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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Indigo Stafford

Korean man 'racially abused' by teen thugs in Edinburgh slams police for taking two days to respond

Police officers in Edinburgh took two days to respond to "hate crime' carried out on a young Korean student in February.

Do Hyeon Gim, was walking home from picking up some shopping at his local Tesco in Fountainbridge when he was randomly attacked by a group of Scottish teenagers.

The thugs knocked the young man's shopping out of his hand before proceeding to "push his chest" and "ask him if he wanted to fight."

Do said he was then punched and kicked in the face, before a couple got involved who were also then assaulted.

Speaking to Edinburgh Live, the young man said: " On February 14, 2020, I encountered a group of Scottish teenage thugs at the Fountainbridge by the Tesco.

'I was walking back to my accommodations after doing my groceries and one of the thugs, potentially drunk, jumped at my sight and knocked my groceries all over the ground.

'I was upset by the fact that my groceries were damaged, so I asked them what was wrong.

'Then the situation escalated quickly and the encounter started pushing my chest asking me if I wanted to fight.

He continued: "I was absolutely defenceless and unwilling to act against it as an ex-army man, but only to dodge their assaults and attempt to getaway.

"However, he never stopped following me while punching me in the face and kicking me.

"His friends joined assaulting me, though there was quite a crowd, only one couple decided to interrupt the situation and call the police to rescue.

The couple tried to record the attack for police, but Do Hyeon Gim told Edinburgh Live they were then attacked too and had the phone smashed to pieces on the ground.

He said: "I strongly believe that I have been targeted because it was when the COVID-19 was a rising issue and I was wearing the university hoodie.

"They must have thought they would get away without any consequences because I appeared lucidly as an international student.

Despite the severity of the attack, the young man waited two days before Police Scotland reached out to him about what happened.

He told Edinburgh Live: " Police never showed up at the incidence and only decided to get back to me 2 days later.

"Surprisingly, there were police officers available to stay around the clubs and pubs but there weren’t any for me.

"Initially, they seemed to have taken it seriously when they interviewed me, the biggest frustration of mine really was on the initial response.

"They never showed up at the immediate report. Also, they took 2 days to reach out to me and have been taking ages to capture the offenders.

Police Scotland was asked by Edinburgh Live why it took two days to respond to the incident.

They said: "We received a report of a man being assaulted on Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, around 7.30pm on Friday, 14 February, 2020.

"The man did not require medical treatment following the assault. Enquiries into the incident, which is being treated as a hate crime, are ongoing."

Do wants to raise awareness of how the Asian community are being treated in Edinburgh since COVID fears began.

He said: "The verbal offences have become a lot more common these days, like calling Asians Chinese and threatening to go back to the home countries.

"What upsets me the most is not the experiences I am having and had, but how the Asian individuals are exposed and vulnerable to the hate crimes while being unable to get supports from neither the university nor society.

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