Did media generate misunderstanding between Seoul, Beijing?

BEIJING — If media reports are correct, the current relationship between China and South Korea is the “worst ever” since they established diplomatic ties in 1992. And the media is part of the problem, according to Huang Youfu, director of the Institute of Korean Studies at Minzu University of China.

Huang Youfu

The following is the second in a series of articles examining Seoul-Beijing ties following the tumultuous relationship between the two countries last year. — ED.

By Sunny Lee

BEIJING — If media reports are correct, the current relationship between China and South Korea is the “worst ever” since they established diplomatic ties in 1992. And the media is part of the problem, according to Huang Youfu, director of the Institute of Korean Studies at Minzu University of China.

Huang, a well-known commentator on Korea affairs in China, points out that there is a lot of misunderstanding and antipathy between the peoples of the two countries. Politics always comes up as the usual suspect. Often indeed it is so.

The two Asian neighbors have differed, for example, over the sinking of the frigate Cheonan, the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, and a sunken fishing boat.

On Oct. 25, China’s leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping referred to the Korean War as a “great and just” war, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The remarks by Xi were made during an occasion that commemorated the 60th anniversary of what China called a volunteer army entering North Korea to help in the war.

“South Korean media distorted the nature of Xi’s comments,” said Huang, arguing Xi’s remarks were taken out of the context. “China never called the Korean War, which was initiated by North Korea, as just. What Xi referred to as just was China’s participation to resist the American aggression. We Chinese call it ‘The War of Resistance Against America by Helping North Korea (Kang Mei Yuan Chao).’ The South Korean media doesn’t distinguish the two.”

South Koreans may not find the explanation convincing as it purportedly separates the Korean War into two parts: before and after China’s participation. Moreover, China’s most popular portal baidu.com doesn’t separate the two either, using the terms “Korean War” and “Kang Mei Yuan Chao” interchangeably.

Since Beijing and Seoul established diplomatic ties, according to Huang, the former had largely refrained from giving a big profile to the war anniversary in consideration of its new relationship. However, this time China held a big ceremony with Hu Jintao also in attendance.

“This time, it was special because it was the 60th anniversary. And many war veterans wrote letters to the central government, complaining that we were so quiet about it,” said Huang, pointing out the Chinese government’s effort not to highlight the sensitive war was not appreciated by the South Korean media, while only fretting about Xi’s comments.

South Korea and China are confrontational not only over the heavy topic of the war, but also over food in an incident that morphed into a diplomatic spat. In 2005, South Korean authorities found parasite eggs in kimchi imported from China, generating a serious food safety concern. Kimchi is a key part of Koreans’ daily diet.

But it was soon discovered that most of the imported kimchi was produced by Koreans who ran kimchi factories in China.

Even though this discovery was made public, Huang said the damage was already done because South Korean media hyped the matter. According to Huang, they have “a tendency to see isolated problems in China and decry the whole nation.”

In 2008, the Xinkuaibao newspaper in China’s southern Guangdong Province reported that a professor named Park Bun-kyung at Seoul’s Sungkyunkwan University claimed that Sun Yat-sen, who is revered by the Chinese as founding father of modern China, was ethnically Korean. The Chinese newspaper said it was first reported in the South Korean newspaper, Chosun Ilbo.

The news spread quickly across China through Internet forums, blogs and news sites. The Chinese were enraged. The problem was that there was no professor named Park Bun-kyung as was reported in the Chinese newspaper. There was no such report written by a South Korean newspaper either. But the damage was already done.

Unfortunately, many parodies ensued. The Chinese media reported during the 2008 Beijing Olympics that South Koreans claimed the swimming gold medalist Michael Phelps was Korean. It backfired. South Koreans began to discount Chinese media reports as sheer fabrication and Chinese people as brainwashed by the Communist Party.

South Korean media outlets ran many accusatory pieces on China after Beijing allowed North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to visit the country — not long after the Cheonan incident, which was blamed on North Korea.

China’s popular tabloid Global Times on May 12 said, “South Korean media creates anti-China sentiment.” But then the same Chinese newspaper on Dec. 23 ran an editorial, which said China should “teach South Korea a good lesson.” South Korean media responded by saying China was arrogant.

“The vicious cycle has generated a confrontational milieu between the peoples of the two countries,” said Huang.

China’s media is a reflection of its rising nationalism amid growing economic might and military confidence. But Huang said it is also partly a reaction of Chinese people’s sense that the Western media is trying to contain their rise. Huang said many Chinese feel that Seoul is joining the West to gang up against Beijing.

The Korea Press Foundation said South Korean media heavily sources from the Western media and is ranked second in the world in doing so, according to a Yonhap report on Jan. 3.

While China’s media needs to work on its nationalism, Huang said South Korean media can also amend the situation by doing more independent reporting on China.