"Hanok is Chinese"... Chinese Netizens Leave Malicious Comments on Korean Cultural Heritage Data

Dozens of Malicious Comments Along with Low Ratings
Korea Culture Information Service "Monitoring the Situation"

The government has opened 3D data of cultural heritage for free to support game and metaverse creations utilizing our cultural assets. However, it is reported that malicious comments from Chinese netizens are rampant regarding this data.

According to the gaming industry on the 1st, Chinese netizens have left dozens of malicious comments along with 1-star ratings on a Hanok asset uploaded on the ‘Unreal Engine Marketplace’ operated by Epic Games. An asset refers to all data used in game production such as modeling, textures, and sounds.

The main targets of Chinese netizens' attacks are 3D model data of traditional Joseon Dynasty buildings ‘Changwon’s House’ and ‘Jeju Mokgwana’ along with 10 types of traditional pattern images and textures uploaded last month by the Korea Cultural Information Service under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Among them, the Hanok asset received high praise worldwide from developers immediately after its release because it is far more complete than those made by individual developers and can be downloaded for free and applied to games.

However, once this fact became known in China, some netizens have been posting comments such as “Korean culture is part of Chinese culture” and “Since the signboards and patterns have Chinese characters, it is not Korean culture but Chinese culture,” along with harsh profanity.

Some of these comments have been hidden with a message saying ‘Reported as inappropriate content and under review’ following reports from other users.

Korean Cultural Heritage Data from the Korea Cultural Information Service on Unreal Engine Marketplace
[Image source=Screenshot from Unreal Engine Marketplace]

In response, a representative from the Korea Cultural Information Service stated, “Some malicious comments have been deleted, but new comments in Chinese or English are still being posted,” and added, “We are monitoring the situation and collecting cases.”

This is not the first time Chinese companies or netizens have claimed Korean traditional culture in games or videos as their own. In 2020, when the Chinese game company Paper Games added Hanbok to celebrate the Korean launch of the character dress-up game ‘Shining Nikki,’ Chinese netizens claimed it was the Ming Dynasty costume ‘Hanfu’ (漢服).

In response, Paper Games immediately removed the Hanbok costumes, posted a notice on the official cafe sympathizing with the Chinese netizens’ claims, and shut down the Korean server less than two months after the service started.

Also, earlier this year, Walt Disney’s theme park Disneyland used the term ‘Lunar New Year’ on its official Twitter, and then faced malicious comment attacks from Chinese netizens demanding it be changed to ‘Chinese New Year.’

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.