Victor An (Korean name: Hyeonsu Ahn), who served as the technical coach for the Chinese short track team at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. [이미지출처=연합뉴스]
[아시아경제 황수미 기자] It is predicted that Victor An (Korean name Hyeonsu Ahn), who served as the technical coach of the Chinese short track team at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, will be virtually expelled. This is because the internet shopping mall operated by Victor An’s wife marked Taiwan as the country.
On the 17th (local time), the China Horyun Network Shimbun Center reported that “Victor An apologized for his wife’s mistake, but he will not be able to rectify it.”
The media said, “The Chinese ice skating community wanted to continue their relationship with Victor An even after the Beijing Olympics. But now it’s impossible. We are in an awkward situation, such as the termination of a PR contract with a private company because of his foolish wife.”
Earlier, there was a controversy that Taiwan was included in the category of nationality selection when registering as a foreign member on the website of a cosmetics company run by Victor An’s wife Unari. Chinese netizens strongly objected to this, saying it violated the ‘one China’ principle. ‘One China’ is the basic principle of China’s handling of the Taiwan issue, meaning that China and Taiwan are indivisible and that the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government.
After the controversy, Viktoran personally apologized. he last On the 14th, on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, “There was an error in the default settings due to my family’s negligence in managing the Internet site.”
“I feel deeply guilty for the hurt I have caused you,” Victoran said. “I and my family consistently support the ‘one China’ principle,” he added.
An apology was also posted on Woo’s website. In the apology, “We apologize for causing damage to Chinese netizens with incorrect information. The site was built and managed by an outside company, and we did not recognize the incorrect information. We requested corrections and decided to stop cooperation.”
But public opinion in China is getting worse. Viktor Ann’s apology included comments such as “If you’re serious, don’t only write on Weibo, post the same thing on Instagram,” and “I can’t forgive you.”
The process by which Victor An came to China from Korea and Russia was also highlighted one after another. One netizen said, “Victor Ahn abandoned Korea and even Russia. He came to China after money. He can’t expect any patriotism from him.”
Due to this controversy, Zunlebao, a famous Chinese milk powder company, even terminated the contract with Victor An as an advertising model.
Some voices are calling for forgiveness for Victor Ann. Some netizens responded, “It’s okay,” “Victorian has said many times that he likes China, and he does not oppose ‘One China'”, “I apologized, so I can move on.”
Reporter Hwang Su-mi choko216@asiae.co.kr
