Japan and South Korea’s Mascot Feud

In both South Korea and Japan, mascots are ubiquitous and play a key role in marketing, entertainment, and community building for everything from the postal service to provincial city governments to corporations. Most often, those mascots are only recognizable by the community involved in their creation. However, sometimes they gain a life of their own and become immensely popular. When they do, as in the case of Korean penguin Pengsoo and Japanese bear Kumamon, they become indispensable in promotion and financial profit.

This might help explain why a recent feud over the two mascots became public and emotional in the two countries. As the two countries already suffer from a bitter and long-standing historical animosity, this feud can be seen as a puzzle piece of a bigger political and historical picture.

The Pengsoo-Kumamon Dispute

Both Pengsoo and Kumamon are friendly-looking mascots that have gained unexpected levels of fame and popularity in their home countries and abroad.

Pengsoo came to national attention in 2019, when it was created and produced by the Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), the authors of another famous penguin mascot, Pororo. The character came into stardom as an “anti-hero” and a generally relatable character, gaining popularity among children and adults alike. In particular, Pengsoo is appreciated by millennials, who see in the mascot the same struggles they have to face on the ultra-competitive job market. Although mostly unknown abroad, Pengsoo’s popularity in Korea is incredible; the penguin has been used in the media campaigns of Korean conglomerates and even had an opportunity to meet some of the most recognizable K-pop stars and the foreign minister of South Korea.

Kumamon has a longer history. The bear was created in 2010 to promote tourism in Kumamoto prefecture in Japan after the province was connected with a new Shinkansen line. Compared to Pengsoo, Kumamon gained more prominence outside of its home country but has more competition inside Japan and as such never gained total market dominance in its home country. Similar to Pengsoo, Kumamon has been increasingly seen on social media, and it recently opened a YouTube channel.

There was nothing, in particular, tying the two mascots together until recently. The feud started with a piece written on July 9 by a Korean freelance writer for Daily Shincho, a Japanese weekly right-leaning news magazine. It is owned by Shinchosha, a media group famous for scandalous articles catering to the right wing, which might explain the controversial topic. The Daily Shincho reporter implied that Pengsoo and Kumamon are fundamentally alike in the sense that they are both created by government-related agencies for promotional purposes and are animal puppets with big eyes and other similar features. The body of the article was not particularly adversarial, although the reporter implied the possibility of imitation. However, the article was published with a title that provocatively stated Pengsoo is a copycat.

Japanese netizens also started casting doubt on Pengsoo’s originality, and some openly accused Pengsoo of being a “pakuri,” a copycat. One Japanese netizen’s comment on this particular news that received 9,176 likes on Yahoo Japan as of August 15 said: “(Koreans) are ultimately still dependent on Japan despite being openly anti-Japanese. Ironically (Korea) still relies on (Japan) at the end of the day.” Because there was a similar precedent earlier this year, where a cat character released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in South Korea plagiarized the Japanese animated character Doraemon, some Japanese netizens mocked Koreans for disregarding the idea of copyrights laws.

Resentment among Korean netizens ensued. Some argued that “Pengsoo is a penguin, and that makes a difference in the first place.” Some others also retorted that if Pengsoo is a copy of Kumamon, then “Kumamon is a copycat of Mickey Mouse.” Many Koreans saw this as just another attempt by Japanese rightists to unnecessarily provoke a conflict with South Korea. The debate continued, as some Japanese commented that “Koreans who insist on the difference are overly patriotic,” and some others joked that “since [the article] is written by a Korean reporter, it is a fight among the Koreans themselves.”

Although the groups involved in the debate were quite fringe — Korean media acknowledge that most Japanese people do not agree with the “copycat” statement — the conflict nevertheless became heated and gained attention across the media landscapes of both nations.