User blog comment:General tiu/So this Korean outrage is not limited to Hetalia.../@comment-1151277-20100805165820

Meh, I think it has more to do with the fact that it looks like that popstar than because it looks like that KOREAN popstar.

Imagine the reaction if a zombie anime came out that had a character that looked like Justin Bieber came out. (I would use other examples a la Twilight and Miley Cyrus but those fans are pretty used to the parodies/spoofs and likely wouldn't react very strongly - Many Justin Bieber fans are vicious though).

But still, I think the fact that he was a Korean popstar didn't help matters.