An alleyway in Singil-dong, Source
The seemingly random stabbing of a woman on the street in Seoul has provoked strong reaction, not only because of the shocking nature of the crime but also because the victim was an ethnic Chinese-Korean. Headlines featured a statement from the assailant to the police, ‘I wanted to kill somebody,’ and recalled other recent violent crimes with little to no motive.
Although the case involved a Korean citizen as the assailant and an ethnic Chinese-Korean as the victim, discussion online also made reference to the recent concerns about crime committed by Chinese-Koreans. Commenters argued about whether Chinese-Koreans can be called ‘Korean,’ while others skimmed the article and commented assuming the assailant was Chinese, calling for his immediate deportation.
In comments to the media, police said the man’s outstanding debts and his recent breakup with his girlfriend contributed to his state of mind before the attack. Netizens criticized the explanation, saying that the man’s debt was not particularly large or unusual compared to the average person.
From Daum:
‘I wanted to kill somebody…” Woman is stabbed in the street, Assailant arrested for hate crime
At 2:00 a.m. on the morning of August 3 in Singil-dong, Seoul, Mr. Lee (27) followed Mrs. Jang (40) into an alleyway between two homes and stabbed her ten times in the back and thighs. After being alerted by witnesses, police began a manhunt, following eyewitness accounts and the trail of bloodstains left by the assailant, who had also injured his arm while attacking the woman. Thirty minutes after the pursuit started, it ended with the police arresting Lee at his apartment. Area residents called 119 for an ambulance for Jang, who is described as being in critical condition at a nearby hospital. Jang, an ethnic Korean from China who had come to South Korea in August of 2011, had been on her way home after visiting with family in a nearby residence.
In testimony, the criminal stated to police ‘after finishing up my shift at a convenience store I went out and had a bottle of soju on my way home. After drinking a bottle, I thought to myself, ‘I want to kill someone’, and got a weapon. I came upon Mrs. Jang and committed the crime.’ Lee had recently incurred a ￦12 million ($10,635) debt to a moneylender, which led to a breakup with his girlfriend. Police believe that faced with these problems, Lee decided to commit a hate crime.
Comments from Daum:
jiny801:
Now you die.. why? You say you just wanted to kill someone.. If that’s true, then the talk that one out of three people (even in your family) has a mental disease seems to be correct- – ;;
바람인거야:
용수애비:
Take that bastard and put him in Oh Won-choon’s room.
수영인:
That young bastard gets ￦10 million in debt and decides to kill someone.. come on, this little prick, if he had lived a little he would know ￦10 million in debt isn’t anything at all.
dmer jk:
These days, who among us doesn’t have ￦10 million in debt… Just taking out a loan for an apartment puts you behind ￦30, 40 million…He isn’t making any sense…there’s no need to use the excuse that he’s a psychopath
☆眠☆:
Don’t call the victim a countryman [note: the literal translation of “ethnic Chinese-Korean” is “Chinese countryman”, the comment is implying that the victim should have been called Chinese]
kim:
Please don’t call Chinese-Koreans our ‘countrymen’
호현:
You were the one who borrowed ￦12 million… Of course you have to pay back the money (if it is hard to do so immediately then you do so slowly), So your girlfriend wants to break up.. well, you won’t be feeling good but there’s more than one girl in the world and things would have been fine if you had just thought about the next one.. What’s the problem.? But after you drink.. So naïve that you think you can justify anything you do.. I think maybe you need to reflect on what you’ve done for the rest of your days…
얼핏현아:
Have you seen this crazy bastard.. give him the death sentence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!a real psychopath
산과물과바람처럼:
Please remove those kinds of bastards forever from this world
Hate crimes are a really serious social problem
Give him strong punishment
생각있는나라:
This guy is mentally ill. He can’t be allowed to walk around with the rest of us
햇살듬뿍:
Ah, so it was a Chinese-Korean who was the victim…
rlatlsskatns54:
Where did he spend this ￦12 million??????? You’ve got to spend your money smartly, if you borrow more than you can handle and spend it all then how can you ask for something from others????? Nothing but a rat bastard, you’ve got to take responsibility for what you did. You wish somebody else did things for you but how can you pay back someone else’s money?
샤univ:
Please call Chinese-Koreans just “Chinese.” They are not our countrymen. Would you call someone a countryman who only calls you the same when you are making money? He runs through his cash and then wants to get rid of his debt. This wicked piece of human garbage then goes out to kill one of our country’s fragile women.
We should now refuse entry to these Chinese-Koreans without any roots.
There’s no need for us to take care of the garbage that can’t be handled inside of China.
쩐의전쟁:
Hey reporter, write your article correctly… these aren’t Chinese countrymen but Chinese people…all right
Comments from Segye Ilbo:
부평초:
It happened because our country forgives anything you do while you’re drunk
괭갈:
Willing to kill anyone but the person he finally chooses is a woman walking home alone
슈프림피자:
A country that seems to be getting more and more diseases as time goes on. The future looks dark…
어허야:
A 90% chance that he was a supporter of the Democractic United Party, a 10% chance that he was part of the Unified Progressive Party
Jasonoh:
These days our country is filled with rage, hatred, and criticism..
