they would be damned if it was gonna be taken from them without a fight! Mad respect!!
@@siontifictm7366 are you certain they're the exact same people? Or are you just broad brushing them; trying to paint an ugly picture of an entire culture over an isolated incident?
I'm Korean American and grew up in NYC, but have a lot of family in LA. I was a kid when this happened and I remember my mom crying on the phone talking with my uncle. She was begging my uncle to grab his family and leave for their safety. But my uncle, being the badass he is, said that's not an option. He had to protect his business, his family, and his people. He and my cousins all armed themselves and defended themselves. My cousins said they didn't want to kill anybody so they shot near people to scare them away. One of my cousins that was there became a Lt. Col. in the US army. Still a bunch of badasses to this day.
What story do you want me to talk about next?
The Waco siege would be interesting.
Ruby Ridge would be nice if you haven't done it yet or Shawn Nelson's tank rampage
Sagon Penn and San Diego PD
Ft. Polk, Louisiana helicopter bank robbery
GERMAN LEGEND JSTARK1809
My dad was a roof top Korean. After he left the ROK Army in 1971, he swore to never use a gun again. My dad broke his promise to himself so he could keep his promise to me: to raise me never wanting for basic human needs.
To me the story of rooftop Koreans is about a generation of Koreans who survived the Korean War, fought in Vietnam, and later on the roofs so their families could live the American dream.
Thanks for sharing their story
well duh we destroyed and destabilized your weak little countries in the 60s so you had no choice but the american dream lol
Sorry that your family had to go through all this.
It may be just my opinion, but these are the kind of people who built America and made it the land of opportunity, by their hard work and determination. True Americans. Massive respect to your father and his compatriots.
It's sad that your father had to break his promise and I suspect that decision cost him something deep inside, so my respect for people such as he is only increased.
Damned. That's a perspective that I hadn't considered until you shared this. I was stationed in Korea & saw how hard mandatory service was for a lot of Korean men. My job's (USAF Security Forces) Korean counter of Air Police has a lot of suicides. So I could see how setting that aside would be a relief. Then having to take arms up again after that. That's massive determination & must have mentally hung over many of the roof top Koreans.
Thank you for sharing this perspective & my thanks to your dad for his service to both of his countries.
lmao slavery built america, are you out your fckn mind?
This is literally what a militia is meant to be. Props to these true Americans, immigrants or not
“Americans” are not native to America……..
they are not true americans bruh they litterally isolate themselves in a korea town... they live in a community filled with koreans they speak korean all their shops had korean language on it but oogga booga pea brain american think he has gun he shoot ppl he true american ooga booga
loooool at you
Absolutely!!!
Immigrants seem to be more American than half of Americans nowadays
F yeah. More American than most of our citizens.
This is why we "need" ARs and AKs!
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..."
They look pretty well regulated to me. Props to any American regardless of background who uses their rights to stand up for themselves.
riots is not defense of the state? 🤔
Pretty sure is a fucking mob with guns, in small groups, with no coordination and most likely to be shot by anyone whipping out a gun...since again no one could coordinate or communicate. Well Regulated....seems to be the problem that was missing.
Bro they even had a radio broadcast that helped them rally at needed points. if thats not organized i dont know what is
🤡🤡🤡
@@calicoesblue4703 the lay down and comply type
@@jairogiraud770 yes brother, clearly they were prepared and were not gonna allow their business to burn to ashes
I will never understand why people choose to trash their neighbors stuff when the government misbehaves.
Simple: They're operating on emotions, not logic.
A lot more people these days are raised to act on their emotions and not think of the consequences.
Riots are just one of the results of that.
Stupid is as stupid does. It's always the undereducated people.
If you listen to the song by ice cube , there was a lot of racial animosity between blacks and Koreans. The blacks viewed the Koreans as invaders (sound familiar ?).
This was also summarized in the opening scenes of John singleton film “Boyz in the ‘hood”
Exactly, why would you loot the grocery store in your own neighborhood? Now you financially impacted the business, and you've created a food desert.
just opportunists that justify their criminal behavior under the guise of a cause
I served in the army with a man that was of Korean decent from LA. We always joked and said he was our secret weapon the rooftop Korean. Turns out his dad was actually one of the rooftop Koreans.
Another guy in the comments said that too, wonder if y’all knew each other?
@@PisaniProductions there’s a lot of Korean Americans, and lots of Koreans that took place
@@PisaniProductions I mean its always a possibility, but the army is a big place.
@@boatznhoez1095 the army actually feels really small when you're in it, meet alot of the same faces all over the world
@@johnychrist5475 thats fair, but ive been out for a little over ten years now and once you add veterans and prior service it gets a bit harder to say yeah I know that guy without some specifics
I’m Mexican-American. I was a teen when this went down, living in the San Fernando Valley. When I saw that these Korean business owners were defending their businesses, I thought it was one of the greatest thing I’d ever seen.
I’ve heard some criticize them, and I’ve always been like “Wth would you do, NOT defend your property against criminals?”
Good for them. 👏🏻 👏🏻
Same! I thought they were so brave and frankly they just looked so cool! DAEBAK! 😎
In other country police would have stopped the riot.
As an Asian dude from the other side of the coast, I was proud that these Koreans bear arms to protect theirs. I was 10, a week from my 11th birthday and this was all over the news. My dad was glued to the TV. We experienced hate crime from them in the 80s and wasn't surprised what was going on in LA. They broke our window twice and smoke bomb our house. Parents thought the house was on fire, rushing us out. I was just a toddler then. They would sit on their porch laughing at us panicking. Then they would assault us when we called them out. Even striking the children. They had no mercy, no moral values.
Borrrrrrrinnnnnng
There were Roof Top Mexicans with Roof Top Koreans at 9:17
I was 21 when this happened. My dad, who was a captain in the korean army, had a store in downtown LA. He told my older brother and me that we needed to protect our business. The three of us got there to find that the other korean store owners were already on the roof armed. Spent 3 days on that roof taking turns keeping watch. Shot warning shots and got shot at but fortunately no one got hurt. Thank you for this video, it brought tears to my eyes
Brought tears to my eyes and I wasn't even there. Wish more people In America would stand up for whats right!
@@joshuawilliams194 one day, we will. We will have no choice.
Well done.
대한민국!
Wow. Respect. Vote to protect our A2 right. It's under attack.
The worst part is the media were blaming the Koreans for inciting violence against the black community to divert attention away from police brutality
What? Please provide link.
I mean a 12 year old was shot in the head for some orange juice… Usually riots happen with stuff like that
都过去几年的事情趁那时候大肆报道明显是为了转移矛盾嫁祸给韩国人。
@@TReid2298yeah too bad, but how about...don't steal? He wouldn't have died right? 🐸
@@TReid2298 Let me begin by saying I lived in Washington DC during that era and the homicide of Blacks on Koreans was very high during that time. Yes, it was wrong for the shop owner to kill Latasha Harlins, but you have to understand the Koreans were on high alert. My father owned a business of putting up bullet-proof glasses and we never ran out of appointments due to this. Every Sunday at church, I would hear of my acquaintances or a friend's parents getting murdered during that time. Put yourself in their shoes, how would you react when you're getting robbed at gunpoint every week? Latasha was 15 not 12 BTW and again, I'm not justifying the murder of a 15-year-old girl.
We don't need the second ammendment. The police will protect you! As we see in this beautiful display.
My son is a sheriff deputy and he says keeping the peace only works until people decide they don’t want to anymore. It’s a kind of illusion people have bought into. As soon as a situation like this happens where thousands of people decide to riot nothing will stop them. You can bring in the national guard and start mowing people down I suppose. But when people cross the line into a riot of this capacity you best get the hell out.
In 2005 the supreme court ruled the police have no duty to protect. Which is why we need full automatics.
@@kevinb1096 Full-Automatics are hard to control though. Semi-Auto works just as well. You need decent training to operate a Full-Auto weapon.
@@wolfenrichtophen6010 it ain't about being accurate. If you're surrounded 50 to 1. You're just going to spray. I turned down the wrong street when the stuff was popping off in Baltimore and I almost got surrounded. Semi auto wouldn't have helped me out if I got stopped.
Was just thinking the same thing. The police are here to protect the status quo nothing more. When shit hits the fan they won't be out to serve you.
My dad was stuck in an apartment complex in La being guarded by Koreans, he said it was the most surreal moment of his life.
I wonder how many were former ROK soldiers?
@@jp-ty1vd all of them, probably some KPA too
Then he saw his son listening to K-Pop, then that became the most surreal moment of his life.
@@rmac3217😂😂 he’s tryna roast
@@jp-ty1vdthey were all South Korean immigrants. North Koreans are trapped and not allowed to exit their country.
The bulk of these men weren't specifically just North Korean refugees that escaped to South Korea then immigrated to the US. They were also normal South Koreans as well, South Korea has had mandatory conscription since the armistice of the Korean War, they all more or less served their time in the ROKAF in some form or another and had military training. It showed in the sense of not specifically firearms training but how quickly they mobilized and organized their defences together so efficiently as a group.
