The Korea Controversy



The controversy surrounding South Korea has grown since the January 2009 adaptation of Hetalia: Axis Powers was announced on Japan's Kids Station television network. Many of the complaints about the characters were mostly about cultural issues, and the relationship the Japanese and South Korean characters had with each other, which people interpreted as being too relevant to historical and contemporary disputes between the two countries. A petition to remove the anime on the Daum website gained 12,000 signatures in one day, and the series was diplomatically declared a "crime against Koreans" and an "illegal, offensive act" by the South Korean National Assembly.

On January 15, Kids Station announced the cancellation of the series in favor of streaming it online and watching it on phones. After this, further pressure continued to remove the series altogether, even though the Korean character stopped appearing.

Objectionable content
In 2006, Himaruya published a short comic titled "MoeKan" (萌韓) which depicted the life of a Korean girl named Sena (ㄴ둠) who was afraid of the Japanese. Right after leaving to study in New York, he meets a Japanese student Yoshida (よしだ). Most of the issues depicted around this series involve Sena's irrational fear of the Japanese, similar to a child's familiar fear of monsters under the bed. Until the 2007 reorganization on Kitayume, the comic was no longer shown on the site, although images related to it continued to be there until GeoCities closed in 2019. Sena's character was possibly the inspiration for Korea's female character sketch, although this was dropped in favor of a male character.

The main controversy centered on one of the early comics, the "Korea Joke Series" (韓国ネタシリーズ Kankoku Netashirīzu), in which the character of Korea appears. The strip "3 Korea Practice Strips" (なんだぜ３本ノック Nan-daze 3-pon Nokku) in particular caught the eye, where Korea talked to Japan. In the first part, Korea asks Japan if he can touch his breasts and was devastated when a confused Japan refused. Pressed for an explanation, Korea states that he will make a film about it and show it to America, persuading Japan to change its mind. However, when Korea came under Yukata, Japan went crazy and ran away from Korea shouting "Uri nara mansae!" (honor to our land). In the bottom bar it was explained that "there was no reason to touch it". This has been interpreted by others as a reference to the territorial division of the Liancourt Rocks between South Korea and Japan, a dispute between the two countries since the early 20th century. This depicts a situation where, although the islands have been administered by the Korean Coast Guard since 1954, scientists disagree over the country's control of them due to historical ambiguities kept in the records of the two countries. From reading the comic, it is apparent that Japan's body parts represent islands that Korea has touched for no reason in what appears to be a sexual way, though it is erroneously stated that Korea mentions the name "Dokdo" (독도 - the Korean name for rocks) when grabbing Japan's breasts. This depicts a situation where, although the islands have been administered by the Korean Coast Guard since 1954, scientists disagree over the country's control of them due to historical ambiguities kept in the records of the two countries. From reading the comic, it is apparent that Japan's body parts represent islands that Korea has touched for no reason in what appears to be a sexual way, though it is erroneously stated that Korea mentions the name "Dokdo" (독도 - the Korean name for rocks) when grabbing Japan's breasts. This depicts a situation where, although the islands have been administered by the Korean Coast Guard since 1954, scientists disagree over the country's control of them due to historical ambiguities kept in the records of the two countries. From reading the comic, it is apparent that Japan's body parts represent islands that Korea has touched for no reason in what appears to be a sexual way, though it is erroneously stated that Korea mentions the name "Dokdo" (독도 - the Korean name for rocks) when grabbing Japan's breasts.

Other controversial aspects of the character, though less publicized in the press, are his frequent claims of Korean inventions, the assumption that the personification of China is older, the hanbok being drawn incorrectly, and Korea's demonstration of several unconventional uses of the Japanese flag (for example, using it as a shirt). Additionally, his early concept of May 9th birthday was also criticized, although by 2008 it was changed to August 15th (the day of the Korean people's liberation).

Anime
On July 28, 2008, the anime adaptation was officially announced by launching a website for it. The January 2009 issue, released a year earlier in September, featured colorful stencils of characters whose appearances and cast had yet to be announced in Korea. In December, Korea's design was added to the character page, and the third drama CD "Prologue 2" was released that same month, which featured interviews with various voice actors about the upcoming anime. The CD also included an interview with Kaoru Mizuhara, who ultimately did not appear in the anime's casting call. This section was supposed to imply that this was supposed to be a dub given to Korea, although after translation it came out that it was just a "what if" idea he was cast for the character of Monaco. Since the anime comes before the start of the dialogue recording session,

Answer
On January 11, 2009, a petition was posted on Daum's website to remove the anime, which was scheduled to air for the first time on the Japanese TV station "Kids Station" a week later. The petition also listed aspects deemed "offensive to our country of South Korea". On the first day, the petition received over 12,000 signatures. On January 13, Korean Freedom Party congresswoman Jeong Mi-Kyeong raised the issue during the Special Assembly Committee on Defensive Measures for Liancourt Rocks, accusing the manga of insulting Korea and calling it a crime. She called on the South Korean government to take diplomatic action against the Japanese government and draft a law to address such national crimes.

In a statement from the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun on the same day, Kids Station declared that they had no knowledge of the criticism from Korea and added that "the South Korean character was not intended to be featured in the anime adaptation" despite the character being featured in promotional material. On January 15, Kids Station announced the cancellation of the series due to "various circumstances". The news was confirmed by the anime's official website, although it was also announced that the series will continue to be streamed online and through Animate. By then, the original Korean petition, which garnered 16,000 signatures, had been updated to describe the cancellation of the TV series and the removal of characters from the anime.

On January 28, in response to the news of a new Korean petition to completely remove the series, Western fans of LiveJournal organized a petition to Deen Studios to resume the TV broadcast for them and Gensha in order to avoid the complete cancellation of the series. The petition clearly downplayed the allegations of the series' criminal characteristics, and also demanded that the distribution of the series, which used "brutal and coercive means", be stopped. It also stated that any racist or anti-Korean comments will be removed without warning. On January 31, anonymous comments began to be auto-moderated due to the influx of anti-Japanese commentators. The petition, despite receiving more than 5,000 responses, has not received any official response.

Further changes
The anime premiered on January 24, 2009 on Animate.TV, where Korea's character originally appeared in episode one but with a cropped appearance. Despite earlier assertions that the character did not appear in the Kids Station adaptation, Korea was shown in the final animation as one of many other characters around the earth. Also in episode fourteen, a shot of the character from behind was shown. In addition, in episodes fifteen and sixteen, quite large portions of the advertisement for the future adaptation of the "Cleaning out the storage" story were dedicated, suggesting that originally this adaptation may have included additional fragments cut at the last minute.

Korea remained in the reprints and international releases of the first two volumes of the published manga, but did not appear in any later officially released material for over thirteen years. He was also absent from the world map in the third volume of the manga. Despite this, his character occasionally appeared in webcomics published on Kitayume or Bamboo Thicket, most often during major events right next to China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.

In 2021, Korea appeared for the first time officially introduced in the released Hetalia☆Collezione since its first appearance in 2008.