A file photo of comedian Yoo Jae-suk, provided by KBS, a major television network.
SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — As anti-Chinese, anti-Korean sentiment is reaching extreme levels following the Beijing Winter Olympics, a Chinese fan club for South Korean comedian Yoo Jae-suk suddenly announced that is was shutting down.
The ‘Yoo Jae-suk Universe’ fan club announced on the Chinese social media platform Weibo last Sunday that the fan club will cease to operate.
“We’ve decided to shut down the fan club after long hours of consideration. Now, we bid all of you a final goodbye,” the post said.
“We are sure that the fans are no doubt most distraught by this moment. No words will be enough for consolation, but we shouldn’t deny even the joy we used to cherish in the past.”
The fan club did not elaborate on why it is shutting down.
Experts suggest, however, that Yoo’s actions the day before might have been involved, when he mentioned South Korean short track speed skaters Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo who were disqualified from their semifinal races in the men’s 1,000m on Feb. 7 following a controversial ruling by a referee.
In a recent episode of “Hangout with Yoo” which aired last Saturday on MBC, he was seen frustrated by the controversial ruling, saying he was “very angry” while watching the event.
Some Chinese media outlets criticized the 49-year-old comedian’s actions, arguing that he was expressing his belief that the ruling was not fair.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
