Park Ji-sung, a fan-favorite former participant for Manchester United, requested the soccer membership’s followers Sunday to cease singing a track in his honor that features the racist stereotype that Koreans eat canine meat.
As a adorned midfielder for the group from 2005-12, Park earned the adoration of the group’s followers, who bestowed upon him a typical honor within the soccer world: a track or chant, typically carried out within the stadium, with lyrics meant to reward him.
However the reference to canine meat was “very uncomfortable to me,” regardless that he was proud that followers made a track for him and he understood they didn’t intend to offend or harm him, he mentioned on an official group podcast launched Sunday.
He thought he needed to settle for it, he mentioned, having come to Britain from South Korea as a younger participant who was unfamiliar with the tradition. However he heard followers sing the track once more in August when Hwang Hee-chan, a South Korean, made his debut for the Wolverhampton Wanderers in a sport towards Manchester United.
“I ought to in all probability communicate out extra loud this time,” Park mentioned on the podcast. Even when followers didn’t imply any offense, he mentioned, “I’ve to teach for the followers to cease that phrase, which is lately often a racial insult to the Korean individuals.”
Manchester United mentioned in an announcement that it “totally helps Ji-sung’s feedback and urges followers to respect his needs.”
References to canine meat have lengthy been used as an assault on Koreans abroad, a stereotype rooted within the nation’s long-standing battle over the continued, however diminishing, follow of elevating canines for human consumption. Most Koreans don’t eat canine meat now; a September 2020 survey by Nielsen discovered that 84% of Koreans both have by no means eaten it or don’t intend to take action sooner or later.
The tradition has “modified enormously” over the many years and much more quickly lately, mentioned Lola Webber, a director of campaigns to finish canine meat consumption for Humane Society Worldwide. Most youthful Koreans are appalled by the thought, she mentioned, though some older Koreans nonetheless search out the meat at specialised eating places.
“It’s not a part of mainstream tradition by any means in South Korea,” she mentioned. “It hasn’t been for a really very long time, however particularly in the previous couple of years, there’s been a really vocal opposition.”
Final week, President Moon Jae-in of South Korea recommended banning the consumption of canine meat, recognizing it as a global embarrassment.
The world’s prime soccer golf equipment have constantly wrestled with racist conduct by a few of their followers. In 2017, Romelu Lukaku, who’s Black, requested Manchester United followers to cease singing a track for him that contained a racial stereotype. Some followers refused, following the track with a brand new one: “We’re Man United, we’ll sing what we would like.”
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