Anti-Korean sentiment

Anti-Korean sentiment involves hatred or dislike for Korean people, culture or either of the two states (North Korea/South Korea) on the Korean peninsula.

Origins

Anti-Korean sentiment is present, although not strong [zhhttp://news.cctv.com/world/20080902/100629.shtml 中国人“反韩情绪”是伪命题 CCTV.com 2008年09月02日] , in the People's Republic of China [ [http://news.wenweipo.com/2008/09/02/IN0809020039.htm 韓總統：必須明智解決中國反韓情緒- 香港文匯報] ] and Japan originating from issues such as nationalism.

History

Anti-Korean sentiment has only been a recent development, due to issues such as the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay, however some issues, such as the debate over Goguryeo, have historical roots. In Japan, modern dislike for Korea can be traced back to 2002 FIFA World Cup. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/international/asia/19comics.html?ei=5090&en=b0d32e601cb39284&ex=1290056400&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all Ugly Images of Asian Rivals Become Best Sellers in Japan, NYTIMES, November 19, 2005] ]

In China

Korea and China have historically maintained strong ties. [ zhhttp://www.cass.net.cn/file/20080909197045.html 推动“中韩战略合作伙伴关系”迈出坚定一步, 中国社会科学院院报, 2008-9-9] [zhhttp://realtime.zaobao.com/2007/04/070410_21.html 温家宝：巩固发展中韩关系是中国坚定方针, 联合早报网, 2007-04-10 --"...温家宝在出访前接受记者采访时说，中韩有着数千年的友好交往史。" "] As Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea became under Japanese influence. Chinese believe that Some ethnic Koreans were in the Imperial Japanese Army which invaded China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Additionally, some Koreans were involved into the operation of the Burma-Siam Death Railway [ [http://www.hellfirepass.com/historical_facts_hellfire_pass.html Historical Fact on the Burma Death Railroad Thailand Hellfire pass Prisoners conditions] ] [ [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070818w1.html Spared Korean war criminal pursues redress - The Japan Times Online] ] . However Most of Korean were stationed at rear service, They workforces to mines and construction sites around the island nation. [ [http://www1.korea-np.co.jp/pk/033rd_issue/98031103.htm Wartime Cabinet Document Discloses Conscription of Koreans in 1944] ]

At the end of World War II, North Korea, aligned with the Soviet bloc, became friendly with the People's Republic of China, while the PRC and Republic of Korea did not recognise each other. During the Korean War, when China was engaged in war with South Korea and its western allies, efforts through propaganda were placed to intimidate hatred against South Korea, named a "puppet state" of the United States at the time by the PRC government.

From 1992 onwards, after South Korea’s normalization of relations with China, relations with the People’s Republic of China gradually improved. Within the Chinese population, Korean art and culture became popular from 2000 onwards. Amid improvements in relations however, there were also looming anti-Korean sentiments involved in various disputes between the two countries.

Koreaphobia and Football

Koreaphobia commonly refers to the situation of the Chinese national football team, which has played about 30 matches against the South Korean team since 1978 but has never beaten them, despite finishing higher in a number of tournaments. This possibly lead to several violent outbreaks against Koreans in football games hosted in China, such as Olympic preliminary match in 1999, friendship match in 2001, and another Olympics preliminary match in 2004. [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=001&oid=002&aid=0000010475&] ]

In a Korea-China friendship football match held in Beijing, China, in 2000, South Korean spectators were violently beaten by Chinese spectators as the Chinese team lost. [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=104&oid=020&aid=0000020788] ] In 2004 during Athens Olympics football preliminaries match held in Changsha, China, the Chinese spectators violently responded as the Chinese team lost, resulting in injury of one of the Korean spectators. [ [http://www2.donga.com/fbin/output?f=C__&n=200405030113&df=7] ] [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=001&oid=002&aid=0000010475&] ]

