Did South Korean police use ‘excessive force’ to subdue a Vietnamese man holding a knife?
- CCTV footage showed officers kicking, tasering and kneeling on a man named Nguyen, 22, who told them he was going to see his girlfriend who needed a kitchen knife to chop duck meat
- The incident in Gwangju city sparked online debates on whether police had used excessive force against a suspect who was not resisting arrest
A video of South Korean police brutally subduing a young Vietnamese walking down an alley holding a kitchen knife has sparked controversy over human rights abuse.
The Vietnamese, identified by his surname Nguyen, 22, was deported to his home country on Wednesday after it was revealed that he had been working illegally since 2019 in the southern city of Gwangju.
Surveillance camera footage showed the man holding a knife while speaking on the phone. A baton-wielding policeman then approached and gestured toward him, before knocking the knife out of his hand.
A second officer promptly picked up the knife and the man meekly squatted down, but a third policeman fired a stun gun, causing the Vietnamese to collapse on the pavement.
Then one of the policemen kicked him, knelt down on his back and handcuffed him.
The incident, which happened on June 29 in Gwangju, made national news headlines, sparking online debates if police had used excessive force against a suspect who was not resisting arrest.
“The Vietnamese seemed to be at a loss, and apparently did not understand it’s wrong to carry a knife in the street. But the police did not do anything wrong either!” said an online post written by internet user Park Won-hee.
