Korean Americans fall victim to anti-Asian hate crimes

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sun, October 1, 2023 | 18:46

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Korean Americans fall victim to anti-Asian hate crimes

Posted : 2021-04-04 16:07

Updated : 2021-04-05 11:33

A woman holds a placard as she participates in a "Stop Asian Hate" rally at Columbus Park in New York, Saturday. Reuters-Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

Amid growing anti-Asian sentiment, people of Korean descent in the United States are being exposed to a torrent of hate and violence as one Korean American-owned convenience store was ransacked, while a Korean American couple was attacked as they were walking in the street.

Verbal harassment and physical assaults of Asian Americans have increased dramatically across the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, as some attribute the deadly coronavirus to China, given that the disease was first reported in the city of Wuhan.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the store called Plaza Sundries in Charlotte, N.C., was trashed by a man who wielded a metal post and yelled racial slurs. Surveillance footage shows a man pulling a merchandise rack to the floor and swinging a street sign post into the glass of the refrigerators. A man who appears to be a friend of the attacker cheers him on.

The Korean family owning the store told the AP that such an attack was nothing new, but the pandemic has ratcheted up racial tensions, with some blaming the coronavirus on Asian people ― such as the store's owners, despite the fact that they have lived in the U.S. for decades.

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In Tacoma, Wash., a 15-year-old is under arrest for assaulting a Korean American couple after the attack was caught in a cellphone video that was circulated on social media, according to CNN.

The video of the attack shows a person wearing a red top running up to a man and a woman in the street, then swinging at the man as the woman cries out while another individual looks on, the news outlet said.

The attack happened on Nov. 19, 2020, according to the Tacoma Police Department. A complaint was filed at the time, but police did not connect it to the video until family members of the victims recognized their relatives in the footage, it added.

Last month, a gunman killed eight people, including four people of Korean descent, in a series of three mass shootings in the Atlanta area.

In the wake of the deadly shootings, the White House partly blamed the increase in violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities on former President Donald Trump, who often referred to the coronavirus as the "China virus" or "kung flu."

ksw@koreatimes.co.kr