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Hong Kong protests
This Week in AsiaPolitics

In South Korea, Chinese and Korean students are clashing over Hong Kong protests

  • Korean students have found themselves at the centre of a political storm, in conflict with Chinese students over Hong Kong’s political unrest
  • More recently, some say they have become the victims of cyberbullying and doxxing

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One of the posters seen in Hankuk University featuring the face of a female student surrounded by profanities and threats. Photo: Handout
Crystal Tai

“Do we have a troublemaker?” read the group chat exchange in Chinese. “This woman is so ugly,” one commenter wrote. “My friend found her Facebook details.”

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Sujin Han looked in horror at the screenshot of a WeChat group someone had sent her. The messages were all about her – her face, personal information and contact details were being shared with the almost 500 members of a chat group for mainland Chinese students in South Korea.
As Hong Kong’s unrest continues into its sixth month, students like Han – in her early 20s and studying public administration at Korea University – have found themselves at the centre of a political storm. In recent weeks, South Korean universities have seen a rise in the number of clashes between Korean students and those from mainland China over their differing views on Hong Kong’s protests.

These have played out at so-called Lennon Walls, where messages of support for protesters are shared, to areas where pro-protest banners and posters are put up. More recently, Korean students say they have been victims of cyberbullying and doxxing – the publishing of a person’s private details online with malicious intent.

“They sent me messages with swear words,” said Han, who hosted a public forum at Korea University on Wednesday that promoted solidarity between Hong Kong and mainland Chinese students in “uniting against dictatorship”. She has not been the only one to experience this, she said.

A female acquaintance at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies was similarly attacked with misogynistic abuse, Han said, and even had posters of her face saying “f*** me”, “I’m a parasitic slut” and “I am a mentally ill person” plastered across campus.

At Hanyang University, “Chinese students have been throwing coins at pro-protest students,” said one person who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.

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