A Korean man protesting at the infamous Yasukuni Shrine was assaulted by a group of Japanese men on August 15, the 67th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.

The incident was brought to light by South Korean news source Yonhap News Agency on August 17.

At around 14:20, the man appeared outside the Yasukuni Shrine, a source of contention between the two countries for its enshrinement of Japanese war criminals, to protest the Japanese government’s refusal to accept responsibility over the “comfort women” issue.

Japanese police arrived to arrest the man about 10 minutes later. However, as the police were escorting him away from the Tokyo shrine, a group of 5-6 Japanese men, said to be right-wing extremists, approached him and began punching him in the face and kicking his legs while yelling racist remarks.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency after the incident, the man claims that the police made only a passive effort to stop the violence.

“As a South Korean national, I wanted to raise awareness of the false perception of historical events. I didn’t think the mood in Japan was this bad,” he spoke.

There’s no mistaking that.

News of the incident was also reported on the Japanese version of the Korea Joongang Daily website, which allows readers to rate what they thought of the article from a few simple selections. For this particular article, 317 Japanese readers found the article “interesting” and 314 said it “made them feel better,” while only 35 readers found it “sad” and 39 reported it “made them feel angry.”

We know the internet isn’t occupied by the most sufferable group of people, but whatever your stance on any dispute is, there is no justification for affirming an act of violence on an innocent human being.

Source: Korea Joongang Daily