The Australian Embassy in Seoul has expressed regret over a recent string of assaults on South Korean nationals working or studying in the country, stressing its “zero-tolerance” for racism.

As these crimes occurred over recent months, the Korean media raised racism-related concerns about the country, which is one of the top study-abroad destinations for Korean students.

“Regrettably, crimes occur in Australia as they do in all countries, and it is important to be very careful in reaching conclusions that there is a racial element to crimes,” the embassy said in a press release on Tuesday.

A 33-year-old Korean, identified only by his surname Kim, was attacked on Oct. 13 by four to five people near his residence in Sydney, according to Kim and Australian police.

This is the second case of violence on a Korean reported in Australia in less than two months. A Korean student surnamed Chang was attacked on Sept. 27 in a park near his school in Melbourne by more than 10 local teenagers.

In 2012, over 447,000 international students were studying in Australia. Over 23,000 of these were from South Korea, the embassy said.

(sshluck@heraldcorp.com)