"'Change 'Chinese New Year' to 'Lunar New Year'"...Seo Kyungduk Hit by SNS Attacks from Chinese Netizens

Campaign to Promote the Term "Lunar New Year" at Institutions Worldwide
Chinese Netizens Mount Coordinated Backlash Through Comments and DMs

Seo Kyungduk, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, said that after he launched a campaign urging institutions and companies around the world to change the term "Chinese New Year" to "Lunar New Year," he was bombarded with a wave of malicious comments and messages from Chinese netizens.

Comments and DMs left on Professor Suh Kyungduk's social media by people presumed to be Chinese netizens. Professor Suh Kyungduk's Instagram

On February 25, Professor Seo wrote on his social media (SNS) Instagram account, "Over the past week, I have been running a campaign to change the incorrectly used term 'Chinese New Year' to 'Lunar New Year' in various places around the world."

He explained that as a result, he identified cases where some leading global institutions and companies, including the United Nations, Apple, and the British Museum, were still using the term "Chinese New Year." He continued, "Because of this, many Chinese netizens came into my SNS account and carried out attacks through comments and DMs (direct messages)."

According to Professor Seo, many of the messages contained claims such as "Korea is a country that steals culture" and "Korea stole Chinese New Year and created Seollal." He said, "Groundless posts and abusive language poured in nonstop for an entire week," adding, "I had a hard time blocking them."

He also brought up a past case. During Chuseok last year, when the English Premier League (EPL) club Manchester City uploaded a video celebrating Chuseok, a traditional Korean holiday, some Chinese netizens protested, claiming that Korea had stolen their culture.

At the time, Chinese outlets such as Tencent News reported that "public opinion in China is boiling over after Manchester City posted Chuseok-related content for Korean fans."

Professor Seo said, "As the world goes wild for the Korean Wave, the sense of inferiority among Chinese netizens is gradually growing," and urged, "Stop making the absurd claim that Korea stole Chinese culture."

He added, "I also hope they will stop illegally streaming various Korean cultural content such as dramas, movies, and entertainment shows, and stop producing counterfeit versions of popular products from Korean companies and distributing them around the world."