“Last night a woman was beaten up in Groove, Seomyeon, Busan.
Myself, Gabrielle, and some of her Indonesian friends went to groove in Seomyeon at about 23:00. When we got to the front to get our IDs checked Gabrielle was talking to me and the bouncer got irritated by this and threw her ID card on the floor.
As she was picking it up she asked him in Korean if he knew that he was being rude, and he then indicated to her to his friend and said 씨발 (this is incredibly rude in Korean). She heard him and incredulously repeated what he said and then he shouted at her to get out (in Korean) and started man handling her.
He was pushing Gabrielle then we both nearly fell down the stairs. We all started shouting at him and then one of her friends got involved and pushed him away because he was pushing Gabrielle. This (retracted) then proceeded to punch this poor woman in the mouth several times before I could get in between them and get her away from him. She was bleeding profusely almost instantaneously.
His punches tore up her lip immediately and blood began gushing everywhere, most of her friends (and me) were covered in her blood. We looked like we had been attacked because there were blood stains all over our clothes. We eventually got her downstairs and called the police on my phone and they thankfully arrived quickly.
The poor girl was shrieking from the injustice and the pain. The policemen went upstairs and took the man into custody but most of the people there are not hopeful that she will get justice because
1. She is a foreigner and he is Korean.
2. There was no CCTV footage.
3. The only real witnesses (myself and a few others) are foreigners and were with the victim so we are biased. For some reason none of the other Koreans in the line were asked to be witnesses… (side eye)
The thing that makes me so angry is that while the police were taking my statement his friend was laughing. He and his friend showed no remorse. He didn’t even have the decency to beg for forgiveness.
The policemen were very prompt and they were very understanding and tried their best to help settle the situation. Kudos to them.
There were some kind Korean people who saw the girl sitting in the road bleeding and someone bought some wet wipes and water and another one kept calling the police to ensure they arrived.
Gabrielle and I went to two different hospitals trying to find her friend and her friend needs stitches on her lip to close it up. Last time we saw her she was getting a CT scan to assess for any abnormalities.
Now, how could something like this happen with such a small provocation. I believe that this all began because of this f**king outdated, misogynistic and pathetic belief that men are superior to women. This idea is endemic in many societies (especially in Korea). This altercation happened because within this way of thinking, if woman doesn’t follow protocols and by doing so disrespects a man then she needs to be checked and punished. All Gabrielle did was not focus on the man as he was checking her card. I have done this so many times and no one ever threw my card on the floor. I am a male and thus I am seen as more of an equal. So I cannot embarrass a man’s ego as much as a woman can.
Furthermore, being a white foreigner is unquestionably more influential than being a foreigner who doesn’t look white or is from another Asian country. I do not mean to say that I think I am better or that white people are better but it is undeniable that we receive subtle benefits because of our race. Gabrielle and her friends are Indonesian and were treated as if they were sub-human. I was in between the two while he was hitting her and I was not hit once. Had it been a Korean woman, or a white woman, then I am sure this would not have escalated as quickly as it had.
The fact that this man felt that he had the right to hurt a woman who disrespected him and the way his friends encouraged this thinking by laughing at this woman’s pain is the reason why [redacted]. I have seen this in South Africa and I have seen this in Korea. I saw a guy in my high school repeatedly slap his girlfriend because she kept asking him difficult questions. This mentality that a woman who resists must be disciplined is so archaic and ridiculous.
We need to teach men everywhere to become better than this…”
~ Joshua Irwin
Source: FB post by Koreanized