Human rights activists helping Indian who was victim of racial discrimination

The Korea Times brings us the story of Bonojit Hussain, an Indian research professor at Sungkonghoe University. While riding a bus with a Korean female friend, he and his friend were continually harassed by a Korean man, Park, who said things like, ““What a disgusting odor! You’re dirty. … You must be an Arab. It’s dirty. F*** you! … You Arab, you Arab. … Are you Korean? Are you happy to date with a black man?”
They asked the driver to stop, and then they took Park to a police station. The police wanted them to apologize to each other, but Hussain would have none of that because he did nothing wrong. So he has filed suit, and human rights activists and NGOs are investigating.

“It was not my first time to be subject to racial abuse. I have had many similar experiences. But this time was serious,” he said.

[ snip ]

Hussain said, “Any behavior and language looking down on foreigners constitutes racial discrimination originating from an imperialist point of view, which should be eliminated.”

He urged the government to pay keen attention to the issue, as South Korea has been rapidly transforming itself into a multi-racial society.

His use of the word “imperialist” is interesting because Koreans would never, ever, think of themselves as behaving like imperialists. And being from India, Hussain would know what imperialists are like.

Keep it in your pants until the divorce is final

A man and his lover have received jail sentences of four months for having sexual relations during the man’s divorce proceedings. (In Korea, adultery is a crime.)

“The suspension period is regarded as part of their marriage, meaning Kim’s sexual relations during that period constitutes adultery,” the court said.

In South Korea, adulterous relations are considered a criminal act and those found guilty can receive jail sentences of up to two years.

Marrying a Korean might soon require criminal background check & medical exam

Thinking about marrying a Korean? In the near future, that might require a criminal background check and medical exam.

Supreme Court grants terminally ill patient the right to die

The Korea Herald and Korea Times report that the Supreme Court has granted a terminally ill patient the right to die. Previous actions had made it clear that she would not have wanted to be kept artificially alive if she were in a vegetative state. Her children had previously made requests to remove life support in lower courts, and won. Now the Supreme Court has joined them, but added that only under “limited circumstances” would it grant this right.

The top court ruled in favor of a comatose patient’s family who last year filed a suit requesting the Yonsei Severance Hospital to remove the life support machines.

“A patient may be considered to be in his or her dying phase, when it is circumstantially evident that he or she may end up dying in a very short time,” said Chief Justice Lee Yong-hoon in the verdict. “In such cases, the continuance of the painful and insignificant cure may result in violating the patient’s basic human dignity.”

The patient, surnamed Kim, fell comatose last February due to brain damage caused during a medical examination. Her children asked for the removal of life support, claiming that their mother was unwilling to be kept artificially alive.

Upon the hospital’s refusal, they filed a suit and won in both the lower court and appeal court last November and this February respectively.

The patient had refused, years ago, surgery that might have prolonged the life of her deceased husband, and had always made it clear that she too wished a natural death, said both courts in their original rulings.

Edit/Update:

According to this article, DNR (“Do Not Resuscitate”) documents are not legally binding, but this ruling will probably make them more respected by the hospitals, since Yonsei Severance Hospital is so well-respected in Korea. Seoul National University Hospital, another very prestigious hospital, has decided to accept DNR documents from patients suffering from terminal stage cancer.