The South Korean government requested Moscow to take stronger security measures to prevent hate crimes against its citizens living in Russia, prompted by an attack on a college student earlier this week that resulted in a death, local media reported citing foreign ministry officials Friday.
"We urged both the central and local governments of Russia to take measures to help prevent any hate crime from happening again, " an official from South Korea's foreign ministry was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.
"The government expressed its concerns over the gravity of this incident and the negative impact it could impose on the relationship between the two countries to the Russian government through our embassy in Moscow," it added.
The 22-year old South Korean, identified only by his surname Kang, was reportedly involved in an attack believed to be racially motivated by three local youths in the Russian city of Irkutsk, and died at a hospital on Thursday, according to media reports.
All three suspects have been arrested by local police who believe it was a racially motivated attack since no cash or valuables were taken from the scene, according to local media.
Kang was on an exchange student program at a national college of education in Russia where 18 other South Koreans currently enroll, all of whom are scheduled to return home next week, media said.
Global Times