If I may, I came across a Time article that says Mr. Obara is Japanese and says nothing about a Korean ethnicity.  To back this up, I found a couple other articles [http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/a-tale-of-rape-murder-and-a-japanese-playboy/2007/04/20/1176697090797.html} that he is of Japanese descent and say nothing of a Korean descent as well.  Perhaps until this can be confirmed one way or another, the article could read "of Eastern Asian descent". -  (Yell | Toil)