Yeah, for sure it was more native-born South Koreans than North.
This is why more nations should adopt conscript military service for young adults, like in Swizerland, Italy, Finland. It builds ones character and unifies the nation. Regards from Israel.
@@trespire is that why Israel tries to divide every other country?
Better is a well organized volunteer civilian militia. The govt army is well known to create suicidal conditions amongst its solders and starts needless foreign wars.
@@trespire Our youth [South Koreans] loathe the conscription and they will try to find any means to escape it. In my class there are only a few who find it a necessity and duty.
I remember being very proud of the Koreans for how they responded to the riots and looting all over LA. I was disgusted how the LAPD went after the Koreans instead of the looters and burners all over the city. Koreans were the ONLY community that didn't join in the chaos but rather tried to protect their community. For that , the police went after the only group in LA that was law abiding.
That's the true nature of the state. They were penalizing the Koreans for protecting themselves and challenging the GOV's monopoly on violence.
Exactly the same with the BLM riots.
이유는 간단하지. 미국 백인정권은 한국인들을 흑인폭동의 희생양으로 정했기 때문이지. 희생양은 반항해서는 안된다. 얌전히 흑인들에게 죽임을 당하고 재산을 약탈당해야만 한다. 그게 당시 미국정권의 방침이였다. 경찰은 그역할을 충실히 수행한거야. 그렇기 때문에 난 너희가 Roof Korean 이라고 영웅적 서사를 말하는게 너무 역겨워. 미국인 너희의 이중성
@@Charles-m3wlmao no it isn’t
@@Maggozonk yeah it is.
The BLM rioters were protected by the media and the "justice"system while people who protected themselves against the rampaging apes were prosecuted harshly
My father worked on Beverly and Normandie during the riots. He told me about the Koreans that helped him and his store. They helped him leave the area when it started to get really bad with an armed escort. People don’t really understand the level of lawlessness there was. I’m glad my father made it out safe and big respect to those Koreans that helped my Dad.
Glad they helped ur dad imagine ur dad met a different woman after those riots and u were never born. Lmao
@@play4keeps77 its called a butterfly effect and its a horrific concept
and people wanna ban our second amendment smh.
@@play4keeps77 imagine I caught you in a parallel universe and snapped all your fingers off so you couldn’t type in this universe lol
@@play4keeps77 a lot people were injured, died, or lost businesses. I only hear stories from my family but May 2020 looting was pretty wild in lawlessness too, not near the riots but how spread out the chaos was, they just consciously did it in nicer areas (there was some people just protesting)
My father and uncles, most of whom were ROK vets, all took up arms to defend their stores. I was in high school. Your typical rebellious teen. With a growing sense of dread, wonder, and excitement, I learned what real responsibility and earned respect was all about.
Did they save their stores? How many people did they shoot?
@@markraymond7235 Only one or two stores actually shot at anyone
that's badass man. what a place to grow up. I watched this safe and sound in Canada thanking God we didn't have slavery here.
The man taught you why you call him daddy, and it ain't just cause he's your father lol. Respect to your family.
Respect
Koreans were absolutely being targeted in the riots. They stood up for themselves in legitimate self defense.
There are numerous Crips testimonies, saying that they bought their guns from the police, and MS13 stands for Mason with the occult number 13 attached to it - yes, all these gangs work for their Masters in the US Government and US Authorities, who are predominently Freemason members being the top gang on the food chain. Total intel on the enemy within in UA-cam video "The Swiss Beast - Home of the Devil; Part 1 Nazi-Templars" also on channel Giureh. We are being ruled by a foreign power, that has become domestic and has taken over all key positions in society.
@S Because that Korean lady shot a black girl in the back after a robbery i believe? It was right during the Rodney King verdict
@Somebody Same problem in South Africa.
I don’t condone Koreans being targeted, but You do know why, right?
@@SuiSSe-Torture-Prisonniers-CH yeah the problem with black appear when they leave africa
My dad was part of this. A hardworker who did everything to support his family. Their clothing store unfortunately got looted, insurance bankrupted, the lawyer representing them ran off with the money. They defended their land but unfortunately barely anyone helped them afterwards. Moving to the U.S was a bad move on their part but at least this legend remains.
There's nothing more American than defending your property from those who would unlawfully take it. I'm proud of the Roof Koreans for defending their property, as well as for their great contributions to this country. Glad to have many Korean-American friends!
Too bad we don't consider our morals and the general health of our nation to be our property. Now everyone thinks as long as they've got THEIR lifted pickup, everything's peachy. We kinda got had on the EXTREME focus on material wealth as a sign of prosperity. Obviously property rights is a foundational part of any functioning civilization, but we forgot everything else. If we hadn't, these riots wouldn't have even happened. And I don't mean that King would have been treated more fairly. In fact, he was treated just fine. A good beating for causing all that goddamn trouble is a small price to pay and frankly more humane than 20 years in jail.
I agree with defending ones land... but America is literally unlawfully taken land 😂
@@RADIOACTIVEBUNY had me in the first half, really lost me in the second
I was there visiting a friend during these riots, the whole apartment complex I was staying at went out to the street with bats, swords, crow bars, one guy had a bow and arrow...it got nasty,was a war zone, everyone got hurt.... I saw the Korean guys on the buildings down the street...the mob moved towards us....it was bloody... you have no idea how bad it was...
Well let them own businesses in your communities.
The black man screaming "it's not right!" at the people destroying the community he was likely born and raised in always gets me
His business was one of many looted and destroyed during the riots as well
"Stop acting white"
Such a chilling video to watch. A man born with nothing built something for himself then destroyed by the people in his community
I'll never forget watching it as it happened. Terrifying, and somewhat new back then. Now it's an everyday occurrence it seems.
That black man had internal white supremacy and was violently fighting a "mostly" peaceful protest. Joking by the way.
Just realized how brilliant it was to use the radio station as a makeshift 911. Since they were speaking Korean the rioters couldn’t eaves drop and know what was going down. Similar to Navajo code-talkers.
Since Korean is a language isolate, you can't know other regional languages like Mandarin or Japanese, and understand ANYTHING they're saying, either.
Well said!
@@ChemAndAdrenalinethats a good point. Same reason only Hungarians can understand anything Hungarian lol
Rioters when the roof speaks korean: 🫨😳
Never thought of that. Brilliant observation!
Fun fact:
In Koreatown, there was a toy store. This toy store obviously sold toys but they also sold toy guns. The Koreans used these toy guns to scatter them on the roof so when a helicopter recorded the roof, there would be a stash of ‘weapons’. The rioters would look on tv and hesitate to attack this makeshift fort.
Edit: MOM IM FAMOUS😂
smart
I need a home security system that offers "roofs koreans" as a home security option
You just need to feed, water and occasionally supply them with ammo
🤣🤣
You can buy a rooftop Caucasian for half the price...
dosnt have to be koreans. just good people that will stand up for whats right.
Be your own rooftop korean
5:51 Actually, that part isn't true. Most Korean Americans in LA were South Koreans, and North Korean defectors were very few. But South Korea has conscription, and those men had to serve for three years when they were young (it's shortened now). Quite a few of them were Vietnam War veterans. Obviously, they all knew how to use guns, and they were very organized when operating in units
Your a South Korean that's why you saying this
@@मालिक-य2य No it's not. It's an objective and verifiable fact that most Koreans in LA, especially those on the rooftops were South Koreans. There are very few North Koreans living in the US because they can't freely emigrate or even travel unlike South Koreans
@@성이름-p9t6t You must be of Korean ethnicity. If you look more closely into the history of the country of your heritage, and read about what happened with the partition of Korea into North and South, followed by the Korean War, you will understand that many modern day South Koreans actually originated from the northern part of Korea, and either fled to the South after 1945 when the Soviet Army had invaded North Korea in the latter days of WWII, resulting in the partition of Korea into a North Korea controlled by the Communists, and a South Korea occupied by the US Army, or, they fled to the South during the chaos of the war, before the war ended in a ceasefire and the DMZ was established.
The Korean war was a back and forth affair, like the tide sweeping in and out, with the North Korean army first invading South Korea, taking Seoul, and pushing the remnants of the South Korean army and US forces all the way down to the southern tip of Busan, before reinforcements from the US and United Nations arrived to push the North Koreans back up north again, taking Pyongyang and crossing the Yalu River. At that point, China sent a huge PLA force of over 100,000 soldiers sweeping in from the mountains to surprise the US/ UN forces on Thanksgiving Day 1950 and drove the US/UN and South Korean Army forces back down South again. A large number of North Koreans who had now seen what Kim Il-Sung's Communism was like decided then to flee south with the retreating US/UN forces. The rest of the war went back and forth around the 38th Parallel, and the border was finally fixed at the Ceasefire lines in 1952 which became the DMZ.
