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omonatheydid
Australian Police in Melbourne, where mob attacks on Korean students have occurred, have apologised to the victim for the poor and improper handling of the initial investigation.
Last September, Korean student Mr. Jang (33) was racially attacked in Box Hill Park, Melbourne by about ten caucasian teenagers. Mr. Jang was severely injured, having had a finger severed. Victoria Police sparked controversy by ending the investigation after charging only one person.
According to statements made on the 18th by the Korean consulate and the victim, Mr. Jang, the Victoria Police Department is replacing the policeman in charge of this case, who caused the recent controversy, with a policeman, well-versed in multicultural relations, who will join the new investigation team reinvestigating Mr. Jang’s case.
The police informed Mr. Jang about the reinvestigation and apologized for the poor and unsatisfactory handling of the case and investigation.
Mr. Jang said: “Victoria Police have replaced the officer who caused the controversy with two female investigators who are responsible for multicultural affairs, and they have met with me to convey their apologies.”
Mr. Jang has said that the new investigation team has apologized for the officer in charge who seemed to dump the responsibility on the victim by saying “you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He added: “The Australian police have accepted our government’s official complaint and showed their volition for reinvestigation. I will give my testimony about the incident to the new investigation team around the middle of next week.”
He also stressed that, judging from the circumstances, this incident was not a simple assault or mugging, but is relevant to general Asian-targeted racist crimes, so he hopes to find the truth through this investigation.
The Melbourne Korean Embassy announced that, in connection with this incident, Mr. Jang was given a 6 month extension on his visa’s expiration date last July.
ARTICLE 2
''THEY lied to me. At first they said the attackers were under investigation. Later they said they didn't know who some of them were.''
Nursing his swollen left hand with its reattached finger, a South Korean student whose pinkie was chopped off during an attack by a group of teenagers has spoken of his frustration with the subsequent police investigation.
The attack on Mr Chang, who is keeping his identity concealed, and a friend while walking through Melbourne parkland at night in September, has generated an outcry in South Korea, where media organisations are questioning whether Australia is a safe place to visit for foreigners.
Two weeks ago, French woman Fanny Desaintjores was threatened by passengers on a Melbourne bus for singing French songs. One man said, ''speak English or die'', while another commuter shouted: ''I'll f---ing boxcutter you right now, dog.''
Over the past two months two other South Koreans, a 33-year-old Sydney man and a 27-year-old man from Brisbane, also have been attacked.
On Wednesday, Mr Chang, who has worked as a designer and is left-handed, said he approached the South Korean consulate in Melbourne for help after becoming increasingly unhappy with police inquiries.
The South Korean newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, reported Mr Chang was approached by a group of teenagers who asked for a cigarette. When he refused, they assaulted him while shouting ''f---ing Chinese".
Mr Chang blacked out during the attack and was taken to hospital, where his little finger was reattached.
The newspaper also said Mr Chang accused the police of ''brushing off the assault simply as rowdy teenage behaviour'' and ''refused to inform him of the identities of the other teens". Mr Chang believes it was a racially motivated attack.
He feared his injuries, which included a broken arm, would affect his ability to work in future.
''I feel so embarrassed and humiliated,'' the TAFE student, 33, said. ''I don't want to go outside alone. I haven't even told my family about what happened. They don't know.''
Victoria Police is continuing its investigations after the South Korean government requested it conduct a ''more thorough and fair investigation", capture the perpetrators and compensate the victim.
The Foreign Ministry of South Korea also demanded Australia ''come up with measures to prevent future incidents", the Korean broadcaster KBS reported.
Mr Chang, from Seoul, still believed Australia was a ''safe and good country'', acknowledging every country had its share of offenders. But he said he was ''unhappy'' about the ongoing police investigation.
A spokesman from the South Korean consulate in Melbourne said it had formally requested Victoria Police ''carry out a thorough investigation that will also eliminate perceptions of unfairness and inadequacy from the victim and Korean public''.
Mr Chang said he was told by police he was responsible for the brutal attack because he ''was in the wrong place at the wrong hours'', sparking alarm in South Korea. But the spokesman said that, while police eventually apologised for the remark to Mr Chang, he might have ''misunderstood the intention behind it, taken in the wrong way due to cultural differences''.
Victoria Police said a 14-year-old boy from Doncaster was charged the day after the assault. ''Other suspects have since been identified, interviewed and either charged or released pending summons,'' a police spokeswoman said. ''None of the accused has been charged with any racially motivated crime offences.''
Mr Chang is now seeking compensation through the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was aware of assaults against Koreans.
"The Australian Government and Australian state and territory police forces take very seriously any allegations of racially motivated crime,'' the spokeswoman said. ''Regrettably, crimes occur in Australia as they do in all countries, and it is important to be very careful in reaching conclusions that they are racially motivated.''
Source: koreabang yonhap news
this shit keeps happening in Victoria, first they targets heaps of indian students and now this, the police always say they'll do something about it but nothing has been improved or have countermeasures been placed. Mods i know this isn't kpop but we usually have some serious news right?
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no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 06:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 06:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 07:43 am (UTC)The whole country is full of racist assholes. It's awful.
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Date: 2012-12-14 07:48 am (UTC)im shocked
no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 08:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 08:07 am (UTC)im usually about 2 decades too early
it's hilarious to me that rudd's apology was even a little bit controversial, because if I didn't find it hilarious it would just be really really depressing
no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 09:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 09:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 11:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 08:35 am (UTC)Melbourne is a nice place to live but the invisible racial segmentation is just....
no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 08:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 09:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 09:42 am (UTC)or probably that just because there are way more Asians there?
as an asian I find (many) unwilling to speak english more than necessary is a problem as well, though in their defense, I heard a lot of australian kids making fun of other accents.
my friend is going to babysit a 2 and 4 years old french kids who refuse to speak english because they were made fun of in the daycare (or whatever it's called in aussie).
I also have some experience of being sneered at because of my accent.
urgh, just try to speak my language you assholes.
I mean not everyone, but yeah.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 11:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-16 11:02 am (UTC)Being discriminated by both sides is very discouraging.
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Date: 2012-12-16 10:58 am (UTC)But oh yeah avoid going out alone at night.
About racism it's unavoidable, everyone is racists until some extent, just be strong and befriends the right people I guess. It'll always take a whole until you can get your own clique, just don't et discouraged if some snobbish locals look down on you (either because of your accent or anything).
And if you get any kind of harassment or blatant inequality (in treatment), please report it to the uni office (they should have some kind of organization for international students), you do have to know your rights and fight for it, don't let them put you down.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-15 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-15 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 07:48 am (UTC)Oh my god...
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Date: 2012-12-14 08:03 am (UTC)ngl, there are so many rowdy racists in Australia, it's terrifying. Still remember Cronulla riots like it was yesterday :\
no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 08:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 09:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 08:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 08:40 am (UTC)I believe I read on newspaper that an Caucasian old man (in suburb) was killed last or two years ago by a group of drunkards.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 09:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-15 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 09:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 12:34 pm (UTC)Yes, let's blame the victim, that's really going to take care of the problem.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-14 04:11 pm (UTC)