Is South Korea Racist Against Nigerians?

Are the South Korean authorities racist towards Nigerians?

South Korea’s human rights watchdog said on Tuesday that police and prosecutors were recently cautioned for denying the rights of a Nigerian man to self-defence after detaining him for 12 days without contacting his embassy.

According to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK), police and prosecutors ignored the Nigerian’s multiple requests to contact the Nigerian Embassy.

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Police arrested the man, who was on the wanted list, on a theft charge in November last year. He denied the charge and asked police officers to contact the Nigerian Embassy, but they refused his request.

Police and prosecutors reportedly shifted responsibility onto each other, with police saying they were only in charge of the initial investigation and prosecutors saying the police should have contacted the embassy.

“The man’s rights to self-defense was violated as police and prosecutors refused his request to contact his embassy when arresting and detaining him,” said a watchdog official.

Police and prosecutors are required to allow foreign suspects to freely contact their embassies in South Korea for their self-defense. The law enforcement agencies should notify the embassies of suspects’ status as well.

The NHRCK said it had imposed a recommendation for prosecutors and advised police to offer proper job training for officers to cope with such a situation.

The man was eventually set free after he was found not guilty and falsely accused, as a fellow Nigerian national had given the man’s name and foreign registration number to avoid arrest when he had been caught stealing items.

“The Nigerian was framed, but the arrest and detention were carried out in accordance with the law, so there is no problem in the law enforcement,” the NHRCK official said.

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This isn’t the first time the South Korean authorities have been mired in racism accusations.

The front runner in the country’s upcoming presidential elections in 2017 and leader of the conservative Saenuri party Kim Moo-sung was accused of being a racist after comparing the colour of a Nigerian student’s skin to coal.

“Your face colour is the same as the briquettes’ colour,” the 64-year-old said to a Nigerian student while laughing.

He made the remark while delivering coal briquettes to poor families in Seoul, South Korea’s capital, however the student in question said he did not take offence.

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