During that time, many Korean families were torn apart, as some were able to flee from the north to the south, and others either were not able to do so, or chose to stay in the north.
So, yeah, I caught that line about Koreans fleeing from the North also, and thought about it, and yes, it's actually true. A lot of South Koreans are from families that were originally from the North, and had fled during that chaotic time period.
Fleeing from the North, to the South, of course, became much, much harder once the Kim regime had established its control over North Korea after the war and hardened the DMZ into a heavily mined and guarded and very difficult to cross barrier.
@@मालिक-य2य during the Vietnam war South Korea was also involved in special forces sector. The North Vietnamese and the Vietcong called them tigers for how ruthless they were. Also the majority of South Korean men served for three years in the South Korean for a minimum of three years. He's not saying this just because he's Korean he's saying this because it's factual.
@@मालिक-य2यhei malik, speak after serving military
No one exercises their rights more than those who have fled from hardship to get here. They’ve fought and died to get here, and they’ll do the same to keep the rights and livelihood they came here for.
Yet we want to close our borders
Annnnnnnd i was right lol typical trash.
On March 16th 1991, 15 year old Latasha Harlins walked into Empire Liquor in LA just before 10 a.m. With money in hand, she put a $1.79 bottle of orange juice in her back pack. The store owner, Soon Ja Du, saw this and accused the little girl of stealing. When Latasha walked up to the counter to pay for the orange juice, Soon snatched Latasha up by her sweater and began pulling at Latasha's backpack. Latasha, again.. 15.. struck Soon two times causing Soon to let Latasha go. Soon then angrily thre a stool at Latasha.. who is, again.. 15. Latasha picked up the bottle of juice that had dropped on the floor durring the scuffle and handed it to Soon, who snatched it from Latasha. Latasha turned and walked away. She got about three feet before Soon blew Latasha's brains out with a revolver.. over $1.75 orange juice.. that Latasha intended to purchase.
At trial, Soon said she feared for her life. Soon said it was self defense to shoot a 15 year old child in the back of the head when she is walking away from you.
The jury found Soon guilty of voluntary manslaughter, an offense that carries a maximum prison sentence of 16 years. However, the trial judge, Joyce Karlin, sentenced Soon to five years of probation, 10 years of suspended prison, 400 hours of community service, and a $500 fine.
A state appeals court later unanimously upheld Judge Karlin's sentencing decision, 3-0, on April 21, 1992, about a week before the LA riots. In July 1992, the Harlins family was awarded $300,000 in settlement.. after lawyer fees.. burial costs...
Soon Ja Du MURDERED a 15 year old CHILD and never lost a DAY of freedom. Moreover, the way the Asian community had been treating the black community in Los Angeles before this specific incident was deplorable at best.
So, with ALL disrespect, FUCK "saigu".. FUCK April 29th.. FUCK this bullshit ass narrative that they push.. Korean store were targeted because of what the fuck they did. Period.
Tell the whole fuckin story if you gon tell it.
Great comment😉
Faxcts
Facts. If you want to try it be prepared to get tried 🙏
This story genuinely gets me emotional. Like seriously pumped up. The absolute spirit of America, and the reason why we have our amendments. Some of my favorite people in history.
This actually a prime example of how self defense actually works in groups. The government was not expecting this and the media tried to make Koreans look racist. Most groups do not organize like this and are infiltrated by informants.
The media makes everything look racist especially now
Unfortunately, this whole video is bullshit. That whole area around Olympic and Western was burned to the ground. This jerk who made this video left out a whole lot of details.
They didn't try to make them look racist, there had been race related issues in the past between the Korean store owners and the surrounding Black residents. Regardless of that, during the actual riots most the store owners where clearly the ones playing defense with their businesses on the line.
@Pat Luxor tell that to the Weavers.
@Pat Luxor I just looked that shit up wtf was that devil bullshit get out of here with that
The scene where the elderly man is screaming “it’s not right!” Is tough to watch! You can hear how much he is hurting
yeah rodney shouldn't have led them on a high speed chase. Then after said chase acted uncooperative the whole fucking time. lmao if he would have crashed he would have gotten smoked by a pissed off husband and father. would have been a better outcome
@@augustopinochet3830 lmao stfu yes even if he did all that the cops were still wrong to beat him two wrongs dont make a right but with that being said looting was wrong and most looters didn't give a single fuck about rodney they just wanted free shit
@@augustopinochet3830 this wasn’t about Rodney King, this was brewing for years due to the unjust treatment of black people in Los Angeles by the police department.
The officers being acquitted only caused the eruption that had been waiting to explode. Might want to learn about the history of the LA police department before making such ignorant comments.
@@jamvan2k isn't he yelling the rioters and looters? What happened to Rodney and the verdicts IS AND WAS a complete shitshow and people were justified to be angry but how does that justify random local business being destroyed? What if your brother or grandparent got beat up and later your family business burned down? Would you still shrug your arms and side with the rioters? I'd be fucking furious, my family in Mexico have their own shops they own and I'd be there defending them if shit ever went down, especially when you consider some of those stores also double as their homes
@@jamvan2k he was screaming at the people looting and destroying property
“It’s not right. It’s not right what y’all doing. I came from the ghetto too” I’d be lying if I said this didn’t bring a tear to my eye :/ hit me hard in the feels bro
ua-cam.com/video/ku2PzKWFPvg/v-deo.html
It’s finally here
For real. Was a powerful condemnation
I got goosebumps when I saw that part. Just those few lines were powerful and moving because of the emotion in that man’s voice and face
Yet his words, as heartfelt as they were, fell on deaf ears.
@@VladTepesVEVO crab bucket in full effect
I'm Taiwanese grew up in LA, my Korean friend's uncle is one of those rooftop Koreans, I went to their house often, just after school and stay in their house waiting for my family to pick me up, we talked about this thing a couple times, which he described the 1992 LA Riot was like a real mini battle where he has to gear up and use radio and be prepare to shoot. He also complain that LA did nothing to protect them because they're Asians, the police literally block the roads and prevent Koreans leaving Korean Town, they had no choice but put up a fight, he's still mad at the level of racism that was done to them, like the cops all went to white people cities like Beverly Hills protecting these white people, then cut off the road from Korean Town to Beverly Hill, and allowing these black mobs and Latino mobs coming into Korean Town from South LA destroying the Korean Town and killing Korean people, LAPD literally left Koreans to die on their own, but Koreans did not die because many of them are military trained in Korea, just like Taiwan, we all did 2 years of military service at the time, so every adult male Korean knows how to assemble a gun, dissemble a gun, clean a gun, and load a gun, and turn on and off the safety on gun, they have all the basic gun knowledge, and gun store owners who are Koreans are also very active, they instantly help organize, and give out guns to Korean males who have serve in military, even females got a gun just for their own safety in case there's no men around her.
He said even after all these years, he still feel LA is very hostile towards Asian and Korean people, he doesn't like so many non-Asian people coming to Korean Town these day only because they love K pop, I can tell he has some trauma and grudge due to this incident, and as an Asian living in LA, I do feel a strong racism vibe in LA, especially after age of 18, you're out of school and start knowing people who are older and who are outsiders to LA, they're very hostile toward Asians, I can understand and agree why he doesn't like non-Asian coming to Korean Town, it's like they only like Koreans suddenly because K pop is trendy, and anything about Korean nowadays is trendy, he felt like being treated as an object, an object for these non-Asian Americans to show off that they know some Koreans and been to Korean Town, he literally called these people being fake, because that was not how they treated him and other Koreans back then.
Racism exists everywhere. Worse in some parts but everywhere. Just be aware and be successful in you life. Do not be poor. Educate yourself and your children. Defend what is yours. That's what is importand and that's what the Korean immigrants did. Just like any other free Americans would. Me? I am also a Korean American. I now live in VA, orginially from Hawaii. I simply understand what I want to do and need to do within the laws of this great country. USA is the nation of immigrants. Historically? No one owns anything. It's what you make of it. Whoever is in power, get to control the bulk of it. It's as simple as that.
I stand tall with the LA Korean Americans. Always have.
There weren’t that many North Koreans that made their way to USA as migrants. Most of those roof Koreans were from South Korea, but nearly everyone had done their military service, and a lot of them had served in Vietnam and some in Korean War.
They were extremely well organised.
I agree. That reference to north Koreans was way off. These were all south Koreans
How ppl think they are North Korean?
Agreed. All of them are South Koreans
Koreans were the best trained troops in nam. Absolute hero.
racist police
I was 14 when it all went down, had some “Roof Top Koreans” next door to my apartment and just down the street, Mexican market owners were on roof tops too. They had AKs, Uzis, and other long rifles. At night time it was hard to sleep, a lot of the smoke from surrounding burning buildings would somehow enter our home. It was surreal.
Crazy you was there lol but the Mexicans was riot with the blks ppl lol they was the only ones in China Town rioting lol it’s okay those there know it wasn’t over Rodney King.
