The Washington Post - USA (2022-02-20)

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A23

“We have to wake up to the fact

that the cultural and people-to-

people exchanges between China

and Korea have far lagged behind

our close economic ties, which

indirectly hampered the

strengthening of political mutual

trust,” Yang wrote.

Chinese commentators have

responded fiercely to the South

Korean attacks. Nationalists have

countered that it’s the Koreans

who have been appropriating

China’s culture for centuries.

They resuscitated an older nick-

name for South Korea, “thief

country,” claiming that the han-

bok is essentially the Chinese

qipao, also known as the cheong-

sam. Others complained about

Koreans they had encountered in

China, criticizing them as loud

and unruly. One user asked, “A re

Koreans human?”

The Chinese Embassy in South

Korea said that the performer

was wearing the hanbok to repre-

sent China’s Korean minority and

that China respects Korean his-

tory and culture. About 2 million

ethnic Koreans live in northeast

China.

It was the disqualification of

South Korean short-track speed-

skaters Hwang Dae-heon and Lee

June-seo that particularly struck

a chord in the country, where the

sport is extremely popular. On

Feb. 7, the two were penalized for

illegal contact in the semifinals of

the men’s 1,000-meter race. Chi-

nese skaters eventually took the

gold and silver medals in the

finals.

The penalty against the two

skaters, especially world record

holder Hwang, led Koreans to

allege that there was unfair offici-

ating in favor of the host nation.

The South Korean delegation to

the Beijing Games lodged an ap-

peal to the International Skating

Union and International Olympic

Committee. South Korea’s local

media also reacted angrily to the

decision, and a crude insult

against Chinese people was

trending on Twitter.

Later that day, a Chinese stu-

dent in the South Korean city of

Busan was attacked by two Ko-

rean men, according to local news

reports. The Busan police said the

attack had no apparent connec-

tion to the Olympics controversy,

but Beijing’s Foreign Ministry

said it was “paying great atten-

tion to the matter.”

The animosity had reached

such a level that when, two days

later, South Korean skater Cha

Min-kyu reached down to dust

the podium with a hand before

standing on it to receive his silver

medal, his action was immedi-

ately slammed by Chinese com-

mentators as a gesture of disre-

spect in protest of the race re-

sults.

In response to the consecutive

points of friction, Trigger Trend, a

Chinese blog for social and eco-

nomic analysis, accused Korean

media of bias, Korean netizens of

vulgarity and the Korean public

generally of being oversensitive,

with “glass hearts.”

“It can be said that the attitude

of South Korean politics towards

China has never been so harsh as

it is now,” the article said.

“The disharmony between Chi-

na and South Korea during the

Winter Olympics is no accident,”

it said. “We can conclude that this

is just the beginning.”

Kuo reported from Taipei. Michelle Ye

Hee Lee in Tokyo and Lyric Li in Seoul

contributed to this report.

LIM HWA-YOUNG/YONHAP/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Chinese performer clad in a traditional Korean dress called a “hanbok” waves during the Opening Ceremonies of the 2022 Winter

Olympics in Beijing on Feb. 4, after which one South Korean presidential candidate warned China not to “covet the culture.”

DAVID J. PHILLIP/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea, racing in his quarterfinal of the

men’s 1,000 meters, and compatriot skater Lee June-seo were

disqualified, causing o utrage on s ocial media among fans at home.

