Public Assault

[Anchor Lead]

Police have apprehended an intoxicated Japanese national who caused a commotion at Gimpo International Airport by shouting out offending words about Koreans and hitting airport staff who tried to stop his disrupting behavior. The man turned out to work for the Japanese government.

[Pkg]

A man sitting in front of a boarding gate at Gimpo Airport all of a sudden throws something at the airline staff.

[Soundbite] (Japanese passenger) : "I hate Koreans. I hate Koreans!"

When the worker picks up the thrown object and brings it back to him the man begins to kick him and eventually hits him.

[Soundbite] (Japanese passenger) : "I am not drunk. I’m very angry!"

The commotion ended only after the airport staff and other passengers stepped in. The incident happened last Tuesday at Gimpo Airport when the drunken Japanese passenger who was traveling to Haneda Airport on Korean Air flight assaulted the airport staff. He turned out to be a high-ranking public official working for the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Kyodo News reported that the man's name is Kosuke Takeda. The news agency added that the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Takeda was in Korea on a personal trip when he got involved in a violent incident at Gimpo Airport by shouting derogative remarks about Koreans and assaulting an airport worker. The ministry said it has dismissed the man in question and will send a senior official to Korea to investigate the matter.