Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated Friday by a lone gunman in the city of Nara.
The reaction from the South Korean public has been mainly that of glee.
Under the title "Abe's death is pitiful", a photo of toasting circulated widely for days. (A colloquial expression in Korean for "pitiful"—jjanhada 짠하다—can also mean clinking glasses). Breaking reports on social media about his death were overwhelmingly liked and comment sections inundated with thumbs-up emoticons and laughing memes. Some even suggested "scouting" the assassin, a 41-year-old former Japanese soldier, as though he were a hero.