Hatred or fear of anything Korean
Anti-Korean sentiment or Koryophobia describes negative feelings towards Korean people, Korean culture, or the countries, North Korea and/or South Korea.
Anti-Korean sentiment has varied by location and time. Major historical events that impacted it include the Japanese occupation of Korea, Vietnam War, the Korean War and its aftermath. In recent years, sentiment has largely been impacted by politics, military aggression, territorial disputes, disputes over claims of historical revisionism, economic competition, and culture.
Anti-Korean sentiment occurs in China, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, United States and between the two Korean nations. The Korean Wave has been met with pushback in some countries, and the general sentiment on North Korea often incites negativity.
China.
Korea and China have historically maintained complicated ties. When Korea was annexed by Imperial Japan in 1910, it fell under Japanese influence. In China it is believed that some ethnic Koreans served in the Imperial Japanese Army whose invasion of China launched the Second Sino-Japanese War in July 1937. Adding to this sentiment is the allegation that some Koreans reportedly operated the Burma-Siam Death Railway. The Chinese referred to Koreans using the slur "er guizi" ().
At the end of World War II, North Korea, which was aligned with the Soviet bloc, became an ally of the People's Republic of China (PRC), while the PRC and the Republic of Korea did not recognize each other. During the Korean War, when China was engaged in war with South Korea and its United Nations allies, propaganda was used to indoctrinate people into hating South Korea, which was called a "puppet state" of the United States by the PRC government of the time.
From 1992 onward, after South Korea's normalization of relations with China, the relationship between the two nations gradually improved. From 2000 onward, Korean popular culture became popular within China.
A February 2021 survey conducted by scholars from Rice University, the University of British Columbia, and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy had 43% of Chinese respondents expressing an unfavorable view of South Korea, compared to 49% expressing a favorable view.
Japan.
In the Kantō Massacre shortly after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, ethnic Koreans in Japan were scapegoated and killed by mobs of Japanese vigilantes.
During the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Japanese and Korean supporters clashed with one another. Both sides were also known to post racist messages against each other on online bulletins. There were also disputes regarding how the event was to be hosted, as a result of the rivalry between the two nations. The territorial dispute over the Liancourt Rocks also fuels outrage. "Manga Kenkanryu" (often referred to as "Hating the Korean Wave") by Sharin Yamano discusses these issues while making many other arguments and claims against Korea.
Zainichi Koreans in Japan are also publicly perceived to be a nuisance and are seen as likely to cause trouble and start riots, a view shared by former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. A Zainichi organisation which has strong ties to the DPRK, Chongryon, is commonly accused of providing funding and material to North Korea and indoctrinating the Zainichi Korean population to actively hate Japan.
Some right-wing groups in Japan today have targeted ethnic Koreans living within Japan. One such group, known as Zaitokukai, is organized by members on the Internet, and has led street demonstrations against Korean schools.
There is also much concern in Japan regarding North Korea and its nuclear and long-range missile capabilities, as a result of missile tests in 1993, 1998 and 2006 and an underground nuclear test in 2006. There are also controversies regarding North Korean abductions of Japanese, where Japanese citizens were abducted by North Korean agents during the 1970s and 1980s.
The Korean Wave, or the exportation of South Korean pop culture, has created some negative feelings among pockets of Japanese society. Many Japanese citizens with conservative views and some right-wing nationalist groups have organized anti-Korean Wave demonstrations via 2channel. On 9 August 2011, more than 2,000 protesters demonstrated in front of Fuji TV's headquarters in Odaiba, Tokyo against the broadcasting of Korean dramas. Earlier, in July 2011, well-known actor Sousuke Takaoka was fired from his agency, Stardust Promotion, for tweeting criticisms against the influx of Korean dramas. The general perception of Koreans on 2channel is negative, with users depicting them as a violent, unethical, and irrational people who are a 'threat' to Japan. Users often reference stereotypes of Koreans, such as the use of dogs in Korean cuisine.
In April 2014, several anti-Korean stickers were found posted at 13 locations along the Shikoku Pilgrimage route; the stickers were denounced by a spokesman from the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage Association.
According to a 2014 BBC World Service Poll, Japanese people alike hold the largest anti–North Korean sentiment in the world, with 91% negative views of North Korea's influence, and with only 1% positive view making Japan the third country with the most negative feelings of North Korea in the world, after South Korea and the United States.
Within the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea–South Korea.
Since the end of World War II, the relationship between both North Korea and South Korea have been hostile. The two nations fought in the Korean War, which ended with an armistice agreement in 1953 without a peace treaty. Both nations claim the entire Korean Peninsula and have competed for sovereignty. Tensions after the war have further escalated in 1968, starting from a failed North Korean assassination attempt on South Korean President Park Chung Hee, a failed counter-assassination attempt against Kim Il Sung, the Uljin–Samcheok Landings, and the execution of a 9 year old South Korean boy by North Korean commandoes during the landings. Although the relationship somewhat warmed during the Sunshine Policy of the late 1990s to early 2000s, they have since cooled. In January 2024, Kim Jong Un was officially reported to abandon the goal of reunification, and recognize South Korea as a "primary foe and invariable principal enemy".
In South Korea, hostility toward North Korea is called "anti-North sentiment" (Korean: ; RR: ) and is commonly associated with right-leaning politics. According to a 2014 BBC World Service poll, 3% of South Koreans viewed North Korea's influence positively, with 91% expressing a negative view, making South Korea, after Japan, the country with the most negative feelings of North Korea in the world.