I'm sorry that you went through all that as a child. I hope you are doing well now. God Bless You. :)
@@URangryX Thats is very nice of you to say to the young fella :)
@@albertchavez2693 the young fella is 44 years old
@@slipperylatex872 LMAO
I was among the 1100 Marines deployed to LA. It was my last official deployment, as I EASd on 23 May 1992. I waved, pumped my fist, pounded my heart, and shouted encouragement and support to every armed Korean I saw. Those folks were grade A badasses. Anyone who knows anything about ROK Marines knows that they are not to be fucked with. I'm still shocked that there weren't stacks of looter bodies in front of every structure in Koreatown.
Amazing story and the pride hits me for sure. In one of the videos where they interviewed David, he said the Koreans would try to shoot around the rioters/looters to scare them off. He specifically said they didn't want to hit them (unless they had to) so they were missing on purpose.
Thanks for your service
@@tomnguyen8546 No thanks necessary. I enjoyed my job.
@@scout3058 I have 10 years left and it's been the best decision I've ever made
The reason there wasnt stacks of looter bodies is because those koreans had honor and understood that the looters were americans too. I wish i could say the same for many of americans that are native born who just want an excuse to kill.
@@tomnguyen8546 Good on you, brother! Stay frosty!
저때 미국 주류 언론들은 한국인들이 이유없이 흑인을 공격한다면서 한인들을 한국 갱스터라고 까지 부르면서 흑인과 한국인간의 갈등을 계속 부추김. 왜냐하면 미국 백인경찰이 로드니킹이라는 흑인을 사망하게한것에 대한 비난을 피해야 할 필요가 있었기 때문에 엉뚱하게 한국인들을 희생자로 삼아 몰아가고 미국 경찰들은 현장에서 도망침.
진짜 양심없는 미국이고 웃긴 미국인들임
지금도 그짓하고 있어요.
They took government hand outs to floods the communities with liquor stores and were known for shooting kids under 10 in the back
American media protects blacks at all cost
Both the news and the goverment are liars. Look at whats happening with hurricane Helene victims right now. And what happened with Maui.
agree 100%
I did my Basic training and AIT at Ft Sill, OK in 1982. We had a prior South Korean ROCK soldier in our Platoon. He never said a word - and read his bible every evening. Our Drill Sgts gave him nothing but respect, and let us know how badass this man was. I'll never forget the time we were taking a break after a real hard day of training. Our DS walked over to us and said to the Korean-"Our basic training is like being in the Boy Scouts to you isn't it ?". He just looked up and with a big smile nodded "Yes". He was , without a doubt,one of the best soldiers I've served with.
They're called ROK Marines, for REPUBLIC OF KOREA. They were good but mostly just highly motivated. (I worked with them several times in various countries, they were good for watching your backs. USMC 1973 -1978
@@nathanhunter8740 There is ROK Army also. Most people Join the ROK Army as mandatory service. ROK Marines tier-wise is in between the US Marines and US Navy Seals, Much of Korean military training is handed down from US military, however, because Korean culture is socially bureaucratic to begin with, most civilians are pretty disciplined, but the discipline in Korean military is more hardcore compared to the US. I'm a korean but also a US army vet as well. Thank you guys for your service. Many of the ROK marine veterans mentioned may well have served in vietnam (especially the older ones). You can also look up ROK Marines in Vietnam War on youtube, they were one of the most feared groups by the Viet commies with the highest sniper KED out of all nations that served in Vietnam.
@@nathanhunter8740 The ROKMC were dedicated, motivated, and tough. Maybe a little lacking on advanced skills, but they learned fast and could run a machine gun like no one's business. Absolutely the best guys to have at your backs. USMC 2007 - 2011
Eeeeeeee
I’m not Korean, I’m an Okie but I was there in Long beach on a rooftop. I was with my employer with guns protecting his businesses. It was total chaos. At one point I counted 17 buildings burning around us.
I’ll never forget the stupidity I witnessed.
That experience changed my life.
Would love to hear more.
whats an okie?
@@buxadonoff A person from Oklahoma. I'm an Aussie and I know that.
@@marvindebot3264 i've never heard the term
An Okie is a person from Oklahoma
Nothing warms my heart like a story or immigrants that stood for whats theirs. Rock the fuck on guys
I found out my neighbor who was a ww2 veteran ran over the lady across the streets dog , so I leveraged this information against him & once a week 4 five years I got hand stuff & light kissing from him until he passed
@@jakeflint4018 nigga what the fuck
Right on.
Funny how those Koreans are now probably bigger 2nd Amendment defenders than most natural born Americans
@@amateurtouring tf you talking about?
During those chaotic days, Los Angeles was left to fend for itself. Koreans stepped up to the challenge. Kudos to roof Koreans❗
They took government hand outs to floods the communities with liquor stores and were known for shooting kids under 10 in the back
real life PURGE
I applaud the korean community for banding together and protecting their businesses.
maybe the south korean government forcing every male to go to the military after high school sort of paid off
Todays Koreans wanna be weak af and kiss ass and not call out blk ppl for anything
Too bad they gave up their arms and let gangs take over
@@redrustyhill2 Wait, they did??
@@lovelylipbonesouwwwwwwwolv2198don’t just listen to strangers on the internet, do some googling.
People think LA today is "bad" lol.
Early 90s Los Angeles was a whole different animal
It’s getting right back to where it was with all of the soft on crime policies.
Now it’s kinda just a zombie town run down by drugs and homelessness. Back then it was a fuckin war zone
@@firebird4491 This just isn't true. People use this argument for the war on drugs which is completely different. Being tougher on violent criminals charged with murder, rape or robbery and not releasing them out into the population a few days later after their arrest does stop them from committing more crimes. As things are right now people are being caught and released just to continue what they were originally arrested for
yeah man. especially all of the insane bank robberies
woah found my fav youtuber in the comments😂. 4/20 blaze it
As a non-Korean American this story always fills me with a sense of national pride, the Korean community will always be a welcomed part of America's identity.
I guess some are welcomed and some are not.
@@Synoopy2 yes
are you native American? from which people?
@@zoogie980who exactly? 🤨
Your the cause of this , just treat people like human beings and non of this happens
I was on the roof of my place. Footage of Annie Martin, I was working at KABC at the time. Annie was a gem
That guy who yelled "It's not right, I came from the ghetto too" that hit hard. Why does it take being the same ethnicity for people to band together? Why didn't shop owners in general band together like this?
Bonds are stronger when there are more. Being a shop owner is a bond. Being korean is a bond. etc
Unfortunately the African American community don't care about each other, you don't see any other ethnicity destroying their own community like the African American community does. This might seem racist but it's fact. Jews didn't do this to themselves when they were poor in the start of the 20th century. Italians didn't sell drugs to their own community, Mexican / Latin urban communities defend their community. It's only the African communities that do this kind of stuff, it's unfortunately ingrained in their culture to hate the system due to generations of wrong doing. Now that they have the opportunity to assimilate into a free western society they can't because their culture says not to trust the system.
Caught in the crossfire, probably didn’t know he owned it. Mob gets anyone in their wayz
because the "brak peeple" think everyone in the world owes them something
@@shaunsteele8244 That doesn't apply to every black person, and they had less of a chance than anyone else. It's right to protest for the chance to be on the same playing field, but never right to form an emotional mob. Mobs don't think, people think. When people get into a mob, they only see anonymity and the worst a chance to vandalize.
I was living in L.A. at that time. The cops left and everyone/businesses in certain pockets were 100% on their own. These Koreans did what they had to do not only for their business, but more importantly..for their lives!
It was a war zone!
After it was over what did Mayor Bradley and the cops that left these men on their own do?
They went back and arrested the Koreans and confiscated their weapons!
When the SHTF you’re on your own and need a community of like minded people. Remember that when some people talk about a certain kind of “Control”
After I saw the vid of the one poor random trucker dude get pulled out of his truck and beaten to death in the middle of the intersection I knew it was a warzone.
2nd amendment isn't just for use against a tyrannical government, but for a lack of government at all.
Roof Koreans are the best example of using your rights as an American. Right to liberty, life, and happiness. We will defend it rightfully with force.
And heaven forbid you call out or even recognize the race of the vast majority of the people who acted like animals...
@@Stephen85 it doesnt have anything to do with the race. Theres opportunist animals everywhere
Fuck the government.
@@firebeardlongfellow5295 Reginald Denny thankfully survived his attack. He had a fractured skull and was left with impaired speech and difficulty walking but he survived somehow. When I saw the footage I thought he died too but some good samaritans got him to the hospital in time
Mad respect to David Joo, Richard Park, and all rooftop koreans for being brave and fighting for their safety and livelyhood.
His name is David Joo, but I agree.
@@성이름-p9t6t done editing it. Thanks for the correction. 😄😄
mad respect to them all. those rooftop koreans are badass and took action when needed WITH HONOR
I remember seeing the photo in the La Times of those Koreans atop that store that was mentioned in this video. It is a time honored tradition, 'looters will be shot'.
