SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Lee Jae-myung garnered comradely laughs during an unscripted moment recently with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but the humor was lost on those South Koreans worried about Beijing’s growing influence in Seoul.
On the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea in November, Mr. Xi offered Mr. Lee, who has long sought better relations with the communist nation, a gift of Chinese-made smartphones.
“Are they safe?” the South Korean president quipped on camera — to which Mr. Xi replied with a gesture, “You can check for backdoors!”
The leaders’ bonhomie presented a stark contrast to a growing wave of anti-China protests in South Korea over recent months, a trend that has been echoed in nearby Japan, and arguably, in the wider anti-immigrant sentiment across the Global North.
According to Pew Research in 2025, South Koreans feel more threatened by China than do all other Asians surveyed, in terms of both economic security and national security: 60% and 62%, respectively.
South Korea’s “CCP Out” movement, referring to the Chinese Communist Party, comprises military veterans’ organizations, elderly supporters of imprisoned conservative former President Yoon Suk Yeol, members of Protestant super churches and a youthful conservative group, “Freedom University,” which mobilizes online.
Mr. Lee, citing anti-hate laws enacted in other democracies, has ordered crackdowns on anti-China rhetoric and street protests.
His predecessor, Mr. Yoon, said Chinese spies operated under the guise of tourists and alleged Chinese electoral interference — claims he used as justification for his ill-fated attempt to declare martial law in December 2024 that led to his impeachment and the June election victory of Mr. Lee.
Slow-burning anti-China sentiment
On a chilly evening, Western tourists in Seoul’s foreign enclave of Itaewon looked on bewildered as a throng of protesters, the length of a city block, marched under South Korean flags.
Demonstrators were of all ages. Some brandished signs saying, “Stop the boats” — a reference to vessels that ferry Chinese tourists across the Yellow Sea. Others read, “Korea for Koreans.”
Many expressed suspicion of visa-free entries for Chinese tourists, enacted by Seoul in September.
“We should control Chinese coming here, but we have a fire in the control tower,” said Kim Hyon-sung, 34, an artist. “The media describe us as racists and radicals, but I love peace. I worry about my family and my neighborhood.”
“The immigration offices cannot control them, and [Chinese] illegally stay,” said retiree Kim Jong-seo, 81. “International relations should be reciprocal: Many Chinese are buying land here with 90% loans from Chinese banks, but we cannot buy in China.”
Protests have taken place near Seoul’s Chinese Embassy and in the city’s Chinatowns, home to migrant worker communities.
Intimidation has been reported, and China’s Embassy has warned Chinese citizens to be prudent.
South Korea’s latest wave
South Korea saw mass anti-American protests after U.S. troops in 2002 killed two schoolgirls in a road accident and were freed by a U.S. military court.
Then came TV reports in 2008 that America was exporting mad cow-tainted beef to Korea.
Furies subsided after Washington trial-ballooned troop withdrawals and mad cow reports were proved false.
South Koreans are also skeptical of Japan. Colonial-era grievances against Tokyo are manifested in regular protests outside the Japanese Embassy and in a general media hostility.
But the anti-Chinese sentiment that South Korea has seen recently has multiple legs. For hundreds of years, Korea was in an uneasy vassal relationship with Imperial China. Post World War II, relations shifted.
Chinese troops smashed U.S. and South Korean forces on the verge of reunifying the divided peninsula in late 1950. The Korean War left North Korea intact, providing China a strategic buffer on its northeast flank.
Post-Cold War, relations were restored. As China’s economy took flight, trade and investment soared.
Still, stresses arose over China-originated air pollution, online arguments over cultural and historical issues and Yellow Sea fishing disputes.
In 2017, relations plunged when Beijing sanctioned South Korean businesses, halted group tours and banned K-pop imports after U.S. troops in South Korea established a missile defense battery with radars that could peer into China’s atmosphere.
During China’s crackdown on the Hong Kong democracy movement, campus clashes erupted in South Korea between Koreans who remembered local political struggles and the Chinese.
Beijing’s reputation tumbled further after COVID-19, and ill feelings continue to simmer on multiple fronts.
Mr. Yoon’s supporters believe China has for decades interfered in South Korean elections and suspect the political loyalties of the nearly 1 million Chinese and Chinese-Koreans who live in South Korea.
Per data released in June, 972,176 Chinese and Chinese-Koreans form the largest foreign demographic in Korea, a nation of 51.7 million.
“One Chinese tactic is to send lots of migrants: That’s what I am afraid of,” said Lee Geon-seop, a council member for the opposition People Power Party in the town of Siheung, South Korea.
He cited the Chinese-government-backed migration of the Han — an ethnic group particularly loyal to Beijing — to restive areas of China, including Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
“If they send 2 [million] or 5 million to South Korea, then they can control voting systems,” he said. “Then we’re done.”
Since 2018, foreign residents have been allowed to vote in South Korean local, but not national, elections.
And, as in Japan, the massive flocks of Chinese tourists have grated on locals.
In 2025, a formation of Chinese tourists in military uniforms stunned local residents by marching in perfect step through a Seoul riverside park.
There is growing unease at the increasing number of Chinese installations in the Yellow Sea — a situation that has led military veterans to protest outside China’s Embassy.
Riot police are now stationed near the entrances to the fortress-like chancery, fronted by huge, red, metal-studded gates.
What next?
Mr. Lee has expressed intolerance for hate and referenced clearly racist examples. In November, he told his Cabinet, “Within our society, there is anachronistic discrimination and hatred against certain people of certain races, origin and nationality.”
Anti-Chinese prejudice is no chimera.
“Discussions and politics driving hate make some of my [Chinese] students uncomfortable,” said David Tizzard, who teaches Korean Studies to international students at Seoul Women’s University. “If you spend time on Korean social media, you’ll see anti-Chinese content and things are said that would not be said in polite society in Europe.”
Popular culture is also problematic.
“If you look at many Korean movies, the representation of Chinese and [Chinese-Koreans] is as gangsters,” he said. “That plays to tropes and stereotypes.”
Even a Taiwanese resident stated shock at the ignorance and vitriol he encountered from protesters, though he is not from the mainland.
However, Mr. Lee and his Democratic Party of Korea have repeatedly declined to legislate an overall anti-discrimination law. That fortifies suspicions that current political maneuvers are specifically targeted.
DPK lawmakers have cited anti-China protesters as examples of the need for defamation suits against insults and false information to be permitted against groups, as well as individuals. Proposed changes to the Criminal Act also have cited the protesters.
In November, local authorities armed with a 20-page guidance document were empowered to remove protest banners from public spaces if they discriminate against gender, race, religion or nationality.
Those reportedly include banners alleging Chinese crimes, organ harvesting and colonization.
However, the DPK is moving cautiously on new legislation.
Many have pointed out the double standard if anti-Chinese demonstrations are disallowed when anti-Japan and anti-U.S. protests were not. Broader principles are also in play.
“It is contradictory to principles of liberal democracy, it is against freedom of association and freedom of expression,” said Lee Soon-chun, a lawyer and former chancellor of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy.
He cited media polls that found a majority of citizens are against it and said legislation could be legally vulnerable.
“I think this kind of law is unconstitutional,” Mr. Lee said. “Civic groups could petition against it in the Constitutional Court.”
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.