Anti-Korean sentiment in Taiwan
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Anti-Korean sentiment (反韓) began to develop in Taiwan during the 1980s and erupted when South Korea established formal diplomatic relations with China in 1992. The sentiment grew stronger as the countries' industries and sports sectors became increasingly competitive, reaching its peak during the Sockgate in 2010. News coverage by local media also contributed to the sentiment. The sentiment declined in the 2010s as the Korean Wave grew stronger.
Diplomatic relationship
Background
The Republic of China had a long history with South Korea. During its time on mainland China, the country supported the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, the predecessor of South Korea. Chiang Kai-shek also played a significant role in helping Korea gain independence. Even after retreating to Taiwan, the Republic of China was seen as an important base for resisting communist forces in Asia, and therefore maintained formal diplomatic relations with various countries opposed to communism, including South Korea.[3] Due to similar historical and cultural backgrounds, Taiwan had a deep diplomatic bond with South Korea. Local media in Taiwan described the relationship as “brotherhood” or “father and son”.[4]
As the Republic of China, Taiwan has struggled with diplomatic recognition since the 1970s when the country left the United Nations. It was only a matter of time before Taiwan and South Korea severed their relationship, following Japan and the United States establishing formal ties with China in 1972 and 1978, respectively.[5] In 1973, Park Chung Hee announced 6.23 Foreign Policy for Peace and Unification, initiating contacts with communist countries, including China. In the 1980s, while South Korea still maintained a formal relationship with Taiwan, the country began contacting China before breaking ties with Taiwan.[6]
On 5 May 1983, six Chinese people hijacked a plane to South Korea, and the South Korean government treated them as hijackers under international law. At the time, the perpetrators had been seen as Anti-Communist Heroes instead of hijackers in Taiwan; the general public in Taiwan, unfamiliar with international legal standards due to the country's lack of position in international law, generally disapproved of South Korea's handling of the incident. According to Chu, the incident was a starting point of anti-Korean sentiment in Taiwan as relations between Taiwan and South Korea deteriorated.[7]
Termination of diplomatic relations
On 24 August 1992, South Korea announced the establishment of formal relations with China and simultaneously severed ties with Taiwan. South Korean authorities also seized Taiwan's then embassy to China and expelled its staff within 24 hours.[8] In response, staff of Taiwan's embassy damaged facilities such as walls, carpets, tables, and chairs.[9] Taiwan later severed a civil aviation agreement, and flight routes were not restored until 2004.[10] The termination significantly intensified anti-Korean sentiment in Taiwan. With a combination of shared brotherhood, perceived superiority, and victimhood, many Taiwanese struggled to accept the diplomatic shift from South Korea and developed a strong hostility toward the country.[11] A boycott campaign of Korean goods received a positive response and affected Taiwanese people's view of Korean products.[12] Anti-Korean sentiment in Taiwan from the termination continued into the decade and affected a whole generation.[13]
Some critics and scholars contrast the anti-Korean sentiment with Taiwan's reactions to Japan and the United States, noting a distinct difference in public perception. Although Japan severed diplomatic ties in 1972 and the United States did so in 1979—13 to 20 years before South Korea—neither event triggered a similar wave of persistent anti-Japanese or anti-American sentiment. Commentators attribute this disparity partly to a historical sense of superiority that many Taiwanese held toward South Korea, which made the diplomatic rupture feel like a betrayal by a perceived "lesser" or "brotherly" nation.[14][15]
Other incidents
In January 1997, the Patriot Alliance Association and the New Party had torn up the South Korean national flag in protest against the South Korean government and pro-environmental South Korean demonstrators who opposed the Lee Teng-hui administration's attempt to transfer Taiwan's nuclear waste to North Korea's territory through negotiations with the North Korean government.[16]
Industry structure
Both Taiwan and South Korea are Four Asian Tigers. They share similar economic conditions and industry structures. For example, the semiconductor industry is a major industry in both Taiwan and South Korea. HTC and Samsung Electronics were usually compared among the Taiwanese general public,[17] while hi-tech industry development in South Korea usually caught attention in Taiwan.[18] After recovering from the 1997 Asian financial crisis in the 2000s, South Korea enjoyed rapid economic growth and had a good GNI per capita at the time. Taiwan, with stagnant economic growth in the 2000s, developed anxious emotions about South Korea,[19] and intensified anti-Korean sentiment in Taiwan.[20]
An investigation regarding LCD price-fixing among Taiwanese and South Korean companies raised anti-Korean sentiment in Taiwan at the time. The European Union fined Chimei, AUO, Chunghwa Picture Tubes, and HannStar with 533.9 million euros. Samsung Electronics, on the other hand, was free from judgment and penalties in exchange for cooperating with the European Union during the investigation. LG was fined 250 million euros.[21] Most politicians at the time criticised Samsung's role during the investigation. Some politicians even expressed that they won't buy Korean goods when purchasing for the government. Notable examples at the time included Shih Yen-shiang, Terry Gou, and John Wu.[22]
Modern sports
Background
Taiwan and South Korea often engage in fierce competition in sporting events, which is why the Taiwanese public frequently regards the South Korean team as the Chinese Taipei team's arch-rival. The South Korean team's foul play and other controversial behaviour in the 2000s also contributed, to some extent, to the negative perception of South Korea held by the Taiwanese public.[23]
