Imagine a situation where your country's culture is being stolen by another country. How would you feel? If you are proud of your country, you would feel bad. However, this embarrassing situation is happening between South Korea and China. Recently, Chinese people are trying to steal traditional Korean culture. We do not know well why they are trying to steal it.

To know the reasons, we should know first the Chinese history. In the past, there happened a great cultural revolution in the age of Mao Zedong government. It was a confusing moment, and many things about Chinese culture were destroyed by his plan. Recently, Chinese people are trying to restore their culture. However, in the process of restoring their culture, they claimed Korean culture as their own and related it to excessive patriotism. Many people think that Chinese people are jealous of Korean wave, influenced by K-pop such as BTS, Blackpink, and Parasite, so they are trying to steal it and make it their own.

▲ It is a picture that BTS is wearing ˝Hanbok.˝

It is the fault of China, but there are also Korean people who took money from China and made Korean culture into Chinese culture. There were Korean dramas such as "Mr. Queen" and "Joseon Exorcist." "Mr. Queen" is based on a novel that is about haste Korean and distorted history, and "Joseon Exorcist" is a story about zombie in Joseon. It is told that the background is Joseon, but its background looked like China. Because of that, these dramas are being surrounded by controversies now. There are also other examples of behavior of China trying to steal Korean culture. There is a game company named Paper Games. It released the game, Shining Nikki. It released it in the Korean server with characters wearing Hanbok, but Chinese netizens complained and said that Hanbok is Chinese traditional clothes. The company agreed and closed the Korean server in Shining Nikki. Also, there is an issue about YouTuber named Li Ziqi. She made a video of her making kimchi with hashtags, Chinese cuisine and Chinese food. There are many other things that show that China is trying to steal Korean culture.

▲ Scene of ˝Joseon Exorcist.˝ SBS told that food is Korean food, but they looks same with Chinese food.

Many things that happened indicate that Korean culture is being claimed by China st their own. Many celebrities such as idols and singers are trying to protect Korean culture for now. For example, BTS and Blackpink showed a picture and video of Korean culture on the internet and claimed that Korean culture is not the culture of China. Also, a singer, Jun Hyo Seong, appeared in Time Square wearing Hanbok. Many Korean people are trying to protect Korean culture. but the Korean government is indifferent with this problem.

Stealing another country's culture is a very big problem. To protect Korean culture, people should know the truth that Korean culture is not Chinese culture. Also, the active help of the Korean government is needed to protect Korean culture. People should pay attention to this problem. If people do not pay attention to this problem, traditional Korean culture will become Chinese culture.

By Yoonho Lee