BY MIN JOO KIM

AND LILY KUO

SEOUL — Allegations of cultural
appropriation and unfair officiat-
ing at the Beijing Winter Olym-
pics have stoked anger among
South Koreans toward China,
turning what should be a global
celebration of athleticism into yet
another flash point between two
neighbors with a history of cul-
tural and political tensions.
The controversies began dur-
ing the Opening Ceremonies,
when a Chinese performer wore
Korea’s traditional attire, the
“hanbok” — reviving a long-run-
ning online dispute over the prov-
enance of certain cultural items
found in both countries, includ-
ing kimchi, a staple Korean dish

made of fermented cabbage.
Then, two South Korean speed-
skaters were disqualified in a
competition that Chinese ath-
letes eventually won. Protesters
rallied in Seoul, tearing up Chi-
nese flags by hand. Even fans of
the K-pop superstar band BTS
rallied in defense of the skaters.
Chinese commentators respond-
ed by criticizing South Korean
athletes and journalists as
“shameless.”
The Olympics have become a
new focus for mounting anti-Chi-
na sentiment in South Korea,
particularly among the younger
Koreans leading the online at-
tacks. The controversies have
even spilled into the political
arena, with presidential candi-
dates chiming in on the anti-Chi-
na discourse to appeal to the
youth swing vote — complicating
the future of diplomatic and eco-
nomic ties between the two na-
tions.
“Young and liberal South Ko-
reans see China as an unfair
player in the global arena, based
on what they have seen about
Beijing’s c rackdown on free press,
social activism and democracy
protests in Hong Kong,” said Ha
Nam-seok, a professor of Chinese
language and culture at the Uni-
versity of Seoul.
He said the new wave of ani-

mosity against China among

young Koreans is distinct from

the anti-communist sentiments

of older South Koreans dating to

the Cold War era. Young Koreans

have been angered by the appar-

ent violation of “fairness,” a core

value to those who live amid the

harsh competition of capitalist

and democratic South Korea, ex-

perts say.

These perceptions of unfair-

ness have been building since

2017, when South Korea suffered

an unofficial economic retalia-

tion from China after Seoul em-

braced a plan to deploy the U.S.

antimissile system known as Te r-

minal High-Altitude Area De-

fense, or THAAD. South Korean

companies with a Chinese pres-

ence faced boycotts, package trips

from China to South Korea were

suspended, and K-pop singers

disappeared from Chinese televi-

sion.

A survey late last year of some

1,000 South Koreans found that

China was seen as the most

threatening country, with 72 per-

cent of the respondents pointing

to their Asian neighbor as “the

biggest threat.” In an analysis of

the survey, S eoul’s K orea Institute

for National Unification cited

“China’s coercive and disrespect-

ful attitude towards neighboring

countries” as the reason for the

negative views.

The latest spat also happens to

be taking place during election

season. After a Chinese perform-

er was seen in a hanbok at the

Olympics, the South Korean gov-

erning party’s presidential candi-

date, Lee Jae-myung, warned Chi-

na to “not covet the culture” of

Korea. The main opposition can-

didate, Yoon Suk-yeol, said he

“shares the fury and frustration

felt by the South Korean athletes”

over the “biased judgment” in

speedskating.

“A mid a close race, the candi-

dates are making use of the anti-

China sentiments for political

gain, which is a risky move, con-

sidering how China is an impor-

tant economic and diplomatic

partner for South Korea,” said Ha,

the academic.

South Korea’s economy is heav-

ily dependent on China, which is

both its largest source of imports

and largest export destination.

On the diplomacy front, South

Korea needs support from North

Korea’s ally China to persuade

Pyongyang to give up nuclear

weapons and promote peaceful

relations.

The cultural row between the

neighbors also is a problem for

China as Beijing seeks to

strengthen its ties in Asia in the

face of growing competition from

the United States, Yang Yanlong, a

scholar at Shandong University

in China who studies relations

between China and Korea, wrote

in a blog post.

The Olympics is a missed op-

portunity to promote friendly ex-

changes between the two neigh-

bors, especially with the current

growth of nationalist vitriol, he

said.

Olympics inflame

deep rift between

China and S. Korea

Disqualifications, s ight

of a gown and d usting of

a podium stir acrimony

In response to the

consecutive points of

friction, a Chinese blog

accused Korean media

of bias, Korean netizens

of vulgarity and the

Korean public generally

of being oversensitive.

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