Professor Seo Kyung-duk Responds To Chinese Netizens’ Criticism Of “Exhuma”

Amid the rising popularity of “Exhuma”, which has surpassed 8 million viewers in Korea and confirmed releases in 133 countries, Chinese netizens recently started mocking the movie.

A Chinese netizen’s post on X (formerly Twitter about “Exhuma” actors having Chinese characters drawn on their faces and bodies to avoid anger recently caused a stir and has gained over 600 million views. In the post, this person said, “In China, drawing or tattooing characters on one’s face is a very insulting and humiliating action”, adding “It’s so ridiculous that Koreans draw Chinese characters they don’t even understand on their faces. It sounds very ridiculous when you translate cool phrases from Korean to Chinese”.

In response to the criticism, Professor Seo Kyungduk at Sungshin Women’s University said, “Korean dramas and movies have been attracting huge attention from people around the world in recent years, it seems that the inferior complex of Chinese netizens is growing every day”.

He emphasized, “Of course, constructive criticism is nothing bad. However, one thing I would like to advise Chinese netizens is: Do not secretly watch K-content from now on”, adding “You guys have been downloading K-contents that are famous around the world, such as ‘The Glory’, ‘Squid Game’, ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’, etc. and it has become a bad habit called ‘thief-watching’”.

The Professor added, “You guys exploited the actors’ portrait rights, produced and sold fake products to gain profits. Moreover, you watched the content secretly but gave rating reviews for the content openly. Instead of talking badly about K-content, learn how to respect the cultures of other countries first.”