This really captures a core Korean ethnic trait. Koreans are masters of self-organization ( coordinating logistics independently of authority), rooted in a deep skepticism of entrusting critical matters to the higher ups and a powerful ability to unify swiftly when facing existential threats. Generations of being overlooked or left to fend for themselves by government have sharpened this self-reliance, just as American cops left Koreatown as a buffer zone to protect their "real citizens." Living on a peninsula with no easy escape has fostered a "fight to the end" mentality, making Korea a true fortress civilization and what ultimately saved Koreatown.
My people 🇰🇷
Many of the male Korean immigrants in LA were trained via compulsary military service in Korea. They did not fuck around, and it makes me absolutely burst with American patriotism. I fucking love the rooftop Koreans using their God-given right to defend what they earned.
Nothing but facts brother 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
This we will defend!
Y’all love black people getting smoked, not surprised
Heck yeah!
Some 300,000 South Koreans rotated through the Vietnam war.
Say one was in Vietnam in 1970 at the age of 20, he'd be about 45 in 1992.
Public schools should teach our kids that Rooftop Koreans are American heroes.
Whether the public schools came through or not, we the society can do that for our youngsters.
Nah, schools are pro BLM. Any stories that vilifying black people are unacceptable. Stories involving black people must paint them as the victims.
Teach it in Asia
@@TheHoodVoice2024
You bet it should. And you better believe news travels.
they dont even teach geography in the US, no point in teaching about Korean Americans when they only want to hear about themselves.
This only shows one side of it, the glory. The roof top korean were demonized by the media and politicans. Many were arrested and tried in court. Really messed up if you ask me. But it should show the negative repercussions that came with it as well.
The riots were planned and set to happen just like the blm terrorist riots we have. The government hates nothing more then citizens defending themselves.
I fully agree here, the entire world needs to be shown just how little the Government gives a fuck about any of us, that they would try and drag people through the wringer for picking up the slack when they were abandoned.
God, that makes me absolutely *_Livid._*
@@odin1185 our society is ass backwards. The parallel to the LA riot and the Rittenhouse case is similar. Not to mention how in Texas school shooting the cops just stood there for 40 mins. They even arrested a mom that tried to go in I believe.
yes he should have shown that too! that was the most disgusting part, and the part which most clearly showed the true colors of USA system.
@@mdiesel23 just broke today, that the police and us marshals stopped the funeral home worker from going after this guy before he even got into the school.... Smfh... The whole situation in Uvalde smells like the swamp sacrificed these children to push their political great reset agenda
As a korean american and a 2A advocate. These guys are my heroes
They took government hand outs to floods the communities with liquor stores and were known for shooting kids under 10 in the back
This is what it means to be American indeed.
Proud of those Americans for defending their property, their loved ones, and their dignity.
Lol, wheres all the americans being american in the last decade then? Constant violent riots and hostile takeovers and only cartels and roof koreans have any desire to defend themselves or be "American"
That's right, if you work and live in the United States, you are an American. Even if they were Koreans, the settled Koreans had to become Americans as well.
@@스타시퀀스 Canadians and Mexicans are American as well.
@@rawnature8148 so are people from brazil and the such but that don't matter when saying American you usually mean a US citizen bc it's in the name United States of America no need to be a smart ass over it
@@Willy_Gee no need for people from the USA to be so arrogant about it. Only people from the USA think they own the title American.
These brave people are more "American" than a lot of our native born. Kudos to them showing the truth of American spirit.
Facts.
The thing is they don’t know the reason the riots happened. Sadly they don’t know the treatment of US systems upon blacks, brown, yellow, and many other underserved groups for many years. You forget that literally 20 years before these riots you had state governments literally justifying violence, discrimination, and poverty against certain groups through their policy. You had cops syndicates that targeted certain groups on purpose. Many stories of white mob groups fighting segregation, civil rights, and equity against other groups. Politicians calling black women “welfare queens”. Cutting back social programs that mostly poorer people relied on. De-unionizing the labor section, segregating housing and so much more.
All of these were the reasons these riots happened and why they exploded so big. The history matters. While these “roof top Koreans” were looking out for their businesses, many probably don’t know the violent US histories and how that literally caused these riots.
We can either focus on the responses to a problem caused by a problem, or fix the problem at its roots to prevent there being another “riot”.
This is why Koreans come to America, for freedom! Like having pepper spray is a crime on majority of Asian countries
I came to the comments hoping someone felt the same way about these brave ass Koreans as me lol. Pretty sad when foreigners defend and uphold what our country was founded on more so than those that are born in said country..
they are koreans. Born and raised and trained in Korea. Koreans are territorial, they just won't let you just come and destroy their shit. It might be good to have people like that in the USA, it is actually 100% good, but they are not american.
I am so proud of them. They did more for their community then any official could have dreamt about.
Shooting in Uvalde Texas has shown that the police are not here to protect you or your children.
When seconds count, the police aren't coming. NOBODY is coming. Unless it's the men creaming their pants from smoking a bunch of pedophiles
My father served in Korea. I served, and almost died, in Korea a generation later. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the Men of Korea.
I was a broke ass 22 year old musician who had just moved to LA when this happened. I was living in my van and ran out of money for gas so I was stuck parked on a side street in Culver City. Not too much happened in my immediate area but I did see an elderly Latina grandma chase a bunch of kids out of her yard with a shotgun and she fired it in the air. It was a couple of scary nights though. I went on to be a touring drummer but I’ll never forget those days thinking, “Why tf did I leave Colorado”? Lol.
you took a chance i applaud you
that's fcking nuts dude.
for a second i was damn is this one of the dudes from sublime
@@Don-qb1vi that's rock and roll
and to think now you're a broke ass 52 year old with some good memories.
South Koreans are wonderful immigrants. In Australia, they feed the homeless a hot meal 6 days a week, they do it rain, hail or cold. They help and contribute in many different ways that are so admirable.
"koreans" not only south koreans came to the us
can north koreans come to us? they're not even allowed to take a plane
@@shoshogigi anyone in North Korea must first make a very dangerous escape to either china or South korea before going anywhere else
@Wannida Patumwan stinky india
Sikhs in Australia do the exact same things.
I was living in LA when this went down, these guys are true Americans. When I would tell me friends on the East Coast about this they thought I was lying
No, they not Americans - this brainwashed patrioty is a real problem - like standing every morning in front of a flag and swearing alliance to it.
There was a nation in Europe back between 1939 and 1945 what used to do that, and nowadays you only find this happening in North Korea and China.
This people were immigrants defending their new homes because unlike the rich, fat west, they know what it means losing what you worked hard for and they just decided, not again, not today.
Watched this stuff from the east coast live...... there really was a clusterfuck going on with news coming in. It really wasn't until well after it was all over that we started to get a proper idea of what happened.
And yeah, taking up arms to defend your family, friends and possessions.... I wouldn't presume to say that only Americans do this (we saw good people in South Africa defending their communities from rioting scum in a very similar manner not long ago), but that said this still sounds damned American to me.
Interesting side note: a few months back after asking my mother if she remembered the roof Koreans and finding out she did not. I started to ask everyone I knew irl, both thoese who were old enough to see it go down and people too young to have done so..... and almost nobody remembered the roof Koreans.
They were not true Americans most of them were here illegally and were a bunch of cowards and liars. When the uprising started they placed "Black-owned" in their business windows which is the reason why the true resident of the community lashed out for being condescending and thoughtless, not to mention the countless years of blatant racism they cast out towards the community. Those Koreans didn't even live in the neighborhood most lived 45 minutes to an hour away from either the valley, Eagle Rock, or Korea town. They didn't care about the people of the community. The only thing they cared about was money. If you were black and going into one of their businesses the first thing you heard was "Hurry up and buy". They were very rude and sneaky. One time my grandmother took her car to a Korean mechanic to get a CPU replaced, the mechanic instead of replacing it with a new he tried to slide in an old one that was laying in the shop trying to pawn it off as a new one. I told him to get a new one or im going to report you. He had the nerve to get upset because he got caught. While ranting his exact words were " Go away, get out my shop, I hate you monkeys" that's a day in the life of your "True Americans"
alot of those "true americans" couldnt speak a lick of engish but okay
@@whitedom2041 Doesn't matter. They defended their property.
Every citizen here, english speaker or not, is an American.
Showed this to my grandpa, who was a fireman at the time. To hear those vivid memories is quite something. He also got to watch that sears at 7:47 burn down.
"That's not right. That's not right what you're doing. I came from the ghetto too." That man screaming was heartbreaking man
Yup just how BLM would attack mom and pops stores, looting them.
That's the kind of emotion in the voice that makes anybody with even a shred of empathy really feel the pain too.
Right?
I hate the the officers who were acquitted didn’t get the wrath of the community, just their own community.
@@frek175 that’s literally what I said with less words.