2002 Korea-Japan Worldcup

In 2002 Korea-Japan Worldcup, Chinese media made numerous negative reports on Korea. [KBS Foreign Media Intelligence Report, August 2002] [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=110&oid=005&aid=0000108637] ] As the South Korean team progressed through the tournament, the Chinese media reported the South Korean team was winning because of unfair play and preferential treatment. When South Korea lost to Turkey in the third place match, one Chinese reporter reported, “Turkey made it certain that South Korea is a substandard football nation,” and continued on to deride the South Korean team as well as the Japanese team. The Chinese government may have been involved in the negative reports on South Korea during the World Cup. [KBS Foreign Media Intelligence Report, August 2002]

Anti-Korean sentiments were also apparent among ordinary Chinese in China. It has been reported ethnic Koreans in China were afraid of openly cheering for Korean teams due to hostilities from the local Chinese. [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=110&oid=005&aid=0000108637] ] It has also been reported South Koreans cheering for the South Korean team in Beijing has been booed at by the local Chinese. [KBS Foreign Media Intelligence Report, August 2002]

Cultural Claims

In 2005, anti-Korean sentiments in China became a major trend as China began disputing South Korea’s attempts to register Gangneung Danoje Festival as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. [ [http://article.joins.com/article/article.asp?Total_ID=3013615] ] [ [http://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=20080827031012] ] China claimed Gangneung Danoje Festival came from Chinese Dragonboat Festival, and pursued joint-registration of Gangneung Danoje Festival and Chinese Dragonboat Festival. [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=087&aid=0000047174] ] South Korea held its position that Gangneung Danoje Festival is a unique cultural tradition of Gangneung, Korea, completely different from the Chinese Dragonboat Festival, and ignored Chinese demands of joint-registration. Despite Chinese opposition, UNESCO has registered Gangneung Danoje Festival as an intangible cultural heritage. [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=001&oid=098&aid=0000091875&] ] Upon registration, the Chinese media began making accusations of South Korea stealing Chinese culture, and expressed regret and humiliation of losing Chinese Dragonboat Festival to South Korea. [ [http://www.donga.com/fbin/output?n=200605300131] ]

The UNESCO intangible heritage controversy was followed by a series of similar accusations from the Chinese media and the Chinese internet. In 2007, baseless reports from the Chinese media that South Korea is attempting to register Chinese characters at UNESCO has generated significant controversy. [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=104&oid=001&aid=0001857924] ] It has been reported that Park Jungsoo(박정수), a professor at Seoul National University Department of History, has concluded after 10 year research that Koreans invented Chinese characters, and has advised the South Korean government to register Chinese characters at UNESCO. Contrary to the reports in the Chinese media, it has been confirmed that there is no professor by the name of Park Jungsoo at Seoul National University. These false reports has also spread to Hong Kong media. A South Korean scholar said that while it is true that some scholars claim Chinese characters were developed by the Dongyi, this theory is not recognized by the mainstream, and these false reports only exacerbate relations between the two countries.

Influenced by these issues, South Korea was elected as the most hated country in an internet survey on Chinese netizens, according to chinese news 国际先驱导报 in 2007. [ [http://www.chosunonline.com/article/20071211000008 中国人は日本より韓国が嫌い＝中国紙 [Chinese hate Korea more than they hate Japan] Chosun Ilbo, 11th December 2007]

2007 Asian Winter Games

2007 Asian Winter Games held in Changchun, China has sparked disputes between South Korea and China as the host city began aggressively promoting Baektu Mountain, such as holding torch ceremony on its peak and depicting it as a Chinese mountain in the opening ceremony. [ [http://www.moneytoday.co.kr/view/mtview.php?type=1&no=2007020612133931587&outlink=1] ] [ [http://www.segye.com/Articles/News/Sports/Article.asp?aid=20070128000409&ctg1=01&ctg2=00&subctg1=01&subctg2=00&cid=0101110100000&dataid=200701282134000434] ] [ [http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/sports/200701/h2007012820422922980.htm] ] Baektu Mountain is a mountain along the border of North Korea and China, and it is a very sensitive issue to Koreans, as the sacred mountain is revered as the ancestral origin of the Korean people in Korean mythology. Provoked by aggressive promotion of Chinese claims to the mountain by the host city, a group of South Korean athletes held a political ceremony, holding out placards that said “Baektu Mountain is our land”. [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=001&oid=001&aid=0001535779&] This has sparked massive reprisals from the Chinese media and Chinese internet forums, including various personal attacks against the South Korean athletes.