Naval skirmishes frequently occur between the two states, with North Korea targeting South Korean naval bases. The Bombardment of Yeonpyeong was cited by former UN ambassador Bill Richardson to be "the most serious crisis on the Korean peninsula since the 1953 armistice".
North Korean defectors.
As of 2023[ [update]], there are around 33,000 North Korean defectors in South Korea. They have widely and consistently reported experiencing discrimination. Areas of discrimination include but are not limited to employment discrimination, social isolation, and difficulty finding spouses. Some South Koreans even admit to avoiding businesses owned by North Korean defectors.
According to a 2012 study, North Korean men have greater difficulty than North Korean women in finding a spouse. A 2015 paper highlighted the tendency of a South Korean variety show, "Now On My Way to Meet You", to disproportionately present North Korean women as attractive marriage partners.
Foreign-born ethnic Koreans.
The treatment of ethnic Koreans who were born abroad and returned to South Korea has changed over time. In the 1990s, many young people with pro-unification sentiment viewed ethnic Koreans positively, and saw them as "representatives of the authentic Korean nation". However, sentiments subsequently cooled, and South Korean identity came to exclude both North Koreans and foreign-born ethnic Koreans.
Foreign-born Koreans who now live in South Korea have widely reported experiencing discrimination from South Koreans. They are reportedly seen as lazy, prone to commit crimes, and dirty. A 2009 study found that while foreign-born ethnic Koreans were preferred over non-Korean workers by employers, ethnic Koreans were "at least as likely to report discrimination".
South Koreans of mixed heritage.
People with partial Korean heritage have also experienced discrimination in South Korea, although this trend may be diminishing since at latest the late 2000s. In 2009, South Korean schools were prohibited from promoting ideas of ethnic purity and homogeneity, and in 2011 the Korean military amended their oath, replacing the term "minjok", meaning "nation", with "citizen".
United States.
Early history.
For much of the US's early relationship with Korea, the overall American public was overwhelmingly disinterested in or even unaware of Korea. The perception of Korea by politicians and the press, however, began much more negatively.
Korea's earliest interactions with the US caused it to gain notoriety with American politicians and press. The 1866 "General Sherman" incident, in which Koreans destroyed and killed the crew of a US ship that was illegally navigating its rivers, drew widespread condemnation in American newspapers. The "New York Tribune" wrote:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;Of Corea ["sic"], a country in North-Eastern Asia, little is known. It is nominally tributary to China, and is inhabited by a semi-barbarous people, extremely jealous of foreigners, with whom they hold but a very limited intercourse.
Koreans were widely portrayed as vicious, xenophobic, and savage "orientals" that rejected the ideals of the civilized West. The following 1871 United States expedition to Korea and its ensuing conflict also contributed to these negative perceptions. The American press mostly reacted positively to the Joseon–United States Treaty of 1882.
For decades, most publications portrayed Korea as backwards, poor, and inferior to Japan. Most exoticised the country with nicknames such as "The Hermit Kingdom" and "The Land of Hats". W. C. Kitchin wrote in his 1884 book "Christianity in Corea:"
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;The story is told by those who have seen it that it takes three able-bodied Coreans to run a common spade. The people are extremely indolent and as a consequence miserably poor.
Many publications commented negatively on the poor social status of Korean women. One newspaper headline read "Corean ["sic"] Women: Noble Ladies and Degraded Slave Girls of the Hermit Kingdom: They are More Secluded than Turks and Have Few Rights Respected by Man".""
The minority of American journalists, politicians, and activists who visited Korea generally held more favorable opinions of it, and some expressed frustration at the negative opinions of their countrymen.
During Japanese colonization.
Initially, sentiments towards the Japanese colonization of Korea were positive.
US President Theodore Roosevelt was an outspoken critic of Joseon and Korean people. He described Koreans as "unenlightened and recalcitrant" and proudly called himself "pro-Japanese". These sentiments were mostly shared by other high-level US officials, who felt that colonization by the more-enlightened Japanese would be beneficial to Korea. Negative impressions may have been somewhat influenced by "Japanese information channels", which had significantly higher funding and reach in the US than any Korean sources did.
In 1894, an article in the "New York Herald" declared:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;[Japan] has the right to occupy Corea in the interest of the commerce and civilization of the Western world. She will remain in Corea as warder of the little kingdom just emerging from the Chinese darkness, assisting her in moral, intellectual, and material development, leaving the country when her work is done, when the Hermit Kingdom has been place on the proper pathway of good government. Like Japan, and through Japan, Corea must be made the outpost of Western civilization and commerce against Mongolian decrepitude and exclusiveness.
However, writings about Korea became more sympathetic in the late 1910s, after information about Japan's Twenty-One Demands to China became public knowledge, and after Japan's violent suppression of the Korean March First Movement in 1919.
Before World War II, parts of the African American community began viewing the Empire of Japan favorably, as they saw Japan as a challenger to the White West. Several prominent African American intellectuals, including W. E. B. Du Bois, published sympathetic writings that attempted to justify Japanese colonialism in Korea and China. Du Bois wrote:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;Japan is regarded by all colored peoples as their logical leader, as the one non-white nation which has escaped forever the dominance and exploitation of the white world... Has she seized Korea, Formosa and Manchuria? [...] She has simply done what England has done in Hong Kong and France in Annam, and what Russia, Germany and perhaps even the United States intended to do in China... And yet in all her action there has been this vast difference: her program cannot be one based on race hate for the conquered, since racially these latter are one with the Japanese and are recognized as blood relatives. Their eventual assimilation, the accord of social equality