Foreign tourists in ‘hanbok’ at Cheong Wa Dae Foreign tourists wearing the traditional Korean costume “hanbok” take a selfie at the former presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on May 24, 2023. (Yonhap)
China does have a point that in northeastern China there is a large Korean minority group present that they were trying to represent during the opening ceremony:
A Chinese performer dressed in the traditional Korean attire of hanbok waves during the opening ceremony for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Stadium in Beijing, Feb. 4. Yonhap
South Korea plans to continue global efforts to publicize hanbok, the traditional Korean attire, as its signature culture, a government official said Sunday, as people here are in an uproar over China’s use of hanbok during the winter Olympics opening ceremony.
One woman clad in hanbok appeared among those representing 56 ethnic groups across China during the event held in Beijing last Friday.
You can read more at the link, but clearly the CCP was trying to stick it to the West and their diplomatic boycott of the Olympics over human rights abuses of the Uighurs. This ceremony was intended to make it look like all the ethnic groups in China are happy and content and the West is wrong about repression of minority groups. I doubt this had anything to do with stealing Korean culture.
Hanbok stampsThis photo, provided by Korea Post, shows stamps featuring the traditional Korean costume, hanbok, worn by people of different ages, which will be issued on Nov. 18, 2021. (Yonhap)
Korean-American congresswoman Korean-American Democratic U.S. Representative Marilyn Strickland (3rd from R) wears hanbok, traditional Korean attire, as she and colleagues take their oath of office as members of the new 117th House of Representatives on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 3, 2021, in this photo captured from Twitter. (Yonhap)
The poster does seem to suggest the model is taking her hanbok off which considering all the sexual harassment cases going on in America, it is probably not a good way to promote your city:
The promotional posters that were going to be used in busy parts of New York. The image shows, from left, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gwanghwamun Square and Dongdaemun Design Plaza. / Courtesy of Seoul City
Seoul City has dropped promotional posters after they drew criticism for sexually objectifying women.
The posters were going to be exhibited in New York City’s Times Square and SoHo, among other areas, including 150 bus stations, from Dec.18 to Jan 14.
“I thought she was undressing,” said Alex Costilhes, an engineer graduate who lives in New York.“The tagline doesn’t help either.The tagline, with the woman pulling on her dress, gives it a sexual connotation.It could be fixed easily with her just not tugging on that ribbon.”
New York resident Paula Martinez said it had not crossed her mind at first that it was a sexualized image.But “the directorial choice to have the model pulling on the ribbon is kind of weird,” she said.“I can definitely see how it might play into the Western fetishization of East Asian women.Like, that being used to draw white men to come to Korea for tourism.I feel like it’s not that overt, though.” [Korea Times]
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, far right, and German Commissioner for Culture and the Media Monika Grutters, second from the right, view the paintings by Korean modern artist Kim Ki-chang (1914-2001) that depict the life of Jesus in a Korean traditional style of painting. They are at the opening of “The Luther Effect : Protestantism – 500 Years in the World” exhibition at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, Germany on Wednesday. The paintings are on loan from the Seoul Museum [Joong Ang Ilbo]
