Hello guys,

I am a German girl living in Busan at the moment for an exchange semester. Today I had a horrible experience on the subway. I was just going to get out when a woman started to pull my hair, that strong, that my skin still hurts. I think I was lucky that she grabbed to much hair at once, otherwise she would have pulled out a bunch. She was shouting something in Korean but I had my earphones in and couldn't understand it (maybe I wouldnt have eiter way cause my Korean is not that good yet). I had a huge shock and when she wanted to get to me again I run away. Needless to say that this was horrible and I still feel really bad.

Now I am wondering what I should do. In Germany I would have headed to police right away, but here I am just not sure if they would do anything about it. I think she maybe had some mental problems and was probably very racist, as I noticed her looking at me right away when she entered the subway (I wasn't worried then because many people do it, I am white and have light blond hair, which stands out a lot). As I study psychology I'm trying to understand her reasoning and I am already starting to feel guilty myself (I was wearing a shoulder free top and I know some elderly people really dont like that), but I also feel like her behaviour shouldnt be left unpuniched or at least take her to the mental help she needs.

Maybe you guys have some experience with that (even if I truly hope not in that way) and tell me what you did or would do. With this post I don't want to spark any hate towards Korean elders, on the same day there were two very sweet elderly women in the bus telling me how pretty I am. I hope this is going to stay a one time situation, I am already feeling some fear when thinking about going on the subway by myself again, but I will try to fight that.

Thank you for reading 🫰🏻

Edit: Thank you to all of you finding kind words of advise, that really helped.

Because I had a huge panic attack as soon as I got out of the subway it didn't come to my mind to find security in the subway station (I was also very scared to go downstairs again). I actually went to the police station in Hadan but it was closed (maybe because of the public holiday) and couldnt find another one. After I didnt have enough energy to go somewhere else.

But I have an appointment with my coordinator tomorrow and will tell him everything and hope he or someone he recommends can go with me to a police station. Its not like I want to get any money from that, I dont really mind about such things, but I think I will feel bad about leaving it just like that.

Update: I spoke to my coordinator and he was very kind and understanding. He told a Korean girl that speaks English aswell from the Buddy program of our university to join my when going to police this evening.

Update 2: I went to the police with my Korean speaking buddy in the evening. Luckily the officers were very kind and didn't question anything I said. My buddy was a good translator and I felt like being taken seriously. They will call me as soon as they find out something. Even if they can't find her or she really just has mental problems I am really happy that I did that. I feel a bit justified now and not as helpless like yesterday. I don't think I will make another update after this post, so thanks again to all of you trying to help. I wasn't expecting so much kindness 🫰🏻