Behind China-South Korea skating row, a deeper cultural rift

Hwang Dae-heon of South Korea celebrates after winning his men's 1500-meters final during the short track speedskating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022, in Beijing. South Korea was angered by the disqualifications of two of its short-track speedskaters, including Hwang, in the semifinals of the 1,000 meters speedskating at the Beijing Games this week. A protest was filed and South Koreans online called for the team to withdraw in protest. Instead, they stayed, and Hwang won gold in the men's 1,500 meters. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

FILE- Movie goers pass by promotion boards for a Korean War movie "The Battle of Lake Changjin" at a cinema in Beijing, China, Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. China has stirred nationalism with a pair of box office hits, including "The Battle of Lake Changjin," lionizing the role of Chinese troops in the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended without a peace treaty. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

FILE- People walk past a Lotte Mart where additional security measures are visible in Beijing, China, Friday, March 17, 2017. Bilateral relations between South Korea and China took a significant hit in 2017 after South Korea installed an advanced U.S. missile defense system to counter nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. Beijing retaliated by suspending Chinese group tours to South Korea and obliterating the China business of South Korean supermarket giant Lotte, which had provided land for the missile system. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

FILE- People watch a live broadcast of Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party, left, and Yoon Suk Yeol of the main opposition People Power Party during a presidential debate for the upcoming March 9 presidential election, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. In the heat of the presidential campaign, candidate Lee warned China against usurping Korean culture. Yoon has also embraced the sentiment. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE- Chinese President Xi Jinping, bottom center, and high ranking officials bow in honour of soldiers during the commemorating conference on the 70th anniversary of China's entry into the 1950-53 Korean War, at the Great Hall fo the People in Beijing, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

FILE- South Korean protesters hold a banner that reads "Manchuria field in China is Korea's territory! Stop deportation of North Korean defectors to North Korea!" during a rally opposing the scheduled visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 9, 2007. China and South Korea have an ongoing dispute over the history of ancient kingdoms whose territories stretched from the Korean Peninsula to Manchuria. South Koreans see these kingdoms as Korean, but China began to claim them as part of its national history in the early 1980s. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE- Volunteers make kimchi, a traditional pungent vegetable dish, to donate to needy neighbors, at a temple in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. Alongside politics, frictions between China and South Korea have long been driven by cultural issues, even including the origin of kimchi, a Korean national dish of fermented cabbage that China claims as its own invention. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE- South Korean Kim Young-kil, 74, bows in front of the gravestone of his brother Kim Young-ki who died during the 1950-1953 Korean War, on the eve of South Korea's Memorial Day at the National Cemetery in Seoul, South Korea Sunday, June 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FILE - South Korean protesters stage a rally to oppose the plan to deploy the advanced U.S. missile defense system called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, near the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, April 29, 2017. Bilateral relations between South Korea and China took a significant hit in 2017 after South Korea installed an advanced U.S. missile defense system to counter nuclear and missile threats from North Korea. The decision angered China, which claimed that the anti-missile system in South Korea could be reconfigured to peep into its territory. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

Police officers stand guard to block possible protest rallies against the disqualification of two South Korean short track speedskaters at the Beijing Games, near the Chinese Embassy in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Feb. 11, 2022. Chinese and South Korean short-track speedskating fans are duking it out online over allegations of foul play, tapping into the historical rivalry between their countries. The tetchiness over a relatively obscure sport underscores the intense competition between the rising Asian superpower and the scrappy, high-tech democracy that has thrived despite the ever-present threat from China's ally North Korea. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)