Taiwanese visitors wear badges in S. Korea to avoid anti-Chinese hostility

Taiwanese tourists visiting South Korea have begun wearing identification badges to avoid being mistaken for Chinese nationals amid escalating xenophobic incidents targeting Mandarin speakers.

State of play: A Taiwan national sparked social media discussions earlier this month after posting a photo on Threads showing a badge with the Taiwanese flag and text reading “I’m Taiwanese” in Korean and “I’m from Taiwan” in English, questioning whether such identification was necessary given recent anti-Chinese sentiment. Respondents said the badges proved useful since Koreans generally cannot distinguish between Chinese and Taiwanese people by appearance. Some noted markedly better treatment from store employees when wearing them.

These fears reflect escalating protests across Seoul, including an Oct. 11 conservative civic group rally near the Chinese Embassy in Myeong-dong, where demonstrators chanted “Eradicate anti-state forces” and “No to Chinese influence” while directing slurs at Chinese nationals. An earlier Sept. 29 gathering in Yeouido drew approximately 270 people, with some wearing clothing with slogans like “Heaven will destroy the Chinese Communist Party.”

President Lee Jae Myung has condemned such xenophobic behavior as “self-destructive conduct that damages the national interest and image.”

Driving the news: Seoul’s Sept. 29 visa waiver program for Chinese tour groups of three or more, valid through June 30, 2026 to boost tourism, has drawn backlash despite Chinese visitors comprising one-third of all international tourists. Tensions, however, have turned violent much earlier.

In April, a man in his 30s followed and assaulted two Chinese women on a bus, accusing them of speaking too loudly in Chinese. Five days later, the same man waited outside a Mapo District restaurant before attacking a Taiwanese couple he mistakenly believed were Chinese, hitting the man in the head with a soju bottle. This perpetrator received 10 months in prison in August, with the court noting he “appears to have committed hate crimes targeting Chinese nationals out of longstanding hostility.”

Other violent incidents: Violence has occurred across borders in both directions. On Sept. 18, an intoxicated 37-year-old South Korean man attacked a 22-year-old Taiwanese university student near a bus stop in Taipei, mistaking the red radiating lines on his “BEATBOX” T-shirt for Imperial Japan’s Rising Sun Flag. The assailant, who lives in Taiwan with his Taiwanese wife, grabbed the student by the collar and punched his face while yelling accusations.

On Sept. 15, two Korean men attacked a Taiwanese YouTuber and her friend in Seoul’s Hongdae district after their sexual advances were rejected, leaving her with bruises and a fractured thumb. She criticized police for initially misidentifying the attackers as Chinese and releasing them without detention.