Two arrested in stabbing of South Korean student in Moscow

Maybe the prospect of South Korean students and tourists leaving Russia en masse — and taking their KRW with them — has gotten the attention of Russian authorities: Moscow's ambassador to Seoul has expressed condolences for the attacks (and good on him for that) and Russian law enforcement have caught two suspects:

The Foreign Ministry yesterday said Russian authorities have arrested two suspects in Sunday’s stabbing of a Korean student in Moscow.

The ministry also summoned Konstantin Vnukov, the Russian ambassador to Korea, to express Seoul’s concerns over the recent attacks against Koreans in Russia.

The Korean student, Shim, remained in critical but stable condition yesterday after being stabbed in the neck by a masked assailant, as another masked man stood by. In mid-February, another young Korean man died after being attacked by three youths.

In his meeting with First Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo, Vnukov said two suspects are being questioned, a senior ministry official said.

Vnukov, who sent condolences to the families of the Korean men, said Russian authorities told him the attacks might not have specifically targeted Koreans.

An attack on the South Korean student could be racially motivated, it could be a case of assuming an Asian tourist had some money to steal and would be an easy target, or it could just be yet another case of violence in today's Russia — the same kind of violence where Whites are also victims. Of course, none of that makes me feel any better.

There's a country that really needs to get its act together, but from the outside it seems to be trying to solve the problems of alcoholism, violence, drug addiction, gangs, corruption, organized crime, decreasing life expectancy, etc., with nationalism and slogans. At least use nationalism and slogans for good, like South Korea did!