User blog comment:General tiu/Korea: who was he, and can he still be saved?/@comment-58.170.1.200-20100604163620

Highly unlikely, even though I would like to see him in the anime. I'm Korean (Australian), and yes, I was offended in many ways about Yong Soo. But I can't hate him since he's representing my country! I just hope that IF he ever gets a second chance, I hope Himaruya makes a better depiction of Korea instead.

I know many of the Hetalia fans are like "Koreans are overreacting" but I guess that they wouldn't be saying it if you see the reasons WHY they are angry. Eg. the scene where Korea gropes on Japan's breast symbolises that Korea is trying to "claim" Liancourt rocks which is pictured as Japan's breast. The Liancourt dispute is actually a really sensitive issue for Koreans.

Also, about the "everything originated from me" stuff. That can be seen from Liancourt rocks issue but also the FALSE report from China about Korea claiming the four great inventions and the Confucianism. Korea never claimed those stuff from China.

About the Japanese flag. Koreans are angry about it because what happened during the Japanese annexation. Japanese forced Korea to become "Japanese" by banning them from using Korean language, changing their name to Japanese (this is seen as highly an insult to the Koreans since it is seen as disrespecting their ancestestors), destroyed many historical artifacts and even stole some of the ancient treasures only unique to Korea. That's why Koreans are really sensitive when it comes to national property and the flag represents the nation, a mark that it's the property of the nation. Thus, for Koreans to see Yong Soo being obsessed with the Japanese flag is seen as an offense.

One more thing that have angered the Koreans is the strip where Korea tries to come up with evidence that Japan's been bad to him but in actual fact he comes up with some really phony ones that Japan's been actually "good" to him. That itself is really wrong since it shows ignorance to what Japan has done to Korea during the annexation, eg, Comfort women issue, massacre, attempting to destroy the culture, torturing those who oppose them, and not to mention the unit 731. And yes, in the 16th century, Japan tried to invade Korea and as a result, Korea inflicted a heavy blow of poverty which later opened up an easy entrance for Manchuria to invade.

the part where Korea calls China "aniki" is seen inappropriate for the Koreans since they don't want to be reminded of the past being China's "underling" for centuries. Koreans want their nation to be seen as an equal to the rest of the world. They worked hard to break free from poverty that Korean War had left them to become one of the developed nation in a short time of 50 years so that the world would see them as a nation, not another little chunk of land in Asia.

Yes, after reading all this, I may sound like one of those "overly sensitive Korean" but I just wanted to point out some facts why the Koreans are acting that way. To some extent, I think it's quite extreme but I want others to know why Koreans are so angry. I don't want Hetalia fans to think Koreans as overly-sensitive extremists who are too proud of their nation since I know that people would react the same if it happened to their own country.