SK cultural ‘ correction team’ stirs controversy with Chinese netizens

A South Korean cultural “correction team” that works to promote accurate knowledge about the East Asian country has become another focus of discussion on Chinese social media amid the raging cultural feuds between the two neighboring countries. Chinese netizens questioned if the team will unilaterally correct “inaccuracies” it claims about their culture.

The discussion started after the South Korean Cultural Center, affiliated with the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, posted a recruitment notice on Sina Weibo on February 22 that sought to form a team of nearly 50 people to correct inaccuracies about Korean culture on foreign online or offline platforms.

The so- called correction team raised questions from Chinese Weibo users, who have seen South Korean netizens accuse China of “stealing” or “copying” aspects of Korean culture, such as kimchi and hanbok, and a Korean professor recently asking China to change the nationality of a famous Chinese poet to South Korean.

“Is the team’s work meant to help the country correct the ‘ inaccuracies’ that they believe in and claim more things that don’t belong to them?” commented one Weibo user under the recruitment post.

The controversy intensified after netizens found that some Chinese culture- related entries on Baidu Baike, China’s Wikipedia- like platform, have recently been modified by eliminating the Chinese part of the content but leaving the Korean content intact.

The Global Times was told on Sunday that the campaign of correcting cultural inaccuracies is an annual event that has been held by the Korean Cultural Center for 13 years, and the team is recruiting people, Korean or foreigners, from around the world, not limited to Chinese people.