I have two things to add to the story. (Yes I was there as a National Guardsmen). #1 The Koreans not only wore White headbands but white arm bands and marked their vehicles with white ribbon. This is important because that is EXACTLY the way an Observer/Controller marks himself and his vehicle during a field exercise. It sounds weird, but the military is trained to ignore people or vehicles marked this way. By the time we figured out that this was 'Real World' and NOT a training exercise the Koreans would be through our check point and gone. (yep, we would just wave them through, just like we were trained to do with an O/C). When you have seconds to react, you will fall back on your training. In this case "He is marked with White Engineer tape, he doesn't count", move along Sir, lets keep this intersection clear.
#2 Another cause of the looting was some helicopter footage of 1/2 a dozen cops standing by while a large store was being looted. Several news choppers had filmed it. It seemed like that 'dramatic' footage was replayed about every 8 minutes . . .for HOURS, on every network. At some point thousands of people decided AT THE SAME TIME, 'I have seen enough, I'm going to get 'my share' of all that 'free stuff'.
That's a neat trick for enhanced stealth.
Man, That's crazy stuff. I only wish we had half the National Guard AND Citizen Response to each riot and every night of looting that have occurred over the last couple of years. What we got was great, but Not enough to become a deterrent.
My family had just moved out of Long Beach when this happened. My dad still worked in defense contracting in the area and he had to drive into it everyday. He said they went in convoys that were armed to the teeth and full of Vietnam vets like him. Seems pretty crazy but at the time people just adapted and lived with it. Hats off to the Koreans who defended theirs.
The blacks and Hispanics not only targeted the Koreans; but they targeted other black and hispanic business owners too. This was a riot of criminals vs law abiding citizens. Hats off to those Koreans who took up arms. The right to bear arms shall not be infringed!
@@coolgamers2794 yup, just like in the beginning of the video of the black shop owner screaming at the top of his lungs as his shop was made from the ground up burnt to the ground, a man that got out of the ghettos to pursue a better life to have his entire livelyhood burnt away buy their own fellow african me. That one almost brought men to a tear.
They were not all on the roof I was there with Korean business I frequently ate at cannot say much only that they were kind hard working and friendly.also the men were some of the toughest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.saw it all nothing happened to their business god bless them all. I wish all Americans had the courage they have
They took government hand outs to floods the communities with liquor stores and were known for shooting kids under 10 in the back
This video overlooked a key event that was the reason why Koreatown was the prime target of black looters. The trial of liquor store owner Soon Ja Du for shooting Latasha Harlins. The incident happened 13 days after the Rodney King beating. Tensions between Koreans and Blacks were already strained because Blacks thought that Koreans were profiting off their alcohol vice while Koreans feared for their lives frequently getting robbed at gunpoint. Koreans were armed not just because of past military experience, but because they had to defend themselves before the LA Riots even occurred.
Yeah the death of Latasha Harlin, over a bottle of orange juice was the prime reason African Americans targeted Korea town. This video doesn't explain that. In fact it states the death of Rodney king was the prime reason behind the 92 riots but doesn't explain why African Americans targeted Korea town, and that was because of the death of 15yr old Latasha Harlin shot by Korean liquor store owner, Soon Ja Du.
@@williamedwards1480 damn, what a shame Latasha valued that orange juice more than his life.
@@justenouff4360 her*
@@Siviks309 ah I'm sorry, a shame *she valued that orange juice more than her life.
@@justenouff4360 Cool, bro 👌
I was one of those men guarding Parker center . Without the korean civilian militias, the destruction and death would have been weeks longer . That's a fact .
Mhmm sure you were…and then you woke up 😂
@@damiion666 how u know that
@@mxverick69 because I’m god
@@damiion666 true
@@damiion666 yeah "definitely"
Meanwhile in Inglewood, a bunch of us neighborhood kids got together to help keep our block from burning down, including the Korean-owned burger joint we hung out in all the time. Mr Young and his family never ever turned a customer away. About a year before then at the tail end of 1990, my dad was jobless and we barely made ends meet. Somehow Mr Young found out and told me to sweep the front of the store sometimes and he'd hook me up with "a little food." It was almost always a gigantic beef and chicken bowl or some burgers and fries to take for my family. I never forgot and so of course during the second day of rioting when they started trying to loot stuff around Inglewood (For example the Ralphs on LaBrea at Centinela across the street from my house) a gang of us teenagers just sat outside his shop meanmuggin' anyone who looked like they were gonna try something. Koreans didn't disenfranchise OUR block and we certainly were NOT gonna let some outsiders from some other part of LA destroy our area just so they can get free shit.
I was 14 years old at the time, barely a freshman at Inglewood HS, and all I kept on saying for 4 days was "If everyone is mad at the cops, the 'man', and institutionalized racism, then what's the point of burning down OUR OWN neighborhood?! We barely have stuff, and now it's gonna be gone for real!"
I get the emotions, don't really agree with the actions, but that's why riots are the language of a people who's voices have been stolen.
I also believe as an Asian male and a POC that a lot of this instigation from the news and politicians are just to (corny as hell but) divide and conquer.
Easy to make money when politicians can sell identity politics to the public and get people to believe in tribalism.
I'd defend my Black and White neighbors any day.
Sad that there was a point in time that it seemed things did calm down in real life. I remember BET including Asian rappers and I remember when Dave Chappelles humor was inclusive and would make fun of everyone in a low brow way.
Nowadays it seems a lot of it has gone away and the internets influenced too many people to act the way they do. Sadly...
Btw your story was badass! Kudos to you bro
"that's why riots are the language of a people who's voices have been stolen" martin luther never said that, on the contrary, his entire struggle was based on non-violent protests, "Oppressing someone else, just because you were oppressed, corrupts your struggle.."
Fuckin based.
Based 👏
Beautiful.
George Washngton: THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!!
Those roof top Americans did the most American thing ive ever witnessed. Protected their lives and property with the 2A.
They are more american than most americans i see that let rioters walk all over them, the only other one that is on their level is kyle rittenhouse, nobody else did sh!t
The most American thing you can do is being a WASP that can trace back his origins to to the 18th century or earlier
Yes, in the current political climate we hear about what ethnicity each person is. They American. Period
After they flooded communities with liquor stores and were known for shooting many children under 10 years old in the back
Born and raised in Los Angeles county, my wife and I were newly married and living in Woodland Hills. I commuted past LAX to the Hawthorne airport and my wife worked for Crusader insurance. We had gone to the Dodgers game with my parents and drove back home on the freeway through the spreading chaos and fires seen in that stock montage you included ( at 4:05) ... the roof Koreans were the bright spot of the whole week, 2A forever !
My wife's company worked hard to help business owners recover as best possible.
As a Marine Corps veteran that spent some time at the Korean DMZ during the height of the recent North Korean threat (2015 - 2017)
ROK (Republic Of Korea) Marines will rock your world before you even realize they arrived. They will then thank you as they rummage over your dead corpse for anything useful.
Their nickname is "무적 해병" which literally translates to "The Invincible Marines".
They earned this nickname from the Americans in 1967 where they took over Khánh Hòa in Vietnam; Taking out nearly 400 Vietnamese in under 48 hours, taking zero casualties, capturing 122 POW's, "liberating" over 300 firearms all with a 16 man Squad from the White Horse division, zero aerial support, and being out of range of communications.
They were though to be dead for about a week before they returned in cattle trucks full of guns, gear, prisoners, and an absurd amount of alcohol.
At this time, Korea was still newly separated and the ROK Marines had only hand-me-downs from Germany and the U.S.
I never knew that a group of retired ROK Marines were organized during the L.A. Riots, but it's no wonder why Korea-Town was so well defended.
That's freaking metal
WOW , intense. As a Californian I had no idea so many of our Asian immigrants had prior military experience except as refugees. What legends .
OH YEAH, been around a few ROK's before, they don't play well with others!! And these guys were WELL motivated. This is how the 2nd Amendment is supposed to work!!
It doesn't sound like ROK Marine vets were organized, it sounds like Korean-American USMC vets.
All South Koreans are required to serve 2y in the military and have to fulfill this by 38y old. Every S Korean knows military tactics, how to handle guns, etc. There is mandatory military service to this day. It used to be 3y before the 2000s. They only recently shaved it down to 2y. After 2y service, you are required to serve 1w every yr or so until a certain age to keep up your shooting and mobilization skills
OMG I research it 5 times .. the scene , background music , your narration .. got me tear up watching each time .
I don't know why, but hearing that the President of the Korean Veteran Association made a public call for Korean Marine Veterans to aid made me cry.
It's because the government had zero interest in the safety of one of its minority populations. They were fully prepared to watch the death toll rise from their comfy mansions while their armed guards stood watch. The Democratic leaders in the utopia of California only care about others when it's time to gather voters.
Being a marine is a calling, once a marine, always a marine.. Korean marines (Hae-byeong-dae) are a very proud bunch
For sure.
Gave me chills
@@fortesting5147 semperfi! koreans say "pil seung" or 필승 which simply means "victory" or "triumph". The ROK Marines have never lost a battle even when it was one platoon against an entire battalion of North Koreans during the korean war.
