Escalation to Near Physical Confrontation
Police Intervene and Restore Order
Protests Increase After Visa-Free Entry for Chinese Tourists and APEC Summit
A video showing a woman pouring coffee on anti-China protesters during a demonstration is spreading across social networking services (SNS). The footage, which is believed to have been filmed in September, shows protesters marching through the Mapo district of Seoul, chanting slogans such as "Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Out."
On November 10, a 20-second video titled "Anti-Communist March in Korea" went viral on various SNS platforms, including Thread. The protesters were shouting insults at Chinese nationals, saying, "Jjangkkae, go back to the mainland," when a woman threw her coffee at them. One man who was hit by the coffee approached the woman and raised his fist in response.
The situation was brought under control when the police separated the woman from the protesters, but the video has since sparked heated debates online between Korean and Chinese netizens.
Chinese netizens responded with confusion, asking, "Who is being attacked, threatened, and harassed here?" "Is this really the Korea I know?" and "Why are they doing this to us when we are just minding our own business?"
Some Korean netizens stated, "If you don't understand why there is anti-China sentiment, it's not even worth explaining." One commenter wrote, "Regardless of political leanings, if you defend the Communist Party or question protests condemning the erosion of liberal democracy, you should try living in China."
Until now, anti-China protests in Seoul had been small in scale, but their frequency has increased since visa-free entry was granted to Chinese group tourists in September and following last month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. In response, President Lee Jaemyung recently instructed officials to come up with measures to address concerns about violence, such as verbal abuse and noise, during anti-China protests in Myeong-dong, Seoul, as these could potentially harm foreign tourists and local merchants.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
