What to make of the national reaction?

I was quite perplexed when Koreans and Korean Americans reacted the way they did at the Blacksburg shooting. Their reaction was that of a real, visceral shock with some strange consequences - the Korean ambassador to the U.S. calling for a collective fast (although I think this was a translation mistake exacerbated by his inarticulateness), statements of apology by Koreans who had nothing to do with it, the heavyhanded involvement by the Roh administration, town hall meetings in which Korean Americans sought assurances from American elected officials that there would be no racial backlash, etc. What gives? I thought much of it was wildly inappropriate and was quick to condemn how Koreans inexplicably took it on themselves to feel so apologetic and shameful about it. But then, an astute friend of mine reminded me of the massive hysteria unleashed during the World Cup at every Korean goal or at the apocryphal achievements of a certain geneticist to be thoroughly discredited later, and that such reactions and that of the Blacksburg shooting have much the same DNA - deep nationalism tinged with a herd behavior. And you take the good with the bad.
- Roger in DC