Park Joon-hyung speaks up on racism, attempted theft in Belgium

Singer Park Joon-hyung expressed on Sunday his feelings on experiencing what seemed to be racial discrimination and attempted pickpocketing in Brussels, Belgium.

Park is currently starring in “Looking For Trouble,” a travel reality show where celebrities pay their way by selling odd items to locals.

The cast traveled to Brussels in last Thursday’s episode. Park is seen approached by three passersby on the street, who at first greet the singer with a friendly “Hey, what’s up man!”

They then surround Park, grabbing his backpack, attempting to loosen his watch and making physical contact. In dialogue that has been censored, the passersby hurl racial slurs to Park, who becomes increasingly agitated. 

“Basically this was a situation nobody was ready or accounted for,” Park posted on Instagram Sunday along with a clip of the scene at issue.

“It was late at night and we were all very tired from the long flight,” Park explained. The cast had been walking to the next location “with blank minds” when the incident occurred, Park wrote.

Park had first “thought it was a joke” before realizing that “it was a real situation” and the men were trying to steal from him.

His first thought had been to “get these crazy guys as far away from the rest of the cast and crew as possible.” Security was called before the situation exacerbated, he said.

“Basically in whatever country you go to there will be good people and bad,” Park wrote. 

“I experienced racial discrimination for the first time in a long time in an unfamiliar place,” Park had said in the press conference for the show on Sept. 13. “It almost felt like the US in the 1970s and 1980s.”

The show airs on JTBC at 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays.

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)