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Olympic Torch Havoc in Seoul Flame Anti-Chinese Opinion
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by cynthia yoo | April 27, 2008 at 01:22 pm
1428 views | 14 Recommendations | 14 comments
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While foreign media headlines describe the torch relay as "scuffles" or "clashes" among protesters and police, the Korean media has been more critical. Korean headlines describe "Irrational" or "Crazed" Chinese Students "rioting" "swarming" and "beating up" Korean protesters across downtown Seoul.
OhmyNews' headline today was "Irrational Chinese Foreign Students Hurl Rocks in Violent Rampage"
The article described thousands of Chinese students who "lost their reason" and swarmed and beat up a small number of Korean protesters who were not only protesting the Tibet issues but also the forced repatriation of North Korean defectors by the Chinese government.
Human rights lawyer Kim Sang-chul told Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, that China had repatriated 75,000 North Koreans over the past 15 years."China tries to promote itself as a civilised nation but what it's doing to the defectors is uncivilised," he said.
Korean newspapers showed photos of Chinese students kicking and beating up Korean protestors. There were photos of Korean protesters pressed upon a brick wall swarmed by Chinese students. Photos and videos of injured Koreans were front and centre in the media. The Korean press also showed downtown Seoul covered with huge Chinese flags and Chinese students wearing Beijing Olympic t-shirts.
The overwhelming effect of these media reports has been anger and fear among Koreans against the Chinese students and the Chinese government.
Korean netizens have called for apologies from the Chinese government, the expulsion of Chinese students and stiff penalties to arrested students.
Even Korean netizens sympathetic to Chinese critique of western media bias, commented that yesterday's display of "arrogant Han-Chinese superiority" "xenophobia" "intolerance of opposition" bode poorly of China as a super-power.
These recent scuffles in Japan and Korea show that the torch relay has continued to be a public relations nightmare for the Chinese government and that it is far from "winning the hearts and minds" of its neighbouring countries.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (14)
at 13:26 on April 27th, 2008
Thanks for putting this together. It's amazing how varied the tone of coverage is.
at 15:27 on April 27th, 2008
This was the crowd in front of City Hall around 4pm. There were mainly Chinese people with banners wearing red shirts, very lively and chanting, but all very peaceful at this time.
jfrasse has contributed a photo to this story.
at 15:33 on April 27th, 2008
Thank you for the photos. Were you surprised then by the reports of violent clashes? What was particularly alarming were the incidents of swarming. Did you observe any violenct confrontations?
at 21:26 on April 30th, 2008
thank u for sharing this. cheers.
at 15:45 on April 27th, 2008
You are welcome. I was very surprised to read the report. It was all calm where we were. The Chinese crowd seemed excited to be there and happy to wave their flags, but nonviolent. Apparently they came from all over China, not just Beijing, according to what I heard some of them say.
at 16:06 on April 27th, 2008
Despite what most news networks were saying, that the Chinese students were from Korean universities, none of the students I met spoke any Korean. Later I spoke in English with some that said they were given free tickets to Seoul in order to come here and make a show along the torch relay route. If the relay route was supposed to be secret why were they posted along the road 4 hours before the torch even left Olympic Park?
at 16:17 on April 27th, 2008
That's very interesting, because the media reports all quote Chinese students studying at Korean universities. I read a post citing that shipments of thousands of Beijing Olympic t-shirts and large Chinese flags were received Seoul a few days before the relay. If the plan was to flood the relay route with Chinese nationals and pro-Chinese groups, it backfired. Korean media and netizens are criticizing both the Korean and Chinese governments for preventing violent eruptions from the Chinese camps. The government miscalculated that their security concern was controlling the groups critical of Chinese policies regarding North Koreans and Tibetans.
at 21:34 on April 30th, 2008
hilarious. wondering how they managed to get group-visaed.
u know, rok visas cost a fortune to us prc citizens, which is somewhat fussy involving " a great deal of paper work+financial statements+a little bit luck" even for the batched ones.
at 16:17 on April 27th, 2008
The Olympic torch, surround by a phalanx of guards, makes its way through a crowd of supporters waving Chinese flags and chanting "Go China, Go Olympics!" in Seoul's Olympic Park on Sunday, 27 April.
cgcrago has contributed a photo to this story.
at 19:10 on April 27th, 2008
cynthia yoo, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 20:39 on April 27th, 2008
The plaza was filled with celebration. There were only a few interruptions by protesters.
Justin Alm has contributed a photo to this story.
at 21:20 on April 27th, 2008
cynthia yoo, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 02:10 on April 28th, 2008
Korean students are known for being very outspoken when it comes to internal politics or geopolitics; however, I found it quite shocking to see such support from Korean university students during the torch relay in Seoul. Korean students waved Chinese flags and even went as far as to drape or cloak themselves in their neighbor's flag. This happened despite China's policy towards North Korean refugees and Chinas policy in Tibet.
eyard_99 has contributed a photo to this story.
at 00:54 on May 1st, 2008
。。。only to demonstrate that the crowd are more likely from the local unis than via the claimed overseas flights claimedly sent by the prc gov claimedly somehow.
my interpretation: for one reason or another, rok and prc students could talk, thereby local students might have more options rather than the media alone.
about the dprk issue, politics is but using one against another. tell me how much percentile of the dprk citizens/refugees staff are there to constitute the institutions such as nkfreedom, who claim to be devoted to the dprk issues? truly unbiased?
10min of research work ll do. For instance, in the nkfreedom.org, to get involved, there is only one option: using the template letter to complain to the prc embassy....and voila. or u can make donations if u like, i guess...
simple and userfriendly!
everyone, u still think this is the real voice from dprk or what? isn't it more of a mimic voice arranged by the ppl at stake? SO, here comes my point: it is more politics than human rights. c'est tout.