Korean-descent Kazakhi skater wears Japanese flag in distaste
By Ko Dong-hwan
The selfie of Dennis Ten
Kazakhstani figure skater Dennis Ten is drawing heavy fire from Korean netizens over his selfie wearing a Japanese national flag on his head and looking all joyous.
The photo shows Ten, a bronze medalist in men’s figure skating competition on Friday in 2014 Sochi Olympics, pointing at the flag and smiling.
What bothered the netizens is that Ten pulled off the controversial selfie despite his genealogy: a descendent of Korean militiaman Min Geung-ho who fought the imperial Japanese army as they threatened to dissolve the sovereignty of the Korean military.
Historical record shows that Min took a militia comprising 300 men and joined the nation’s patriotic movement in preventing Japan from usurping Korea in August 1907.
Ten’s grandmother is known to be Alexandra Kim, Min’s granddaughter.