[Column] Yoon may be gone, but his legacy of hate remains

On April 17, 2025, a band of younger Koreans, many clad in school letterman jackets, marched through an area of Seoul known as “Little China” for its numerous Chinese restaurants and businesses. (still from Freedom University’s YouTube channel)

By Hong Sung-soo, professor of law at Sookmyung Women’s University

Donning their school letterman jackets, university students marched through an alley near Konkuk University in Seoul’s Gwangjin District dense with Chinese eating establishments in a rally shouting, “Chinese [slur]s, North Korean puppets, and commies, piss off from the Republic of Korea!” There were even reports of clashes with Chinese shop owners. 

People Power Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won has called for the removal of the Xi Jinping collection at Seoul National University, saying that “Chinese sharp power has infiltrated as far as Seoul National University.” A candidate running for Seoul’s Guro District mayor under the Liberty Unification Party said that Guro District belongs to the Republic of Korea and vowed to change the name of Gaebong Station, located in a section of the city with a dense Chinese population, to Eulji Mundeok Station — a reference to a Goguryeo general who fought off the Sui dynasty of China. 

People throughout the streets of Seoul have started putting up banners reading, “Chinese students are 100% potential spies,” and “The Chinese are coming! They’re participating in rallies! Crime is on the rise! Get rid of their benefits!” 

The anti-Chinese sentiment that spread in the wake of the Dec. 3 martial law declaration and throughout the impeachment trial remains even after President Yoon Suk-yeol was removed from office. Neither Yoon’s speech declaring martial law nor the formal decree that followed specifically named “China.” However, he mentioned potential election fraud to justify martial law, and people started arguing that China had been the actor interfering in Korea’s elections. In short, anti-Chinese sentiment was mobilized to try to prevent impeachment. 

There have been calls for Chinese nationals working at the courts and the Constitutional Court to be removed. There are people demanding that China take responsibility for the COVID-19 pandemic. Some are questioning whether Chinese nationals living in Korea should be entitled to unemployment benefits, health insurance benefits, and limited voting rights. 

Attorneys representing Yoon during the impeachment trial brought up the threat of China’s “hybrid war” while defending Yoon’s martial law decision. Anti-impeachment protesters rallied in front of the Constitutional Court, holding signs that read, “China out!” The far-right Protestants have added China to their list of enemies, which includes communism and homosexuality. 

These issues are nothing new. People started highlighting high crime rates among Chinese residents in 2010 to label them as “dangerous.” Content that mocks Chinese residents sprouted up online and in popular entertainment. Things became so serious that Chinese residents in Seoul’s Daerim neighborhood even protested the release of films like “The Roundup” and “Midnight Runners” in 2017. 

Anti-China sentiment proliferated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and far-right media began spreading the idea that China has been planning a clandestine invasion of Korea. This steady rise in anti-China sentiment aligned with support for martial law and allegations about election fraud to create an explosion. 

When looking at examples of the spread of hate and discrimination abroad, things become particularly dangerous when expressions used online turn into political action offline, when things become violent, when people start targeting an entire group for physical attacks, and when politicians exploit that hatred for incitement and personal gains. 

In Korea, we’ve already seen a protest march through an area known as “Little China” to directly target Chinese residents, and anti-China rhetoric is already a go-to for many politicians, with even presidential hopefuls indulging. The far-right Protestants who led the anti-impeachment movement have started to exploit anti-China sentiment, another worrying factor.

Opposition to multiculturalism and migrants remains mostly online, and homophobia is failing to gain traction outside the far-right Protestant circles it is most virulent in. Sinophobia, on the other hand, has reached a level at which people are directly going after Chinese people in Korea at the explicit go-ahead from politicians, and with broad support from the public at that. In short, the risk factors are all there.

For the last decade or so, calls to stop hate and discrimination before it’s too late have been shunned by mainstream politics. That’s won Korea the dishonor of having the most lackluster government response to hate and discrimination of any major economy. While administrations and lawmakers have twiddled their thumbs, forces fueled by hate have been amassing their strength. 

At some point, “-phobias” — whether “homo-,” “xeno-” or other — “discrimination,” “gender equality,” and even “gender” itself became taboo talking points in the realm of Korean politics. Ever since a bill for an anti-discrimination act was introduced, then withdrawn, in the National Assembly in 2013, we’ve essentially been at a standstill when it comes to any sort of legislative or executive policy to address hate crimes, hate speech and discrimination. 

The past four or so months of the martial law-impeachment-ouster period were characterized by both crisis and opportunity. While there was a heightened risk of hate reaching new extremes, the need to address the issues of hate and discrimination became a mainstay agenda of the mass public protests for impeachment. Human rights activists proved clairvoyant in their predictions that Sinophobia would rear its ugly head if Yoon were to be booted from office and called for both the end of the insurrection and the enactment of an anti-discrimination act in the same breath. 

The reason that Rainbow Action against Sexual Minority Discrimination and the South Korean Coalition for Anti-discrimination Legislation were able to quickly organize actions to fight the far right and put out their exhaustive “Report on the Far Right,” full of analysis and tasks for responding to the far right, was that they have a long history of fighting extremist conservatives that has given them a wealth of experience. No longer can we let them fight alone. 

Fortunately, those who gathered in the streets for democracy gave thought to and discussed what the world after Yoon should look like, and demonstrated intense interest in fighting hate and discrimination. The work of standing up to the politics of hate and fostering a democratic community based on acceptance and solidarity begins now. 

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]