The Korean American community now has a new means to promote unity and showcase diversity.

Korean Americans United to Serve Equality is a new registered student organization with the goal of facilitating and promoting the Korean American community’s participation in campus, cultural, social, civic and community affairs, said Christina Yoo, the president and founder of the organization.

“KAUSE seeks to represent and provide a variety of direct and indirect service resources to the bourgeoning Korean American community both on and off campus,” said Yoo, junior in LAS.

As a new organization, the group has several initial obstacles to overcome to become better known on campus.

“Although our mission statement is quite general, we do have a more specific goal,” Yoo said. “Since we are a new student organization, we want to focus on getting our name out there and to ignite a fire in not only Korean-Americans, but whoever is interested.”

Yoo said she believes speading knowledge about Korean American history in the United States is vital to the development and growth of the community. Korean Americans United to Serve Equality plans to focus on the 1992 L.A. riots, known as Sah-I-Goo in Korean.

“We want to enlighten people on what actually happened and how the media portrayed the tragic occurrences of that day,” Yoo said.

Douglas Seok, senior in international studies and board member of the Korean Americans United to Serve Equality, said he hopes this new group can gain popularity and develop a strong following. He said that the organization is trying to set up a strong foundation for Korean Americans and issues that concern them.

“This could mean anything from the political arena to social issues, and especially the state of Korean-Americans on campus,” Seok said. “KAUSE actually started at UIC, so we have also started a line of communication between both universities and hopefully organize events together bringing even more people together.”

Seok said that there are a few key goals he wants to accomplish in the first year of the group’s existence.

“We would like to start a discussion of (the 1992 L.A. riots) and what it means to be Korean in America along with other minorities,” Seok said. “We hope to get Daisel Kim Gibson, who made a documentary on this event interviewing prominent people in the Korean, African American and Latino communities.”

Seok said that the group also wants to focus on the relationship between minority groups on campus. The group wants to unite both minority organizations and people, Seok said.

Korean Americans United to Serve Equality joins several other RSOs on campus, including the Korean Students Association, designed to serve the Korean American community on campus. RSOs offer students a community of similar students in the midst of such a large university.

Those wanting to start a group tailored to their needs and interests can do so with minimal effort, according to Curtis Heinz, senior in psychology and staff member for the RSO main desk.

“All a group needs is two members, a president and a treasurer,” Heinz said. “As long as the group has not been created for discriminatory purposes, then they will most likely get approval.”

Heinz said the necessary forms to be filled out and submitted can be found online at the University Web site for RSO’s, http://www.uiuc.edu/regorgs/. Once the forms have been submitted and processed, the group must meet with Mr. Brooks Moore, the assistant dean of students at the Illini Union, to discuss their organization.

“In this short 30-minute meeting, the group just discusses the main intentions they plan with Mr. Moore,” Heinz said. “After that, it only takes a few days for the group to get approval.”