Koreans were targeted by the rioting mobs because Koreans had made successes of their lives, built thriving small businesses, and looked different to the rioting mob. Nothing but full respect to the Roof Koreans who bravely fought back and protected their families and businesses.
They were also targeted because how Latasha H. was shot and killed by a Korean store owner. I'm not calling myself an expert because i wasn't born by the time the riots even broke out and how i'm just now learning about this. But most of the 1992 riots was gang mentality and it seems like a plausible justification that rioters and looters would target koreatown because of this.
@@obunga4233 people talk about that but also forget the amount of korena store owners killed and beaten prior to that. one store owner was executed a week earlier . violence begets violence. it’s sad
@@joker1087 True, I cant disagree with that last statement
@@obunga4233 They were targeted because media covered up the fact that 85% of Koreans murdered were by blacks. When they don't show how Koreans were being murdered, DemoKKKrat media was out to start a race war by highlighting Harlan story over and over.
That's not true, the Koreans weren't targeted because they were Korean that's a B's other store owners of different race was targeted also black and white and Mexican. In riot the rioters see a lot of stores as fair game
This is without a doubt the best case for gun ownership you can possibly make
Naw because the democrats what the rioters to succeed
One notch below our biggest threat - government tyranny.
@@joemontano71 owning a gun isn't going to do a goddamn thing against government tyranny these days bud
@@jarrah580 Telephone tough-guy.
@@joemontano71 im pro gun but honestly owning guns wont do anything against the government and its 800 billion dollars of yearly military spending
Those roof Koreans were American af. They’re heroes.
This is what the 2nd amendment was meant to enforce. The people’s right to defend themselves and their property when the police are not there during critical times (which they usually aren’t)
The LAPD did pretty much the same thing as the Uvalde cops. Set up a perimeter around South Central to prevent the riots to spread to the suburbs. They let the city burn which was expected, that's why their inactions were not gone after. You should have seen the Rampart police station, they literally made a fortress
I favor gun control but I agree with your assessment. Ppl should definitely have the right to defend themselves, this was not lost on the Koreans that day, but I feel it HAS been lost on today's Americans...the right to defend your life is invaluable but to take another's on a whim, is not a right, nor a privilege, it SHOULD be an exception, but this country has gone mad...
your right, they literally formed a well regulated militia with a command center and everything.
It's there to defend ourselves against the state as well, if necessary. So long as the 2nd Amendment stands they can't do absolutely whatever they want. It's a constant thorn in their side. They cannot stand the idea of individuals being able to defend themselves. They'll never have true absolute power so long as the private sector is armed. They're already far more powerful than they were ever intended to be but the 2A helps to keep it contained.
Its to fight against tyranny
This is why the 2nd amendment exists. Everyone has a right to keep themselves and their property safe
In new zealand, that is not the law. i know 1st hand, 1 can not protect your property. even armed or unarmed. you can get jailed for 2 or 3 years for defending or stopping someone damaging your property...
Even the religious that will go to heaven, the best place ever? What is their motive to avoid it?
Which is exactly why the DNC wants to disarm every law-abiding American gun owner and just leave the illegal ones on the market to the hands of drug cartels and other criminals. The 1992 riot and subsequent smaller ones since prove that 2nd amendment is necessary, it has its downsides but no legislation or legal right is pitch perfect. Let's go Brandon.
yea but we saw with the modern BLM and Antifa riots they dont care people got arrested by the hundreds for trying to stop the rioters no 2a when leftist have power . Rittenhouse ,that couple in their yard, the guy in the white truck , the air force officer all arrested and heavily charged just for trying to survive . not to mention the right wing counter protesters clearly on camera being the victim of the attacks all arrested for defending themselves AFTER blm attacked them
@@MenCanNotBeWomen Shoot, shovel, shut up :)
They were not North Koreans. They immigrated from South Korea, where they had military training. Military training is mandatory for all South Korean men.
IKR? What the hell is he talking about them being N.Koreans lol
@@nato2227not really. It’s just the fact that there is barely no korean American who’s from north korea.
Wellllll North Koreans have mandatory military training for men and women too
There are North Korean defectors who've fled the country and who have since settled down and had families. But I highly doubt there were any Koreans from the north involved in this. Maybe one, at most.
5:50 mark. If you listen to the narration, he said some had escaped North Korea into South Korea before coming to the US.
in Chinese there a idiom called ''do not mess with the humble/meek people.''(''别欺负老实人''). The one who have the loudest voice in the house isn't the most horrified one, but if a honest and humble guy gets bullied until a breakpoint, the guy will transform to a one punch man
길에서 똥싸지 말아주세요
Now that's a well regulated militia.
That’s the 2nd amendment for you
Sorry, but, what part of this was well regulated?
This is why you kill each other so much, you don't even understand what The words "well regulated" mean.
Don't worry the rest of the world is disgusted with Americans right now, you are a first world country with third world values.........
Every day I hear someone talk about how America is turning into a 3rd world, you have the right wing taking away your freedoms, basically pissing on you and calling it rain. Then you have the left wing too spineless to do literally anything, so your country is just regressing and returning to an unstable unsuccessful 3rd world nobody.....
No, it's not. The National Guard is.
National Guard was too slow. It’s never ready at a moments notice anyway. I’ll take the Koreans any day.
@@tomwithey711 the national guard is very very much an extension of the army, you would be hard pressed to find any militia in history that looked like the well equip trained and sustained national guard. militia is and has always been normal people grabbing there weapons to defend there home, it aint a payed job like the national guard
I'd always heard the legends, but this is even better than what I heard. I just about teared up to the USMC vet calling all other Korean USMC vets to the area. 15 doesn't seem like much, but when it's Vietnam era USMC vets, 15 is plenty.
God made marines and the devil ran in fear. Semper Fi
Those called were ROK Marine vets….not USMC…although First MarDiv did respond to this mess. I know I was one of them…
@@ThuyPham-lr5dc hell yeah I’m 0311 till I drop
@@Rook_Layne_Reno " hell yeah I’m 0311 till I drop"
@@deltavee2 hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 🗿
Could you imagine what would have happened if those looters had gotten into the gun stores? These brave Koreans weren't just protecting themselves, they were protecting the entire community.
Chaos make people think they can get away with everything
Too bad they're allowing their idiotic government here in Korea to keep them cowering in fear over the coof. Mask mandates outdoors relaxed about 2 months ago, yet 99% of these lemmings are still masked up. Even in their cars. Alone.
When people of European descent shot the looters during hurricane looting it was called racist
Bruh they are so stupid to try to rob a gun store
These guys were badass. A lot of these scenes remind me of the rioting that happened in Chicago in 2020 and here we are still arguing about 2nd amendment rights.
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. -Winston Churchill
What an amazing video, well told, well paced, and great writing!
I can’t really explain why this video made me emotional, maybe the pride of those Korean’s or there sense of friendship and dedication towards defending their livelihood. I would be proud to know them, I’ve always liked Korean’s. 2A for life and liberty.
I felt exactly the same way. It's inspiring to see people coming together to help each other
Holy shit touch some grass. Defending a home isnt something hard to do.
2nd Bn/9th Marines we’re sent to LA with armored personal carriers. That’s how bad it got.
@@batmanv.hendustan7506 OK send me your address and let's see
@@batmanv.hendustan7506 lmao are you 16?
This will always be my favorite legend of the American Dream. When the government failed, immigrants banded together, took responsibility, and protected the lives and livelihoods of their community. Bad-fuckin-ass.
This is the true nature of the American dream. It doesn't matter if you were born here or you came here, it is open to all in this land. It's a beautiful thing that these true Americans were willing to fight for and defend their communities from violence and rioting. I am proud to have them in our country
hell yeah we are proud to have them here
ah yes, only the Korean store owner matters, not the exploited Latino seasonal agricultural worker. The American dream could give a fuck about immigrants, it once banned the whole of China from immigrating for trying to make a living in California as miners, and then did the same to Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans during the Great Depression. A hypocritical joke honestly.
A right koreans can never dream of in their homeland... but, america allows such things. 🤣
I had no idea most of them were actually military veterans or that they used a radio station to coordinate their efforts. Awesome video and mad respect to the almighty Roof Koreans
The idea of turning the radio station into their own dispatch is genius. That way anyone with a FM radio can listen to the updates. Plus the had korean speaking staff on hand to translate information.
I think its mandatory to serve 2 years of military in the Koreas. Another Fun Fact : some of them were Vietnam Vets
@@justindunlap1235 Even if they broadcast in English, having a radio channel constantly blasting that kind of coordinated stuff would be a massive "don't go there" vibe for low life looters
They used their heads.
Word is this is what started the long standing beef between blacks and Asians.
This men are American Heroes! We need a Movie of Rooftop Koreans! Directed by Martian Scorsese. A point of view of a Korean Store Owner during the LA Riots!