Some notable incidents before Sockgate included World Cyber Games in 2001,[24], 51 kg woman Taekwondo at the 2002 Asian Games in 2002,[25] invitational tournament in 2006,[26] and a judgment regarding Taekwondo at the 2009 East Asian Games.[27]
Sockgate
In the taekwondo competition at the 2010 Asian Games, Chinese Taipei's Yang Shu-chun faced Vietnam's Vu Thi Hau in her opening bout. Yang initially led 9–0, but with 12 seconds remaining, Zhao Lei, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Asian Taekwondo Union from mainland China, suddenly requested that Hong Xing-tian (洪性天), a Filipino referee of Korean descent, halt the match, citing the reason that "the electronic socks did not comply with the organisers' regulations". Yang burst into tears on the mat, and her coaching team's protest to the organisers was rejected. After the match, Yang Jin-suk, the South Korean Secretary-General of the World Taekwondo Federation, and his mainland Chinese interpreter deliberately refused to provide an interpretation or to answer questions regarding the reasons for Yang Shu-chun's disqualification, prompting Taiwanese journalists to walk out en masse in protest.[28] The next day, the Asian Taekwondo Union accused Yang Shu-chun and the Taiwanese coaching staff of fraud, citing a "Shocking Act of Deception by Chinese Taipei", and threatened to revoke Taiwan's right to participate in future international taekwondo competitions.[29]
The incident invoked anti-Korean sentiment in Taiwan. Images and messages deriding South Korean products and culture were widely shared online. There were reports of restaurants displaying 'No Koreans' signs on their doors, and protesters burning the Korean flag or destroying South Korean products. Some Taiwanese people launched a campaign to boycott Korean goods and refuse to watch Korean dramas, whilst the official website of the Asian Taekwondo Federation was hacked by Taiwanese hackers. Some anti-Korean protesters even went to the Taipei Korean School to protest by egging. Media outlets around the world paid close attention to the incident; in South Korea, in addition to extensive media coverage, the Seoul authorities urged members of Korean organisations in Taiwan, tourists and Korean students studying there to exercise caution in their words and actions.[30] Subsequent studies have found that this incident significantly fuelled anti-Korean sentiment.[31]
News coverage
Many commentators have highlighted the role of Taiwanese media in developing anti-Korean sentiment. When reviewing Taiwanese news, Huang discovered that anti-Korean speech had appeared in the 1980s. Since then, Taiwanese media have used strong nationalist wording when reporting sports news. The media also used kinship terms when reporting on diplomatic relations between the two countries.[32]
Mass media in Taiwan also reported on Korean baseball players in a controversial tone. A NOWnews news report used the word Gaoli bangzi when reporting on Shin-Soo Choo, a Cleveland Guardians player at the time.[33] The report quickly gained attention from Korean media, even though the media changed the wording afterward.[34] Korean media also noticed that Taiwanese media use a sensational tone when reporting sports news, provoking readers' anti-Korean sentiment.[35]
Yang Chien-Hao, a senior Taiwanese reporter based in Korea, described news coverage of Korea in Taiwanese media as "stupid." He criticised the media's reliance on Western news agencies, disinformation from China, and the conservative Chojoongdong, which provided a Chinese version of their report. Yang argued that these factors contributed to poor news reporting on Korea in Taiwanese media.[36] Chu Li-shi, a Taiwanese Koreanologist, suggested that much of the anti-Korean reporting in Taiwanese media stems from ownership by Waishengren. Chu argued that media under their control tend to promote Chinese nationalism, adopt a condescending tone, and even foster anti-Korean sentiment in their coverage of Korea.[6]
Commentators and forums also highlight a mutual friction in historical and cultural perceptions between the two societies, particularly regarding Empire of Japan. While Taiwan generally maintains a favorable and nostalgic view of Japan's colonial legacy, South Korea has constructed a strong anti-colonial nationalism rooted in its historical suffering.[37] According to the Taiwan Association of University Professors, this divergence leaves many Taiwanese struggling to understand South Korea's international alignments, while South Koreans remain perplexed by Taiwan's strong pro-Japan sentiment.[38] Koreanologists such as Chu Li-shi noted that even South Korean diplomats in Taipei have expressed confusion over why Taiwanese media, while highly receptive to Japan and the United States, occasionally single out South Korea for sensationalized criticism.[14]
Public opinion
According to a 2009 survey conducted by King Car Cultural & Educational Foundation, South Korea ranked 2nd (33.3%) in "Unfriendly countries" among Taiwanese youth, and still 2nd (47.4%) in "Unfriendly countries" in 2011.[39] In 2018, the survey suggested that South Korea ranked 4th (20.2%) as "Friendly countries",[40] while still 4th (22.2%) in 2022.[41]
Some researchers noticed gender as a factor of anti-Korean sentiment among Taiwanese people. Generally, Taiwanese males are more likely to express their dislike of Korean people and culture.[42] Chen suggested that the strong anti-Korean sentiment among Taiwanese males may be related to young Taiwanese men's interest in electronics and sports.[43]
According to Park's qualitative research in 2023, Taiwanese who held anti-Korean sentiment stayed in previous generations. Newer generations after the 2010s did not hold anti-Korean sentiment, and instead have a positive perception of Korea. Park suggested that the Korean wave played a key role in declining anti-Korean sentiment among the younger generation in Taiwan.[44] When reviewing anti-Korean sentiment in Taiwan in 2023, Huang also noticed that anti-Korean sentiment in Taiwan had declined in the 2010s, and attributes the trend to the Korean government's reform of culture policies, which affected Taiwanese's view on Korea at the time.[45]