Korean Denny Kim was beaten indiscriminately with racist remarks. Photo twitter post capture
In the Koreantown of Los Angeles (LA), a Korean man in his twenties was brutally assaulted and even threatened with murder.
On the 25th (local time), according to the Korean American Association of Los Angeles and NBC broadcasts, the second-generation Korean American Denny Kim (27), who was a spare member of the US Air Force, indiscriminately assaulted two Hispanic men (estimated in their 30s) who met in Koreatown on the evening of the 16th. Got hit. Kim’s indiscriminate assault resulted in a broken nose bone and bruises in both eyes.
The local police defined the case as a hate crime and began pursuing the suspect.
Mr. Kim said, “Two men hit my forehead and eyes. I fell to the floor and they kept hitting me.” “They said they would kill me. I was afraid of losing my life.”
Mr. Kim said that two perpetrators assaulted him with words such as “Ching Chong” and “Chinese virus”. ‘Ching Chong’ is a commonly used expression when Westerners depreciate Chinese.
Kim was able to escape from a dangerous situation with the help of an acquaintance Joseph Cha, who was passing by. Mr. Cha, who witnessed the scene, said, “I yelled at them to stop, and I also made racist swear words related to China.”
After the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), former President Donald Trump criticized it as a “Chinese virus,” and the anti-Chinese sentiment was also strengthening.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) saw the case as a hate crime and began pursuing the suspect by acquiring closed circuit (CC) TV videos and witnesses in the area.
A Korean resident in Los Angeles said, “Former President Trump set fire to racist sentiment against Asians such as China,” and said, “I’m worried that this sentiment will not disappear quickly.”
California State Congressman Miguel Santiago, who has Koreatown as its district, issued a statement and criticized “Kim’s racist ridicule and assault was an obvious hate crime.” He said, “Kim is one of 240 Asian-Pacific residents who have recently been harassed, assaulted, and discriminated against in Los Angeles County. “We cannot be bystanders, we must stand up,” he said.
The Asian human rights organization in the United States said that from March last year to January this year, more than 28,000 hate crimes were received in 47 states. Crimes against Korean Americans accounted for 420 cases, accounting for 15% of the total, the second most common after Chinese, accounting for 41%. By type, verbal abuse was 45%, denial of service 22%, and hostile physical contact 10%.
Reporter Han Young-hye [email protected]