2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Anti-Korean sentiments in China and anti-Chinese sentiments in Korea became more prominent as a result of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=001&oid=003&aid=0002249760&] ]

In the Seoul torch leg of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, South Koreans protested against China on the issue of Tibet and North Korean refugees. Several South Koreans, all North Korean refugees, made failed attempts to disrupt the torch relay. The protests ended up violent as Chinese supporters of the Beijing Olympics, mostly Chinese students, began using violence on South Korean protestors. [ [http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2008/04/29/2008042900094.html] ] Numerous projectiles were thrown towards the South Korean protestors, injuring one newspaper reporter. Chinese supporters of the Beijing Olympics also engaged in mob violence, notably in the lobby of Seoul Plaza Hotel, against South Korean protestors, Tibetans, western tourists, and police officers. [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=102&oid=001&aid=0002065296] ]

Further controversy was generated when SBS, a South Korean TV broadcast station, leaked footage of rehearsals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. [ [http://www.donga.com/fbin/output?n=200808010246] ] This incident has been widely reported in the Chinese media, and has become the impetus of anti-Korean sentiments during the Games.

Anti-Korean sentiments became more visible and became a major issue in Korea during the 2008 Beijing Olympics events. Throughout the events, the Chinese spectators often displayed hostility to the South Korean athletes, even during events where Japanese athletes are also competing. [ [http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=001&oid=001&aid=0002232603&] ] Hostile attitude of the Chinese spectators during the Beijing Olympics were widely reported in the South Korean media, and anti-Korean sentiments in China became a major issue, prompting reaction from governments of South Korea and China.

Causality

From a psychological perspective, Chinese are seen as assuming Koreans to be part of a sinocentric East Asian regional order. [cite journal
title = The Koguryo Controversy, National Identity, and Sino-Korean relations Today
last = Gries
first = Peter Hays] As a part of this group, Koreans are assumed to be inherently friendly to China. Chinese also emphasize hiraerchy within their sinocentric order, where China is at the top of the hiraerchy. In contrast, Koreans reject the sinocentric East Asian regional order and emphasize equality in diplomatic relations in East Asia. This rejection leads to conflict of existential identities, threatning the very meaning of being Korean and Chinese. Koreans and Chinese are seen as engaging in a relationship of negative interdependence, potentially comparable to Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

From a political perspective, improvement of South Korea-United States relations is seen as a cause for anti-Korean sentiments in China. [ [http://www.economy21.co.kr/magazine/txt.asp?news_id=60802&icon=21&part=naver] ] In 2008, there was a change of administration in South Korea, where conservative Grand National Party nominee Lee Myung-bak was elected as president. In contrast to previous two presidents, Lee Myung-bak engased in increasingly pro-US diplomacy. China has explicitly expressed opposition and discomfort to improving relations between South Korea and the United States several times, such as disparaging South Korea-United States military alliance as an obselete relic of the Cold War. [ [http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0000964735] ] Some analysts suggest that due to this turn in poliitics, China has intentionally turned a blind eye to anti-Korean sentiments in China in order to help it spread. [ [http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/international/china/306887.html] ] For example, China did not take any measures on false reports in the Chinese media that South Koreans are claiming Four Great Inventions of ancient China.

In the United States

The majority of resentment against Koreans in the United States and much of the western world is only in regards to North Korea, although there have also been minor historical incidents.

The Los Angeles riots of 1992 were partially based on Anti-Korean sentiment. The song by Ice Cube, Black Korea, accuses that Korean storeowners were charging additionally from African-American customers.

