Anti-Korean Sentiment In Japan

Anti-Korean sentiment involves hatred or dislike that is directed towards Korean people, culture or either of the two states (North Korea or South Korea) on the Korean Peninsula.

Origins

Anti-Korean sentiment is present in China, Japan, and within both Koreas, and stems from such issues as nationalism, politics, economic competition, cultural influences, and historical disputes. Anti-North Korean sentiment may be the strongest in Japan, South Korea, and the United States.

History

In China, it has only come to prominence recently, due to issues such as the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay; which have accumulated along with other issues over the years.

In Japan, modern dislike of North and South Korea can be seen as a form of political and historical issues; these issues are heightened by the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens and the Liancourt Rocks dispute, respectively.

Within Korea, distrust between the two states have existed ever since the end of the Korean War; with the earliest accounts dating from the Korean DMZ Conflict in the 1960s.

Region-based sentiment

China

Korea and China have historically maintained complicated ties. When Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan in 1910, it fell under Japanese influence. In China it is believed that some ethnic Koreans served in the Imperial Japanese Army whose invasion of China launched the Second Sino-Japanese War in July 1937. Adding to this sentiment is the allegation that some Koreans reportedly operated the Burma-Siam Death Railway. The Chinese referred to Koreans as Er guizi ().第一滴血──從日方史料還原平型關之戰日軍損失 (6)
News of the Communist Party of China December 16, 2011

At the end of World War II, North Korea, which was aligned with the Soviet bloc, became an ally of the People's Republic of China, while the PRC and the Republic of Korea did not recognize each other. During the Korean War, when China was engaged in war with South Korea and its United Nations allies, propaganda was used to indoctrinate people into hating South Korea, which was called a "puppet state" of the United States by the PRC government of the time.

From 1992 onward, after South Korea's normalization of relations with China, the relationship between the two nations gradually improved. From 2000 onward, Korean popular culture became popular within China.

A February 2021 survey conducted by scholars from Rice University, the University of British Columbia, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy had 43% of Chinese respondents expressing an unfavourable view of South Korea, compared to 49% expressing a favourable view.

Taiwan

Within Taiwan, some existing animosity towards Koreans amongst Taiwanese may be present as a result of the rivalry between the two states in relation to baseball. Disputes between Taiwan and Korea in the international sport competition arose numerous times.

In November 2010, Taiwanese citizens protested against the disqualification of Taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun at the 2010 Asian Games after a Korean-Filipino referee disqualified a Taiwanese fighter. 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.

On 23 August 1992, South Korea's " Nordpolitik" (Northern diplomacy) have made it to establish a diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China after Soviet Union. This resulted in the change in the diplomatic relationship of South Korea with the Republic of China, since it replaced anti-communist foreign policy with an effort to improve relations with other surrounding countries in the sense of geopolitics, including the People's Republic of China, in order to pressure and appease North Korea that eases the political anxiety and softens military tension in the Korean Peninsula and enables the possibility of a peaceful reunification of Korea. As normalization begun, President Roh transferred diplomatic recognition from the ROC to PRC, and confiscated the property of the ROC embassy, transferring it to the PRC.

According to an official from the Korean trade office in Taipei, sales of Korean products are not very successful in Taiwan because "the Taiwanese felt very betrayed after Korea severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan and reestablished ties with China in 1992, because the people of Taiwan had seen Korea as an ally in the fight against Communism... Now because the two countries have similar export-oriented economies and focus on the same business sectors, the Taiwanese see Korea as a great rival, and think that losing to Korea would be the end of Taiwan."

In June 2012, CEO of Foxconn Terry Gou stated that he had "great esteem for Japanese (businessmen), especially those who are able to disagree with you in person and not stab you in the back, unlike the '' Gaoli bangzi'' (a racial slur for Koreans)", sparking controversy.

Japan

Historically, relations between Japan and Korea have been poor. And much of the modern anti-Korean sentiment can largely stem towards the far-right groups.

During the Joseon Dynasty, Wokou pirate raids on Korean soil were frequent, which would eventually form the basis of hatred between the two sides. Such tensions built up further after the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910.

During the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, widespread damage occurred in a region with a significant Korean population, and much of the local Japanese overreacted to rumors which spread after the earthquake. Within the aftermath of the event, there was a common perception amongst some groups of Japanese that ethnic Koreans were poisoning wells, eventually setting off a set of killings against Koreans, where Japanese would use the shibboleth of '' ba bi bu be bo'' (ばびぶべぼ) to distinguish ethnic Koreans from Japanese, as it was assumed that Koreans would be unable to pronounce the line correctly, and instead pronounce them as . All people who failed the test were killed, which caused many ethnic Chinese , also unable to correctly pronounce the shibboleth, to be indiscriminately killed in large numbers. Other shibboleths used were and "''gagigugego''" (がぎぐげご), where Japanese people pronounce initial ''g'' as and medial ''g'' as (such a distinction is dying out in recent years), whereas Koreans pronounce the two sounds as and respectively.

Much of the anti-Korean sentiment present today however deals with contemporary attitudes. During the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Japanese and Korean supporters clashed with one another. Both sides were also known to post racist messages against each other on online bulletins. There were also disputes regarding how the event was to be hosted, as a result of the rivalry between the two nations. The territorial dispute over Liancourt Rocks also fuels outrage. Manga Kenkanryu (often referred to as ''Hating the Korean Wave'') by Sharin Yamano discusses these issues while making many other arguments and claims against Korea.

Zainichi Koreans in Japan are also publicly perceived to be a nuisance and are seen as likely to cause trouble and start riots, a view shared by former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. A Zainichi organisation which has strong ties to the DPRK, Chongryon

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