By Na Jeong-ju
Whenever a new virus or disease spreads, it carries with it a degree of racism and xenophobia. This is simply human nature. As the death toll from the new coronavirus surges in China's central Hubei Province amid fears of a global pandemic, the problem looks to be slightly more serious. Contempt and mockery toward Chinese nationals ― and by extension Asian communities ― have become common around the world over the past weeks.
In this part of the world, such racist sentiment is being more driven by a deep-rooted bias toward China and its people, and in some cases, we can find serious political connotations.
Conservative parties and some conservative dailies continue to call the disease "Wuhan Pneumonia," referring to the capital city of Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak of the virus, despite the government's guidance that such a name is not appropriate to be used in public because it causes bias toward a certain city and contains misinformation. The government instead recommended using "new coronavirus" as the World Health Organization calls it. In accordance with this guidance, most media outlets ― except for some conservative dailies ― dropped the name "Wuhan Pneumonia," and now call it "new coronavirus," or "new virus."
Strangely, Hwang Kyo-ahn, chairman of the main opposition and largest conservative Liberty Korea Party, has criticized the government over this. He said in a party meeting that the government is spending a significant amount of time dealing with such a "trivial" matter as changing the name when it should be focusing more on how to curb the spread of the virus. One conservative daily even interpreted the government's guidance on the virus name as "kowtowing" to China, citing that there has been no such a guidance for the media regarding reports of "African swine flu" or "Japanese encephalitis." In fact, these names have been commonly used by government agencies and the media. So it seems quite natural to ask: "Why using Wuhan Pneumonia is not okay while using African swine flu is okay. What is the difference?"
The conservatives point out lack of consistency in labelling the diseases. They are partly right. But if we take a closer look, how we call the virus is a lot more complicated than one may be led to believe. While the government has cautioned against excessive public fear driven by fake news and the rising anti-China sentiment, there has been a continuous production of stories based on a bias toward Chinese nationals. One economic daily even published a story of the "unsanitary" environment in a China town in Daerim-dong, Seoul, highlighting "men spitting everywhere on the street" and "street stores selling unsanitary food" there. In many news stories, herds of Chinese visitors buying bulks of masks in stores were contrasted with Koreans having difficulty buying masks, suggesting that Chinese tourists were "harmful" to Koreans.
Intended or not, these stories create nasty narratives about China among Koreans. After Seoul announced an entry ban for foreigners who had visited Hubei Province in the past two weeks, Sunday, conservative parties and dailies claimed the measure was belated and not enough, urging the government to ban entry to all foreigners from other parts of China, as the United States, Japan and other countries have done. They have blamed an "inadequate" initial response by the government for the cases discovered in Korea and the viral spread here.
It is easy to blame. In a way, it is not strange to say that what they are fighting against is not the virus, but China and their own government. But in my view, the government has been doing quite well in containing the virus.
It is true that the administration has been taking a cautious stance on China regarding the virus in light of bilateral economic ties, which appear to be at the end of a long dark tunnel, and the growing damage on Korean companies dependent on Chinese demand. So a more pragmatic and realistic approach is needed more than ever regarding China. But some political attempts capitalizing on public fear of the virus and anti-Chinese bias are irresponsible and horrible to see, even considering that a crucial general election is only a few months away.
The author (jj@koreatimes.co.kr) is a former politics editor and now an editorial writer of The Korea Times.
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In this part of the world, such racist sentiment is being more driven by a deep-rooted bias toward China and its people, and in some cases, we can find serious political connotations.
Conservative parties and some conservative dailies continue to call the disease "Wuhan Pneumonia," referring to the capital city of Hubei Province, the epicenter of the outbreak of the virus, despite the government's guidance that such a name is not appropriate to be used in public because it causes bias toward a certain city and contains misinformation. The government instead recommended using "new coronavirus" as the World Health Organization calls it. In accordance with this guidance, most media outlets ― except for some conservative dailies ― dropped the name "Wuhan Pneumonia," and now call it "new coronavirus," or "new virus."
Strangely, Hwang Kyo-ahn, chairman of the main opposition and largest conservative Liberty Korea Party, has criticized the government over this. He said in a party meeting that the government is spending a significant amount of time dealing with such a "trivial" matter as changing the name when it should be focusing more on how to curb the spread of the virus. One conservative daily even interpreted the government's guidance on the virus name as "kowtowing" to China, citing that there has been no such a guidance for the media regarding reports of "African swine flu" or "Japanese encephalitis." In fact, these names have been commonly used by government agencies and the media. So it seems quite natural to ask: "Why using Wuhan Pneumonia is not okay while using African swine flu is okay. What is the difference?"
The conservatives point out lack of consistency in labelling the diseases. They are partly right. But if we take a closer look, how we call the virus is a lot more complicated than one may be led to believe. While the government has cautioned against excessive public fear driven by fake news and the rising anti-China sentiment, there has been a continuous production of stories based on a bias toward Chinese nationals. One economic daily even published a story of the "unsanitary" environment in a China town in Daerim-dong, Seoul, highlighting "men spitting everywhere on the street" and "street stores selling unsanitary food" there. In many news stories, herds of Chinese visitors buying bulks of masks in stores were contrasted with Koreans having difficulty buying masks, suggesting that Chinese tourists were "harmful" to Koreans.
Intended or not, these stories create nasty narratives about China among Koreans. After Seoul announced an entry ban for foreigners who had visited Hubei Province in the past two weeks, Sunday, conservative parties and dailies claimed the measure was belated and not enough, urging the government to ban entry to all foreigners from other parts of China, as the United States, Japan and other countries have done. They have blamed an "inadequate" initial response by the government for the cases discovered in Korea and the viral spread here.
It is easy to blame. In a way, it is not strange to say that what they are fighting against is not the virus, but China and their own government. But in my view, the government has been doing quite well in containing the virus.
It is true that the administration has been taking a cautious stance on China regarding the virus in light of bilateral economic ties, which appear to be at the end of a long dark tunnel, and the growing damage on Korean companies dependent on Chinese demand. So a more pragmatic and realistic approach is needed more than ever regarding China. But some political attempts capitalizing on public fear of the virus and anti-Chinese bias are irresponsible and horrible to see, even considering that a crucial general election is only a few months away.
The author (jj@koreatimes.co.kr) is a former politics editor and now an editorial writer of The Korea Times.
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