South Korea warns citizens in UK to be vigilant after surge in hate crimes and vicious glassing of student

South Korea has issued a warning to its citizens in the UK following a significant rise in hate crime and a vicious attack on a student.

The Republic of South Korea has warned its people to be vigilant following the vicious assault of a 20-year-old South Korean man.

The student at the University of Sussex was smashed in the face with a wine bottle. Two people have been arrested. It comes after national figures showed a rise in racist attacks.

The assault took place just two days before the Home Office announced the number of hate crimes in England and Wales had risen by 29 per cent in the last year, the largest increase since records began in 2011.

Yshung Kim suffered significant facial injuries, including broken teeth, in the attack, which took place at 10.30pm on Sunday.

The Embassy's statement stated they had: "received reports of racial assaults on Korean people [in the UK]" and advised South Korean nationals to contact the Embassy in the event of an incident.

Mr Kim was admitted to hospital shortly after the assault on Sunday. According to a Facebook post by Kim's friend, Minsu Jo, when asked why he hit him with the bottle, the man responded: "Because you are f****** Asian."

A fundraising campaign set up to pay for Mr Kim's dental work reached its £1,000 target on Thursday.

Recent Home Office stats show hate crimes jumped by 44 per cent in the month following the EU referendum. Spikes have also been recorded following recent terror attacks at the Manchester Arena and Westminster Bridge.

Data from police forces across England and Wales showed there were almost 80,400 hate crimes in the 2016-17 financial year, compared with around 62,500 in 2015-16. The vast majority (78 per cent) were race-related.

Hate crimes based on sexual orientation accounted for 11 per cent of all attacks, religion for seven per cent, disability for another seven per cent, and transgender for two per cent.

A video of the incident, below, shows two men shouting at Mr Kim before one of them hits him with the bottle. Readers are warned the video contains graphic imagery and explicit language.

A 17-year-old boy, from Burgess Hill, has been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated harassment, and a 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of committing grievous bodily harm with intent.

A spokesman for the Embassy said: "We did not mean to cause alarm or deter any Koreans from visiting or coming to live in the UK.

We simply want to encourage our citizens to be cautious and act diligently in the face of a rising number of racially-motivated attacks."

The Standard has approached the Home Office for comment.