Fun Fact: the famous newspaper photo of the Korean standing on the sidewalk holding what I think was a Tec-9 was actually arrested. Reason is because according to LAPD it is okay to have a gun and protect your property, but once you leave that property, you are now brandishing a firearm in public which is illegal. Yeah if LAPD did their job and quickly suppressed the rioters then he didn't have to carry a gun in public. Plus maybe the LAPD should have put the cuffs on King when he was on the ground instead of beating him.
Is that True???? I admire the boldness of the U.S. police, but I think it's the law enforcement scene of the U.S. police where things happen that are so incomprehensible sometimes.
@@치안정보실 The problem is that there is no uniform code. Every department has their rules. Plus veteran officers have a tendency to think that the rules does not apply to them. Being police means following and enforcing rules. That is the nature of the job. If they have a problem with that then don't be an officer.
IIRC, there were 11.... ELEVEN police officers just standing around watching it happen.
You're telling me eleven full grown men with police training can't put cuffs on ONE unarmed man?!
@@RN-ez1ii Actually one of those officers was a female officer of the CHP. It was the CHP that initiated the chase but for some reason the LAPD took over the situation.
@@homerj806 (?) The point still stands. AT THE VERY LEAST I counted 11 officers (more may have been off-camera) and I'm supposed to believe all of them couldn't manage to move one unarmed individual's hands a few inches to put cuffs on him?
The general public also saw it was BS and that's part of the reason why the riots took place.
And take into consideration, this courageous seige lasted for 4 DAYS !!! , before " The Cavalry " showed up. If there ever was a case for 2nd Ammendment rights, this was it.
and semi auto would be a necessity . no single-shot would quite do it.
No, the case for 2A is tyrannical governments and foreign invasion. It is the ultimate right of self defense, of which defense on the street is an extension.
And the media in typical fashion were asking if they had permits for those weapons. God I hate journalists.
@@huwhitecavebeast1972 wrote "No, the case for 2A is tyrannical governments and foreign invasion. " Correct but you don't know your history. The Socialist both Nationalists and Internationalists, both used semi-organized mobs to take over. Heard of Kristallnacht? Nazi govt, using the green shirts and the brown shirts. Same thing in Russia and China. That is how they got rid of businesses and business owners. Meanwhile, the government officially stood by and let it happen. Same thing here in 1992, and again in 2020. These were semi-planned events, organized by govts.
@@huwhitecavebeast1972 always so funny how 2a enthusiasts will say they need the 2A to defend against "tyrannical governments." Brother, what the FUCK is your m4 gonna do against a tank when the military rolls up? what about drone strikes, gonna shoot it out the sky??
"Rooftop Koreans" is my favorite story of immigrants dealing with adversity.
It shows what can happen when a community comes together and works toward a common cause, instead of turning on each other like a bunch of bucket-lobsters.
Also a good example of how standing up for yourself will gain you more respect than cowering in the long run.
They are American as fuck!
The Chad diversity VS the virgin evil diversity
@@Tommy-Lo Except after the riots the city had some if them arrested and weapons confiscated.
@@90whatever Yep. Which is disgraceful and adds to the list of government and police failure. Still, better to be arrested than deceased.
At 9:43 The sign across the street that says "The Boys" is iconic
While after all this the US media portrayed the Koreans as the cause of all the riots, blaming them for creating the circumstances that lead to so many deaths, and just downgrading the Korean community as a whole. It still infuriates me to this day that some people have no clue of the series events that forced those men to defend their property in such way.
I’m just waiting for the some leftist jackass to be like “but they have insurance!” like all of the f***tards with literally zero understanding of reality did during the 2020 riots
It's always the Asians that are the scapegoats
You want to talk about racism? How about discrimination against the Asian people?
Well, wikipedia has a killing of a girl by a korean store owner before the riots as one of the reasons for the riots
@Jerry Lee that’s what they do. It’s their job. To create division while running cover for the super rich people Kanye was talking about.
If you pay close attention these days the m e d 1 a is racist against whites, against blacks, against Hispanics etc etc etc. They deliberately make everyone fee angry & bitter towards other groups to keep us divided.
That is not true.
White men LOVE Asians.
They help you people, and integrate you people into their systm.
🇲🇽🇷🇺
A very important lesson to be learned from the Roof Koreans: when you NEED the cops, they aren't coming in time.
Say it again for the police in Vegas, Texas, and Florida.
When seconds count the police are minutes away.
The true lesson is to keep guns
Welcome to calling the police when you're Black
also, don't give up your guns 💪
Korean-American Marines that served with me were badass warriors. These people do not quit and they do not whine about hardship. They are are also extremely dependable friends and they don't do dumb shit. They are good people to have around family
Love Koreans. I adopted 2
We need more Americans like these!
I've known a lot of Filipino, Chinese, Vietnames, and Koreans in my life --- the Koreans are usually the toughest mofos in the bunch
They sound very similar to the Gurkhas we have in the British Army; loyal, tough, and love their country
ua-cam.com/video/ku2PzKWFPvg/v-deo.html
It’s finally here
My dad a company during the riots i was only 6 but i still remember him infront of his business with a shotgun.
Defending his family.
There was fire and smoke all hell broke lose.
My mother help me as she continues to work because we had to. bills to be paid.
It was scary people were actually trying to break in while my dad had a gun. It was a nightmare.
Moved me to tears, I couldn’t think of anything more American than rallying your community together to take up arms in defense when the government has failed. I’d feel honored and blessed to live next to anyone of these people
I teared up watching too so proud that these people are my fellow Americans
I couldn’t think of anything more American than this happening in the first place.
The only American thingin this video is rioting and looting. It's almost like it's a yearly tradition there 😂
They were Koreans Not talk a lot USA Americans
@@RainingDarkChocolate America is one of the few countries that you can defend yourself with a gun and not be in jail for it, that's pretty American
This is an incredibly moving story. I'm not Korean or even Asian, but having grown up in a NJ town that went from mostly Italian population to Korean population during my time there, I have tremendous respect for them. They're super hard working people that like most immigrant populations just want to see their children have greater opportunities than they did. I love that they realized help wasn't coming, so they took matters into their own hands and did something. Great story!
Palisades park?
Fort lee?
Burgertown county
Moving? Seriously? Granted, yes it's complicated. But we're literally talking about property being valued more than the people who are taking it. That's what insurance is for. Not to mention the fact that these people rioting have been oppressed systematically by the police for how long? Where they being opportunistic? Absolutely. But that's how black people have had to be to survive in this country for centuries.
@@MontyRaeSp8 shut up someone you have never met gets beat its sad but doesnt validate violence and stealing from people who had nothing to do with it
One of the most inspiring stories of our time, and one the media intentionally downplays.
because the attackers were b l a c k
Downplays? More like just pretends it never happened. I didn’t learn about the rooftop Koreans until I discovered guntube/liberty twitter. It’s not even taught in schools because, like most riots we see today, it makes a certain group look bad and we can’t be having any of that.
Media back then openly tried to make these guys the bad guys escalating the violence. What were they supposed to do? Let the looters destroy their shit and just watch?
The local politicians after this was trying to blame the Koreans for taking up arms.
I had never even heard about these riots
한국인들은 남을 침략하는데에는 아주 취약합니다.. 하지만 내 나라와 내 영토, 내 가족을 지키고 방어하는데에는 그 어떤 나라도 따라 올수 없습니다....
I'm not Korean, American and wasn't even born during this but damn it makes me proud of the Koreans. They're fighters
I’m Korean and I’m proud too
Korean Marines had quite the reputation in Vietnam.
Not Korean, they were Americans, it's the people attacking them that were foreigners!
@@nukembear2345 Sure buddy
Not anymore lmao
Words can't express my admiration for those Koreans. They came here to live the American dream and they would be damned if it was gonna be taken from them without a fight! Mad respect!!
Amen!
Good-natured immigrants are probably some of the best citizens you can ask for
The same Koreans that supported a women guilty of killing a 15 year old girl over an orange juice that she was PAYING FOR?
@@siontifictm7366 are you certain they're the exact same people? Or are you just broad brushing them; trying to paint an ugly picture of an entire culture over an isolated incident?
They mad the American dream reality
I'm Korean American and grew up in NYC, but have a lot of family in LA. I was a kid when this happened and I remember my mom crying on the phone talking with my uncle. She was begging my uncle to grab his family and leave for their safety. But my uncle, being the badass he is, said that's not an option. He had to protect his business, his family, and his people. He and my cousins all armed themselves and defended themselves. My cousins said they didn't want to kill anybody so they shot near people to scare them away. One of my cousins that was there became a Lt. Col. in the US army. Still a bunch of badasses to this day.
i love this story!
Is your cousin johny kim ? Korean american born in L.A , Navy seal former that become doctor and NASA astronaut ?
u people kill Latasha Harlins !!!
@@MrMerzi007 No lol I'm kinda glad he's not or my mom would've been comparing me to him my whole life.
Off topic, but I'm a 15 yr old Korean who dreams to live in NYC is it good there?