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[Choice Times = Joo-hyun Park, Guest Columnist (CEO of Jaedam Entertainment)]
North Korean defector and YouTuber Kim Seo‑ah said on her channel that stadium officials stopped her from waving South Korea’s national flag, the Taegeukgi, during the AFC Women’s Champions League semifinal between Suwon FC Women and North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s Football Team at Suwon Stadium on the 20th.
Kim says she and several friends were cheering near the shared inter‑Korean supporters’ section while holding a Taegeukgi made by a friend. When a broadcast crew moved to film them, a stadium official intervened and told them, “The Taegeukgi is not allowed.”
The group protested, asking, “Why can’t we wave the Taegeukgi in South Korea?” and “Are we supposed to wave the North Korean flag instead?” They continued cheering with the national flag until they eventually moved to another section. (Editor)
The episode has come to symbolize a wider erosion of civic confidence. In downtown Suwon, citizens say they were stopped simply for holding the Taegeukgi. At the same time, a civic cheering squad reportedly funded with 300 million KRW (approximately $225,000) in public money celebrated the opposing team’s goals and cheered whenever South Korean players erred.
One North Korean defector’s chilling question — “Should we wave the North Korean flag in South Korea?” — now reads like a warning about the country’s possible direction.
What is even more disturbing than this affront to national dignity is the online mob response after the incident became public. According to Kim, left‑wing commenters swarmed her YouTube channel with abusive messages. Their principal message was blunt:
“Go back to North Korea.”
Consider the cruelty of that demand. It tells a person who fled oppression and hunger to return to a country with executions and political prison camps. Why? Because she waved South Korea’s flag on South Korean soil and, apparently, upset North Korea’s sensitivities.
Those who frequently champion “human rights” and assert moral authority over protecting minorities and the vulnerable reveal a harsh, authoritarian streak when the adversary state is involved.
These voices show no comparable outrage at episodes many would regard as far greater slights to national honor than the so‑called “tumbler” controversy. Instead, they attack a vulnerable defector carrying the Taegeukgi and hurl insults such as “Go back North.”
This is more than hypocrisy. The column contends it amounts to a worrying admission: the worldview surrounding President Lee Jae‑myung and the pro‑North factions that defend him is fundamentally submissive and anti‑national.
One must ask: if this political force will mobilize state power over a tumbler controversy, why does it seem willing to sacrifice national dignity and security while targeting North Korean defectors whom the constitution recognizes as citizens of the Republic of Korea?
The article urges the public to awaken. The last bulwark against a national system crumbling under shallow propaganda and illusions of “fake peace” is the clear‑eyed awareness of sovereign citizens themselves.
Citizens are called upon to confront directly what the author describes as a nation sliding into absurdity and dystopia.
* This article has been translated by ChatGPT.
#SouthKorea #Taegeukgi #NorthKorean
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