Recent events involving two instances of Chinese people mocking and provoking South Koreans with the image of former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan have sparked anger among South Koreans and caused a huge uproar. Analysts believe there may be manipulation by the Chinese Communist Party behind these events.
The latest incident involved a Chinese man recently uploading a video titled “Chun Doo-hwan and Blizzard Return to Gwangju Together” on Douyin, a Chinese short video platform. In the video, he wanders around locations in Gwangju, South Korea, imitating the appearance of the late former President Chun Doo-hwan, with a hairstyle similar to Chun’s, forehead exposed, wearing a jacket, military boots, and holding a red stick.
Chun Doo-hwan was the mastermind behind the suppression of the Gwangju Democratization Movement in South Korea, also known as the Gwangju Uprising. The people of Gwangju harbor deep negative sentiments towards him. From May 18 to 27, 1980, in resistance to Chun Doo-hwan’s military dictatorship, the people of Gwangju took to the streets to launch massive protests. Chun, who held military power at the time, ordered a violent crackdown, resulting in a large number of civilian casualties.
This Douyin video has sparked significant controversy in South Korea, with South Korean media reporting on it, and some media outlets in South Korea calling it “too much.”
According to the Gwangju Daily, Park Kang-bae, a standing director of the May 18 Memorial Foundation in South Korea, criticized, “This is an act that exposes the tragic history of our country. If you respect the history and citizens of other countries, you would never do such a thing.” “Please do not treat our pain as a joke.”
The May 18 Memorial Foundation stated that as the video was uploaded by a Chinese person on Douyin, which is a foreign platform, and it is difficult to determine responsibility, they will not take legal action.
On February 25, Seo Kyung-duk, a South Korean propaganda expert and professor at Sungshin Women’s University, criticized on his Facebook account, “This is simply mocking the people of Gwangju.”
Seo Kyung-duk also mentioned a similar incident where Chinese fans provoked South Korean fans by holding up Chun Doo-hwan’s photo during a Korea-China football match, stating, “It is unbelievable! How can you trivialize the historical pain of another country and make videos out of it? It is truly perplexing.”
He emphasized, “In any case, these absurd actions by the Chinese will make China (the CCP regime) become an ‘isolated country’ globally. The Chinese must remember this.”
Another similar incident occurred recently. On February 11, during the AFC Champions League Elite in Jinan, Shandong Province, China, some home fans of Shandong Taishan waved photos of Chun Doo-hwan towards the away fans of Gwangju FC, provoking them and sparking anger among South Koreans.
Afterwards, Gwangju FC harshly criticized this, stating, “This goes beyond Gwangju, mocking and belittling the entire Republic of Korea,” and submitted a formal protest to the Asian Football Confederation, demanding a thorough investigation and strict punishment for the incident. The AFC prohibits the dissemination of political messages and provocative behaviors at stadiums.
South Korean fans also expressed their disapproval, stating, “One should not mock the pain of other countries,” “Punishment should be severe,” and “This is low-level behavior.”
Despite Gwangju FC’s loss to Shandong Taishan in the match, they eventually advanced to the round of 16 with a fourth-place finish in the group stage.
Three days later, Shandong Taishan issued an apology statement. However, on February 19, when Shandong Taishan arrived in Ulsan, South Korea, to play against Ulsan Hyundai FC, two hours before the match, they suddenly announced their withdrawal, citing the poor physical condition of their players, and returned to China. According to relevant rules, if a team withdraws from a tournament after it has started, all match results for that team will be considered invalid.
Regarding Shandong Taishan’s withdrawal, the South Korean daily newspaper, The Korea Daily, analyzed that the rare and perplexing decision of Shandong Taishan was related to the incident where Chinese fans held up photos of Chun Doo-hwan during the Korea-China football match, possibly due to intervention by the CCP regime. The CCP was concerned that when Shandong Taishan played in Ulsan, South Korea, South Korean fans might retaliate against Chinese fans. If photos belittling Chinese leader Xi Jinping were to appear in broadcasts or football news photos, the CCP authorities would feel burdened, therefore opting to forfeit the match.
Li Yuanhua, a former associate professor of history education at Capital Normal University in China, explained to Epoch Times on February 27 that the Chinese fans provoking South Koreans with the image of Chun Doo-hwan, “may have had the CCP manipulating behind the scenes.”
He explained that because this behavior has completely exceeded the scope of fans supporting their own team, it is expressing a political message, much like a tactic the CCP has frequently used in the past. With the political situation of impeachment in South Korea currently led by Yoon Suk-yeol, anti-Communist sentiment among the public is relatively strong, and the CCP may want to use Chun Doo-hwan to indicate that South Korea also had a history of dictatorship and is not qualified to criticize the CCP.
However, he noted, the CCP’s scheme backfired. The strong response from South Korean fans to this incident has made the CCP worry that sensitive information will be spread against Chinese fans, making them extremely embarrassed during live broadcasts, thus leading them to have the Chinese team forfeit for political safety.