Gaming journalist heroically stops attacker, but may never fully recover from slashing

An editor at a South Korean gaming site called Daily Game was near a subway station in Seoul on Friday night when he heard a scream. He moved toward the noise and found a man assaulting a woman, ran to stop him, and was met with a knife.

The attacker allegedly slashed Daily Game editor Gyung Bae Kwak's right arm, severing an artery and six nerves, Kotaku reported today via a tipster's translation of stories from MoneyS and Hani. Despite the injury, Kwak managed to hold the attacker down until police arrived.

Kwak was taken to a hospital where he underwent seven hours of surgery. He will need two years of physical therapy but still may never regain the full function of his arm.

According to reports, the attacker was beating the woman just after assaulting one other person.

"If I let him just run away, I thought he could beat up other helpless people so I chased him," Kwak told MoneyS, Kotaku reported.

Because the alleged attacker was homeless and did not have money, Kwak had no assistance with his medical bills. According to Kotaku, Kwak will have to wait to get reimbursed by the South Korean government.

After Kwak's story spread around South Korea, though, the NCSoft Cultural Foundation announced that it would be paying for all of the Daily Game editor's treatments, Chosun reported. On top of that, Hani reported that LG donated ₩50 million (about $43,000) to Kwak along with giving him LG's Righteous Person Award.