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| An online poster by the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK) Courtesy of VANK |
By Park Ji-won
The Voluntary Agency Network of Korea (VANK), a civic organization working for public diplomacy for Korea, started an online petition Friday, urging Chinese netizens to stop "cyberbullying" Korean singer Lee Hyo-ri after her Instagram account was bombarded by "malicious" complaints from them.
VANK said it posted an online petition titled "Stop China's cyber chauvinism which lynched a Korean celebrity!" urging people to sign it.
"We oppose the chauvinistic attitude of attacking others in the name of nationalism, which includes interpreting even the smallest part of an expression in the most vicious and offensive way," VANK wrote, adding "If we remain silent, this incident will be repeated in the future."
The move came after Lee received hundreds of thousands "malicious" comments on her Instagram account in Korean, English and Chinese after she said in MBC's reality show "Hangout with Yoo" that "What about a Chinese name? We can go global with it. How about 'Mao'?" She made the remarks while brainstorming about a faux Chinese stage name.
Chinese internet users were allegedly offended by what they claim was Lee belittling Mao Zedong, who was chairman of the Communist Party of China between 1949 and 1976. Lee pledged to shut down her account Friday. MBC also said it had deleted Lee's scene from videos made available for internet playback, adding it had no intention to "imply a specific figure" and it deleted her part to prevent further misunderstanding.
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