I surfed over to the Korean Beat today and saw an interesting article about an American who was injured, recently, at one of the many beef protests. Apparently he had went to view the protests, climbed atop a vehicle to get a better view, and was hit in the face by one of the riot police.

A report gives details about what happened here:

The “People’s Association for Measures Against Mad Cow Disease” (광우병 국민대책회의) announced on the 30th that a 25-year old US citizen was assaulted by police during a candlelight vigil on the early morning of the 29th.

Lim Tae-un, head of human rights and first aid for the Comittee, appeared on the MBC radio program “손석희의 시선집중” and said, “an American who came by himself to the vigil was hit by a riot police shield and hurt his arm.”

The American was treated at Inje University Paik Hospital in Seoul and released. A source at the hospital said that his mouth area was injured.

A citizen who was there at the time said, “the foreigner was on top of a car trying to get a better view when he was hit in the face by the shield… other people there were hit multiple times but fortunately he was only hit once.”

On hearing of this, netizens were angered. “I’m really thankful to this foreigner for coming to the vigil not even in his home country.” “Let’s get America to protest to our government.”

Fierce clashes between protestors and police left over 200 injured on the 28th and 29th.

I don’t feel sorry for this guy, despite the fact that he is an American citizen. He should not have been in such a dangerous area in the first place. With the escalating violence and lawlessness in the downtown area, who can really blame the police for attacking someone who was climbing on top of a car?

Despite this, I would take everything the report claims with a grain of salt. It was disseminated through the Korean media first and foremost, and as the Korea Beat points out, there is no official statement from the American involved either.