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Thieves continue to target Asian community in western Washington

At least eight cities have seen multiple Asian businesses and homes broken into.

EDMONDS, Wash. — Inme Choi has been cooking at Hosoonyi Korean Restaurant for more than a decade.

It's how she and her husband have raised a strong family, including their daughter, Sol.

"My parents came here from Korea to set a better place for us," she says. "This is literally all they have."

Thieves busted through the restaurant's kitchen door around 3:20 Thursday morning.

Surveillance video shows them rummaging through the restaurant. They ended up stealing a few electronics, as well as personal and tax information.

They didn't find any cash, but Sol takes little comfort in that.

"With all that information, they could easily track down where we live and who knows what after that," she says.

That same night thieves hit a Savvy Thai Restaurant and a nearby Chinese establishment, Dong Ting Chun, as well.

A Taco Time was also burglarized.

Break-ins targeting the Asian community have been happening in at least eight cities along the I-5 corridor from Kent to Bellingham.

Many of them are happening in people's own homes. Some have been caught on video - the thieves brazenly making obscene gestures to the cameras before stealing cash and jewelry.

Edmonds police report it's too soon to say whether its cases are related, but Sol believes they probably are.

"We are all speculating that this is highly related to that," she says.

But why target the Asian community?

Sol has a theory based on an old stereotype.

"A lot of people often think Asians are such hard workers. They stash cash away in their houses, or in their pockets. They never put it in savings. It's all cash, cash, cash," she posits.

Police are advising people to install new security systems or upgrade old ones.

Don't leave cash or sensitive paperwork at your business.

Homeowners should lock up valuables in a safety deposit box.   

"I worry about the people in my community," says Sol. "They're hard workers. We're thinking of all of them out there." 

Back at Hosoonyi, business carries on, but things just aren't the same.

"You definitely feel violated," says Sol. "When you have a business, you literally put everything into it, and overnight you get it taken away from you. It's not acceptable."

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