Man Fined for Slandering Indian

[shonen-key.livejournal.com]

Follow-up to this and this entry..




A Korean man was fined 1 million won ($855) Friday for insulting an Indian professor. This is the first time in Korea that a person has been punished for racist remarks.

The Incheon District Court fined the 31-year-old man, identified as Park, for humiliating the foreigner through abusive and racial language on a bus in July.

After the incident, the 28-year-old Indian professor Bonojit Hussain accused Park of calling him ``dirty'' and ``smelly.'' Initially, police allegedly discouraged Hussain from filing a complaint but he persisted. Human rights groups also launched a fact-finding team to investigate the case.

Police filed a personal insult charge against Park as there is no appropriate clause in Korea's Criminal Law against this kind of an offense.

According to Hussain, Park even insulted his Korean female friend, who was traveling with him on the bus asking whether she is happy to date a black man.

Following the incident, civic activists formed an anti-racism committee and asked the human rights watchdog agency to look into the case.

Some lawmakers have been pushing for a bill to ban discriminatory practices against foreigners based on either color or nationality.

The case has raised awareness of racial issues in the country where 1.2 million foreigners reside.


Source: Korean Times

Comments

[maisoui.livejournal.com]

Good. Ugh, I was first, and it was a crappy comment lol.

[kawaiisis86.livejournal.com]

I'm glad this shit is happening. will show people just because you come from a homogenous society doesnt mean you have the right to treat foreigners that way.

[kawaiisis86.livejournal.com]

institutionalized racism? Maybe they didnt want this uppity indian saying shit initially then they realised they could make an example out of Park?

Just a thought.

Oh, I didn't knew Idians were considered "black"

[angelonair.livejournal.com]

Also,

"asking whether she is happy to date a black man."

(http://nl.tinypic.com)


I'd be pretty damn happy

[kaiweasley.livejournal.com]

About time, Korea.

[jongjin-jaeho.livejournal.com]

Time to change Korea!!

[pandatablo.livejournal.com]

"Police filed a personal insult charge against Park as there is no appropriate clause in Korea's Criminal Law against this kind of an offense."

...

_____

Well at least they are starting to notice that smth ain't right !
Hopefully the change will happen fast , although I seriously doubt it :(

[crystalheng.livejournal.com]

I'm glad about this. Even in Singapore, racism still happens and I get upset about it. I used to be a racist (I had a bad childhood experience involving a group of foreign construction workers) till I entered secondary school. It was then that I realised that though they're of other races, they're human as well.

Now, I get pissed when my friends' racist ways show. Not only my friends, people I see in public too...

[xdonghaewifeyx.livejournal.com]

[fuuism.livejournal.com]

These acts are never justifiable, no matter the situation. At first I thought it happened in a heated debate during a class or something but the fact that Bonojit and his friend were apparently just minding their own business while in the bus makes it even worse.

[honeydice.livejournal.com]

Uhm.. okay.

[cremespresso.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is this stuff happens all the time in America lol...
I deal with racism all the time in my class :l

[silvaesedai.livejournal.com]

[...] there is no appropriate clause in Korea's Criminal Law against this kind of an offense.

For goodness' sake, Korea, get with the times. =/

[borninjeans.livejournal.com]

Glad that Mr. Hussain spoke up and something was done about it.
I have a question after reading the comments, how this wouldn't have been tolerated in (whatever country mentioned).
I have heard so many racial slurs and insults while traveling in western countries, does that mean that all this time I could have reported all those idiot racists to the authorities and they would have done something about it?
Not a rhetoric question, I really would like to know.

[cookie-nut.livejournal.com]

I'm fairly sure racial slurs are non-prosecutable in the US due to the first amendment. Which is why hate groups have legal rights here, provided they don't commit hate crimes, which are prosecutable.

[ruginthesky.livejournal.com]

The maturity of people....pathetic. Why doesn't he just focus on his own life and his own problems? Stop taking yourself so damn serious. It's horrifying the levels people will go to hurt others just because of their skin tone. I'm not gonna laugh, I'm laughing at the karma here on how much he got fined. I can laugh or get angry but in the end I just want this idiot to learn something. What if it was him? Don't always think those of "your kind" will be on your side. It's ridiculous to assume that.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Great news. (What's up with all the deleted comments?)

[fuuism.livejournal.com]

They were all from the same person. Not sure why he/she deleted them though.

[invisibelle.livejournal.com]

I'm glad Korea is pointing out his wrong, though truthfully in India, they'd probably call the insulter "chinky" tbh.

Not that that makes it okay. Even if he really is stinky (unlikely) and that part wasn't a stereotype it's clear that the guy meant it racially if he insulted the companion.

[chalakchalak.livejournal.com]

Your icon kills me. What movie is it from?

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

Baby steps are better than no steps.
kinda thumbs up Korea, keep at it.

[dominique-franc.livejournal.com]

good to hear something was done about it

[thehibiscus.livejournal.com]

(http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v723/Queen_Hera/?action=view&current=hrithik_roshan-1.jpg)

I'd date him. (If only he wasn't married.)

[sabaku-no-leti.livejournal.com]

who is this fine man and why is he "wave distorted"?

[bambayahh.livejournal.com]

good to hear :'D

jw, 1 million won is seriously equivalent to 855 USD?
or am i not understanding that correctly?

NGL, this is the only Indian guy I'm attracted to.

[stopthedisco.livejournal.com]

Re: NGL, this is the only Indian guy I'm attracted to.

[thehibiscus.livejournal.com]

Haha, oh Shahid.

[p-jae.livejournal.com]

Some lawmakers have been pushing for a bill to ban discriminatory practices against foreigners based on either color or nationality.

Erm..well done Korea? o.o Get that bill sorted out in the next few years though, kks? Before I go out to live there. kkthx.

-looks at previous comments- Ok, I feel really ignorant asking this but...is America that racist? o_o;;
Land of freedom or whatever that bullshit...?
Someone explain plz.

[cookie-nut.livejournal.com]

Honey, the issue of race in America is SO DAMNED complicated, it's not something that can easily be explained. The most familiar issues regarding race in this country deal with racism suffered by African Americans, because the movement to end institutionalized and legal forms of racism (Jim Crow, segregation, etc.) was so historic and widely known.

But racial tension between groups goes back to since before we became a nation, and though legalized racism has almost completely disappeared, depending on events, various groups may find themselves the victims of national hatred. Such as what happened to the Japanese during WWII and the Muslim and Arabic community after 9/11.

It's something we continue to deal with even now, and as we are probably the most racially diverse country on Earth, asking that many people to put aside differences and stereotypes that may go back centuries is not that easy.


As for our "freedoms", yes, we take our freedoms of speech seriously, and believe that even if someone says something you don't like or agree with, they have a right to say it and should not be censored. In order for the original 13 states to agree to become a united country, many of these freedoms had to be included, because they were terrified of being under a dictatorial government.

Again, this is something that requires quite a bit of research to remotely understand, same as any series of issues regarding a country's history in various areas.

[thehibiscus.livejournal.com]

=D Me too!

[yvonne-b.livejournal.com]

racism is bad, mmmkay??

but man, only 855, he shouldve been charged for more