An Auckland man who had his friend visiting from Korea found himself the victim of a disgusting racist attack while on the train to explore Tāmaki Makaurau.
Leonard Hong was on his way to visit the Sky Tower on Sunday with his friend who had freshly touched down in Aotearoa, excited to show off what his city had to offer.
Hong told Newshub he and his friend were speaking Korean while on the Western train line to Swanson when an "old white guy" began a 10-minute-long racist tirade.
"I hear this guy murmuring, 'oh I've seen this kind before', - you know, 'dog eaters' and all that. It was just horrible."
He said the man was comfortable continuing the shocking outburst in front of other passengers on board.
"I think he presumed I didn't speak English, and he started to go on this racist tirade of abuse at me," Hong said.
Hong, a "Korean Kiwi lad" who grew up on Auckland's North Shore, said he shared his experience on Twitter to not only highlight the racist undercurrent still alive in Aotearoa but to commend the Auckland Transport staff on their swift action.
"I told one of the staff members and she promptly stopped the train, confronted the abuser, and forced him to apologise to me," he said.
Hong said staff were "tremendous" and that his fellow passengers backed him too.
"The people who were around me were not only supporting me but making sure that this sort of thing is not tolerated - that's the thing that I'm happy about."
Hong told Newshub that when he sees these racist attacks from time to time it "hurts a lot".
"It is ridiculous that this kind of thing is still happening in the 21st century," he said.
He said while shaken, the day got better and he and his friend shared Vietnamese food that night.
"The day wasn't ruined completely, but that 10 minutes was horrible."
Newshub has approached Auckland Transport for comment.
