Seoul, Sept. 15 (PTI): A South Korean man has been indicted for racially abusing an Indian professor whom he called “smelly” and “dirty” while they were travelling in a public bus in July.

Bonojit Hussain, 28, who has been researching on racism in Asian society, decided to take action against the South Korean, identified only by his last name Park, by filing a racial discrimination suit.

However, Hussain found that there was no explicit law against racial discrimination in South Korea and thus the charge could not be applied.

“My goal was not to punish an individual but to bring the issue to the public forum,” Hussain said.

Hussain, who came to South Korea in early 2007 as a graduate, filed a petition with South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission, claiming that police officers showed a discriminatory attitude.

“Without proper law, foreigners don’t have many options but to put up with such situations,” he said.