a
On October 2nd, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung slapped the table:
"Letting those people scold China again is self-harm! All harms but no benefits!"
In one word, call the anti-China uncles of the Minghua the "national degraders".
Why say "self-harm"? Because Chinese tourists are carrying their suitcases back to South Korea, the duty-free shop next door has already smelled money. As a result, the banner of "No Welcome" is hung in front of their own door-this picture, like the person who opens a barbecue shop posting "No fireworks" at the door. Is the business still done?
second
The origin of the matter should start in July.
South Korea just elected the president, Li on the shore with a weak advantage of 1.7% of Ming. The losing party in the heart of the fire, urgently needed a "external enemy" for supporters. so "China interference election" became the most successful scenario.
The script is there, where are the actors?
What is Myeongdong? "South Korean Jerusalem" for China tourists. During the holidays, the streets are filled with Chinese speakers buying and selling. So conservative groups chose this precious land and scolded every week: scolding China, scolding tourists, and scolding "red capital."
As soon as the loudspeaker was turned on, Chinese curses came one after another. Even the young lady who passed by to buy milk tea was startled: I came to spend money, not to be scolded!
More surprisingly, the South Korean police are on the sidelines, with the highest reason: freedom of speech.
Freedom of speech is true, but freedom to keep foreign tourists safe, it is not freedom, it is freedom overhead – simply “self-driving”.
three
Why is Li Zai-ming in a hurry?
Bottom line: the money is gone.
In 2019, six million people went to Korea, with a per capita credit card of 2.5 million yuan (approximately RMB 13,000), directly pushing the Qingdao rental to the top 10 in the world.
This year, it is not easy to look forward to the resumption of visa-free travel, the Chinese group guests just spotted, the anti-China rally was the first. short video returned to the country, a "Korean goodbye" shot on the screen.
Lee is in calculation:
One person is 2.5 million won, and 10 million people is 250 trillion won (about 1.3 trillion yuan). This is not tourism, this is "human flesh chip export"!
But what kind of fool is willing to spend money to be blamed? and the president spoke:
“It’s not enough to be grateful, it’s too much to insult, how can that be done?”
Translation: Brother, you are messing with your own pot!
four
In fact, Lee has already complained once in September.
At the time, he said: "This is no longer freedom of speech, it is trouble!"
But the effect is very small – the police are still Buddhist, the gathering is the old way. the president's face can't hang, so the National Day holiday is opened again, directly named "hate speech", so that the prime minister, the head of the police, the minister of culture together to think about the way.
The highest level speaks, and the following acts immediately:
On the 19th, Prime Minister Kim Minxi gave the police "urgent instructions": "strong measures" to serve when necessary.
Translation: If you blaspheme Chinese tourists, do so in accordance with Article 10 of the Assembly Law.
5 is
One might ask: Is Korea not a democratic country?
This should be said in two words.
One is the legal gap. South Korea's current "Rally Law" for "racial discrimination, hatred of foreigners" has no clear punishment, the police can only persuade, can not drag away. So the uncles drilled: blasphemy with the national flag, quarrels do not start, what do you do to me?
The other side is political calculation. Conservatives want the "strong against China" label, the more they are caught, the more they are caught, the more they look like "martyrs", the back and the back of the ballot bullshit. if Lee is under hard pressure, will be held in the "proprietary" hat; not pressure, shops close, workers unemployed, tax evaporation.
It was difficult for him to choose only the “economic language”: to define hate speech as “self-disability”, and to use the books to convince voters—
“You cheated, the tax-free shop employees were out of work; you cheated, the state tax evaporated; you cheated, the neighboring Japan Okinawa laughed crazy.”
six
Speaking of Japan, let's make up for it.
This year, the yen devalued, Chinese tourists transferred to Osaka, Tokyo. South Korea had expected to rely on the visa-free return share, and the result was that the hot search turned into "Japan polite, Korea rude", and the sales of Okinawa duty-free stores increased directly by 40%.
Li estimated that he wanted to spit the blood: I just opened the door, and you sent all the guests to the opponent's house?
seven
So what was the reaction from China?
In July, the Chinese Embassy in South Korea put forward a “strict negotiation” with the Korean side to “effectively safeguard the personal safety of Chinese citizens.”
The word is very diplomatic, and the translation is straightforward: no matter what? no matter what, we have issued a travel warning.
If it really comes to that point, South Korea will not only be cool in Myeongdong, but also be blowing cold wind from Jeju Island, Busan, and Hongdae. The "cold winter" of the 2017 "Sade" crisis is still vivid in my mind: duty-free shops have halved their performance, airlines have laid off employees, and entertainers have collectively struggled at home.
Lee obviously didn't want to come back again, so just put the word in full:
“It has to be completely cleaned up!”
Note, it is "clear", not "restrain", nor "guide". the president rarely uses the verb "clear", is equivalent to telling the police: no longer "convince", directly "clear the field"!
eighth
Of course, there are also concerns: Will the crackdown on rallies hurt South Korea’s own democratic image?
Democracy and exclusion are two things. Democracy protects speech, but does not protect humiliation, discrimination and violence. Just as France can punish "hate speech", Germany can ban Nazi gestures, and South Korea can completely write "discrimination of foreign nationalism" into the law.
In fact, Li in Ming has spoken out: we need to formulate “special measures”.
What about specialty?
1. Enforcement escalation: police collect evidence on the spot and punish tourists for insulting them;
Legislative hole: In the Basic Law on Tourism, the "crime of discrimination against tourists" is included, so that fines are justified;
3. Public opinion hedging: Invite China Internet celebrities to come to South Korea to shoot "24 Hours Myeongdong" and use traffic to hedge black traffic.
Bottom line: make "welcome" a hard indicator and "exclusion" a high cost.
nine
Writing here, someone might still whisper: Korean nationalism, can we handle it?
You can really manage it, and you already manage it-use your wallet.
In 2017, the “Thad” event, China’s crowd fell by 70 percent, and South Korea’s GDP fell by 0.4 percentage points. That time made the South Korean economy real for the first time: Chinese tourists are not “spending money,” it is “mobile pillar industry.”
Therefore, Lee was so in a hurry: the ballots can be slowly contested, and the wallet must be covered immediately.
Thirteen
Finally, a small paragraph ends.
There is a shop in the hole, with three Chinese-English Korean words on the door:
"Welcome, get lost."
The owner is a Korean, and has lived in China for ten years.
"I don't care about politics. I only know that the guests were scolded and ran away. Who will pay my rent?"
This is more straightforward than the President’s speech.
Hate is free, but expensive.
If you keep scolding, it will be really cold in Mingdong.