Korea controversy

The South Korean National Assembly discussing Hetalia on January 13, 2009.

The controversy over the depiction of the South Korea character in Hetalia: Axis Powers grew in the wake of an announcement of an anime adaption to be broadcast on Kids Station in Japan beginning in January 2009. Many complaints with the character related to cultural inaccuracies as well as interactions between the South Korea and Japan characters that many interpreted as references to contentious historical and contemporary conflicts between the two countries. A petition on the web portal Daum to cancel the anime reached over 12,000 signatures in a single day, and the series was condemned by the South Korean National Assembly as "a crime against Koreans" and an "illegal and insulting act", though one of diplomacy rather than criminal law.

On January 15, Kids Station announced that it had cancelled plans to air the series. Instead, the series would be broadcast online and on mobile phones. Following the cancellation, there was a continued push to have further distribution of the anime and original manga cancelled, though the character has appeared with less frequency following the controversy.

Background

Objectionable Content

In 2006, Himaruya posted a short comic called MoeKan (萌韓) which depicted a teenage Korean girl named Sena (ㄴ둠) who has a fear of Japanese people and goes to study in New York City, where she encounters a Japanese classmate named Yoshida (よしだ). Most aspects of this story have problematic overtones, including Sena's fear of the Japanese being presented as irrational paranoia and somewhat akin to a child being afraid of monsters hiding under their bed. By the time of Kitayume's revamp in 2007 the comic was no longer listed or displayed on the site, though the images still existed on its server until GeoCities Japan's shutdown in 2019. The Sena character seemed to be an inspiration for an early draft of a potential female Korea character in Hetalia, though this was discarded in favor of a male representation.

The flashpoint for most of the controversy appears in one of the first comics the Korea character appears in called Korea Joke Series (韓国ネタシリーズ, Kankoku Netashirīzu). In particular "3 Korea Practice Strips" (なんだぜ３本ノック, Nan-daze 3-pon Nokku), which depicted Korea interacting at length with Japan. In the first portion of the story, Korea asks Japan if he can touch his breasts, and appears devastated when Japan refuses, much to the latter's confusion. When pressed for an explanation, Korea says that he'll make a movie about this and show it to America, persuading Japan to change his mind. However, when Korea begins feeling under Japan's yukata, the other man freaks out and Korea runs off while shouting "Uri nara mansae!" (Hooray for our land!). A footnote at the foot of the strip reveals that there was "no reason in touching them." The strip has been interpreted by many as a reference to the Liancourt Rocks territorial despute between South Korea and Japan, a source of contention between the two countries since the early 20th century. While the the islets themselves have been administered by the Korea Coast Guard since 1954, researchers disagree on which country has controlled the islets historically due to ambiguities in historical records kept by both countries. Reading the comic through this lens, it presents the islets as taking the form of a physical part of Japan's body, and shows Korea, without reason, laying claim to them in a manner that comes across as aggressively sexual, though it has been erroneously stated that the Korea character explicitly mentions the name "Dokdo" (독도) (a Korean name for the Liancourt Rocks) when he grabs Japan's breasts.

Other controversial aspects of the character which have been cited less frequently in press coverage, but have been discussed within fandom and highlighted in the Korean petition against the series, include his frequent claims of others' inventions "originating" from Korea, the implication that the China character is older, the character's hanbok being drawn incorrectly, and a gag at the end of "It's My First Appearance and All I Get Are Some Scribbles!" (初登場なのに落書き扱いなんだぜ, Hatsu tōjōnanoni rakugaki atsukainan da-ze) where Korea demonstrates several unconventional uses for the Japanese flag (including wearing it as a makeshift shirt). An early profile listing the character's birthday as May 1st was also criticized for being incorrect, though by 2008 this had been retconned in the series itself to August 15th (the National Liberation Day of Korea).

Anime

On July 28, 2008, an anime adaption was announced via the launch of a website for the project. The January 2009 issue of Comic Birz, released on November 29, 2008, included color character sketches of characters whose appearance and casting in the series had yet to be announced, including Korea. In December, the character's design was added to the character page on the anime's website. That same month, the third drama CD, Prologue 2, was released, which contained a "Cast Commentary" track that took the form of a round table with various seiyū from the drama CDs and the upcoming anime. This track included an appearance by the seiyū Kaoru Mizuhara, who at the time had not been cast in the series (and ultimately never was). Mizuhara's section was thought to suggest that she was to voice Korea in the upcoming anime version, though a translation revealed that it was only a "what if" type of idea if she was cast in the anime, with a "Monaco" character being suggested first. As the animation in anime generally comes before the voice recording sessions, it is unknown if the anime production team ever got as far as casting Korea before his removal from the adaption.

Response

On January 11, 2009, a petition was launched on the web portal Daum calling for the cancellation of the anime, which was slated to begin airing on Kids Station in Japan the following week. The petition listed various aspects of the series that were considered "explicit insults against our country [South Korea]". In the first day, the petition received over 12,000 signatures. On January 13, Congresswoman Jeong Mi-Kyeong of South Korea's Grand National Party brought up the matter during a meeting of the Special Assembly Committee on Defensive Measures for the Liancourt Rocks, accusing the manga of being insulting to the Korean people and called it a criminal act. She urged the South Korean government to take diplomatic action against the Japanese government and to draft a law to handle this type of national offense.

In a statement to the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun that same day, Kids Station stated that it was unaware of the criticism from South Korea, but that "a Korean character does not appear in the anime version" despite the character's presence in promotional materials. On January 15, Kids Station announced that they had cancelled the television broadcast of the series "due to various circumstances". This was confirmed by the official website for the anime, though it announced that the series would still be distributed via Animate's mobile phone and online services. The original Korean petition, which by then had collected over 16,000 signatures, was updated to reflect the cancellation of the TV broadcast and the removal of the character from the anime.

On January 28, in response to reports of new petitions in Korea to cancel the series outright, a petition was launched by Western fans on LiveJournal directed at Studio Deen to reverse the cancellation of the TV broadcast, and for it as well as Gentosha to resist any further demands to cancel the series. The petition specifically condemned allegations of criminal conduct against the series, as well as demands to stop distribution of the series which utilized "violent and coercive means." It also contained the notice that any racist or anti-Korean comments would be removed without warning. On January 31, anonymous comments began being automatically moderated due to an influx of anti-Japan commenters. The petition received over 5,000 replies, but received no formal response.

Subsequent Developments

The anime premiered in Animate.TV on January 24, 2009, with the first episode adapting a story where the Korea character was originally present, but with his appearance excised. Despite Kids Station's earlier claims that the character was not part of the adaption, the character still appeared in the ending sequence animation as one of several characters lining a spinning globe. The fourteenth episode also contained a shot showing the character from behind in an adaption of another story where he originally appeared. Additionally, episodes 15 and 16 devoted large segments of their runtime advertising a future adaption of the comic "Cleaning Out The Storage" (倉庫掃除, Sōko sōji), suggesting that they may have originally contained segments that were cut at the last minute.

The character remained in reprintings and international releases of the first two volumes of the published manga, but he did not appear in any further officially published material for the next thirteen years. He was notably absent from the world map in Hetalia: Axis Powers Volume 3, the first manga release following the controversy. However, the character has continued to make sporadic appearances in web content published to Kitayume or Bamboo Thicket, most often as a part of larger site events and usually alongside China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. These appearances see many of the controversial aspects of the character toned down, with a focus on topics such as South Korean pop culture and video game addiction.

In 2021, Korea appeared in the Hetalia☆Collezione fanbook, marking his first new appearance in an officially published work since 2008.