'Crazy world out there': Singaporean woman gets punched repeatedly by stranger in Seoul

[UPDATE Jan 16]

The man who attacked Ng in Seoul has been found by the police, Shin Min Daily News reported.

"The police told me the suspect has autism and his brother helped to restrain him during the attack," Ng told the Chinese evening daily.

With the prosecutors looking into the case, the woman said that she will not take further action.

"Unless the other party wants to settle the matter privately, I'd leave it in the authorities' hands."

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South Korea is a dream destination for many Singaporeans, but never be lulled into a false sense of security.

A Singaporean woman studying in Seoul was made aware of this after she was blindsided by a sudden attack by a man on the streets of Seoul - in broad daylight, no less, she shared in a post to subreddit SingaporeRaw last Saturday (Jan 13).

The victim, Ng, 24, shared that she's been in South Korea for the last four years to pursue undergraduate studies and will be graduating next month.

She was crossing a street near her apartment in Hwigyeong-dong last Friday at around 4.15pm when she saw a young man standing across the street.

"I didn't really notice if he was looking at me already since I wasn't paying much attention to him and just minding my own business. 

"As I reached the other end, the guy punched me in the face," Ng recalled.

She had never seen the man before prior to this incident and didn't hear anything during the attack.

She said: "It happened and ended so fast it almost doesn't feel real… he literally had no reason to do this."

According to her, the man struck her about five times before someone else peeled him off her, allowing her to flee "in shock and fear" with minimal injuries.

However, her mental state suffered a blow and she flinches at every similar-aged male that she made eye contact with on the street afterwards, fearing she would be hit again, she said in her post.

I’m a Singaporean student who was attacked on the streets of Seoul yesterday by a stranger.
byu/chasingcorgis inSingaporeRaw

Police report lodged, but results unclear

Speaking with AsiaOne, Ng shared that she started crying while she made her escape, calling a friend who lives nearby.

Her friend made her way down within 15 minutes, calming Ng down and urging her to lodge a report with the police, she said.

She did, and four officers arrived - however, they weren't able to make significant progress on the case as there were no cameras that might have caught the incident, she stated.

There was no attempt to retrieve surrounding car dashcam footage, she believed, guessing that it was because she "no longer seemed in distress or tears".

"Or it could have been because I was a foreigner. I won't jump to conclusions, but I also won't rule it out because I have heard from the foreign community that many of their similar experiences were not handled appropriately."

Ng also said that the man was dressed in black and looked like a "typical Korean guy in his late teens or early 20s", slightly younger than her and about 1.74m tall.

This terrifying encounter hasn't changed her perspective of South Korea much, however.

"I've heard similar accounts and am aware that such cases of random assaults have been increasing in Korea so this was not unheard of," she explained.

"I am just surprised it happened to me like that so sudden in broad daylight… I've always known that in Korea females have been prone to being victims of violence, provoked or not."

'Wipe your f***ing tears, you've got no time to waste'

On Reddit, Ng also took the opportunity to share some of her retrospective advice for dealing with situations like this.

Firstly, if you're attacked, you should scream to draw attention to yourself, so others may stop and look and "be a witness".

Next, if there are witnesses, she advised that victims should "grab hold of them and ask that they stay", at least until officers arrive.

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"Remember the assailant's outer appearance," she also stated. 

"I know it sounds like a given, but when your brain goes into shock it kind of stops working and you don't think about anything except how to escape the situation and remove yourself from the perpetrator."

Police should also be contacted immediately as soon as you are safe, she stated, adding: "Wipe your f***ing tears, you've got no time to waste."

Lastly, whether or not you've gotten injured, get yourself checked out at a hospital to leave a medical record.

"Even if there's nothing visible, go. You're not trying to treat something broken, but to check if anything is."

In closing, she added that an attack like this "can happen to anyone" and urged victims to remain as calm and rational as possible.

She has also contacted the Singapore Embassy and her university in Seoul.

"Stay safe people," she added. "Crazy world out there."

AsiaOne has contacted the Singapore Embassy in Seoul for more information.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com