In Japan

Contemporary Issues

Nationalistic Chinese are known to post online blogs accusing Koreans of so-called "cultural plagarism". One issue is in regards to Korean history, where such blogs are against the idea of Hwanguk, a claim by Old Korean Book Hwandan Gogi that much of human civilisation originated from the Korean peninsula.

Japanese media TBS accuse Koreans of a "copy-culture" [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAVeFCVevM8] ] , such as the dispute between K-pop singer Ivy and Squaresoft over a music video which resembled scenes from , and the design of the Yakult bottle used in Korean products.

Derogatory terms

There are a variety of derogatory terms referring to Korea. Many of these terms are viewed as racist. However, these terms do not necessarily refer to the Korean people as a whole; they can also refer to specific policies, or specific time periods in history.

In Chinese

*高丽棒子 (gāo lì bàng zǐ) - Derogatory term used against all ethnic Koreans. 高丽 (Traditional:高麗) refers to Ancient Korea (Koryo), while 棒子 means "club" or "corncob", referring to how Koreans would fit into trousers of the Ancient Koryo design. Sometimes 韓棒子 (hán bàng zǐ, "韓" referring to South Korea) is also used. [http://japanese.joins.com/article/article.php?aid=103975&servcode=100&sectcode=120&p_no=&comment_gr=article_103975&pn=7&o=r 【噴水台】高麗棒] 2008.08.28JoongAng Ilbo(Japanese)] [http://chinese.joins.com/gb/article.do?method=detail&art_id=4742 韩国中央日报：高丽棒] 2008.08.28 JoongAng Ilbo(Chinese)] Additionally, 死棒子 (sǐ bàng zǐ), Literally "dead corncob", is used.
*二鬼子 (èr guǐ zǐ) - A disparaging designation of puppet armies and traitors during the Anti-Japanese War of China. [ [http://www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E4%BA%8C%E9%AC%BC%E5%AD%90/99788?query=during&internal=true Comprehensive Chinese-English Dictionary] ] [ [http://us.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdqchi=%E4%BA%8C%E9%AC%BC%E5%AD%90&wdrst=0&wdqchim=3&wddmtm=1 mdbg Chinese English Dictionary] ] Japanese were known as "鬼子" (devils), and the 二鬼子 literally means "second devils". During World War II, some Koreans were involved in Imperial Japanese Army, and so 二鬼子 refers to hanjian and ethnic Koreans. [http://japanese.joins.com/article/article.php?aid=103975&servcode=100&sectcode=120&p_no=&comment_gr=article_103975&pn=7&o=r 【噴水台】高麗棒] 2008.08.28JoongAng Ilbo(Japanese)] [http://chinese.joins.com/gb/article.do?method=detail&art_id=4742 韩国中央日报：高丽棒] 2008.08.28 JoongAng Ilbo] The definition of 二鬼子 has changed throughout timeOr|date=September 2008, with modern slang usage entirely different from its original meaning during World War II and the subsequent Chinese civil war.Fact|date=September 2008

In Japanese

*三国人 (sangokujin) - Derogatory term referring to colonial nationals of Taiwan, Korea and China. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara famously referred to Chinese and Koreans as 三国人 sangokujin in context of foreigners being a potential source of unrest in the aftermath of an earthquake.
*朝鮮人 (chōsenjin) - Literally "(North) Korean person". Typically in East Asian countries which use Hanzi script, "朝鮮" refers to North Korea, while "韩国" refers to South Korea. Japanese use this word against South Koreans in a negative manner. The word, however, is also used when they mean both of South Koreans and North Koreans in a neutral manner.

See also

*Liancourt Rocks
*Paektusan
*2002 FIFA World Cup
*Anti-Japanese sentiment
*Sinophobia
*Chosen Army of Japan
*Goguryeo controversies
*People's Republic of China–South Korea relations
*Sino-Japanese Relations
*Manga Kenkanryu
*2006 North Korean missile test

References