Via a reader tip comes news of this horrible attack that some are now trying to use to further the narrative that Korean men have a misogyny and problem with violently attacking women:
A Korean man attacks a Korean woman with a hammer in LA’s Koreatown district.
The 22-year-old South Korean man in a black T-shirt asked one question of the young woman before bludgeoning her repeatedly with a hammer.
“Are you Korean?”
Much about the random attack last Friday at a Koreatown strip mall remains unclear, but police said Thursday one thing seemed apparent: Jae Won Yang chose his victim because she was Korean, and a woman.
Last week’s attack, in front of a second-floor acupuncture clinic, has reverberated across the Pacific Ocean to rattle nerves and grab headlines in South Korea. The incident set off online debates about whether it was the latest in violent attacks against women in recent years that have triggered soul-searching about misogyny in the Asian nation. [LA Times]
You can read and see the video of the attack at the link.
Here are my thoughts on this, if people want to debate misogyny and violence against women in Korea fine, but don’t twist incidents to prove the point. For example the big incident that has been used recently to “prove” this point was the violent murder of a woman in the Gangnam district of Seoul last year. However, what the activists pushing this narrative do not mention is that the Gangman murderer for years was in and out of mental hospitals and became homeless because his family could no longer handle caring for him due to his mental illness. The guy was certifiably crazy, not a misogynist.
This guy with the hammer attack we don’t know what his motive is yet. Maybe he hates Korean women and decided to just randomly attack one with a hammer. If so then the activists have their case they can champion to prove their point. However, maybe this guy is someone else with a background of mental illness. This statement in the article seems to suggest that:
Kim, who met with Yang after his arrest, said the man was rambling and nonsensical about the motive behind the attack. He does not speak any English, Kim said.
I am sure that as more facts come out this guy’s motive will become more clear, but in the meantime instead making unsubstantiated claims of misogyny lets all hope the victim of this horrible attack is able to make a speedy recovery.
