South Korea is warning its citizens traveling to or residing in the U.K. after a university student fell victim to a racist attack, which reportedly occurred at 10:30 p.m. on October 15.
In a statement, the South Korean Embassy urged citizens to be vigilant and report similar incidents at once.
“We did not mean to cause alarm or deter any Koreans from visiting or coming to live in the UK,” a spokesman said. “We simply want to encourage our citizens to be cautious and act diligently in the face of a rising number of racially-motivated attacks.”
Earlier last week, Yesung Kim, a 20-year-old student at the University of Sussex, was assaulted by three suspects in Brighton, England, because he was “f**king Asian.”
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Kim was struck in the face with a wine bottle and consequently sustained injuries. A footage of the incident, posted by a friend on Facebook, has been viewed over 642,000 times.
South Korea’s warning also follows a general surge of hate crimes in England and Wales.
According to the Evening Standard, the assault on Kim took place only two days before the Home Office announced that hate crimes increased by 29% in the past year, the highest since it started recording in 2011.
Police data also revealed that 78% of nearly 80,400 hate crimes in the 2016-2017 financial year were race-related.
Two of Kim’s attackers — 17- and 16-year-old boys — were arrested by Sussex Police on Friday morning.
A crowdfunding page set up to help cover Kim’s dental treatment has raised more than £2,800 ($3,690) as of Sunday. Excess donations will be given to anti-racism charity Stop Hate UK.
