Koreans Threaten Cyber-Terrorism to Stop All Hetalia

Not satisfied with forcing a cancellation of the main TV broadcast of WWII parody anime Axis Powers Hetalia in Japan, or rather, perhaps emboldened by the ease with which the station was overcome, Koreans have redoubled their efforts and are taking action to see the rest of the online broadcasts, DVD sales, and presumably manga, cancelled.

A new petition (below) has already gathered 5,000 signatures, and extremists are advocating attacking Japanese websites connected with the anime to force a cessation of its distribution. The previous petition with more signatures led in part to the cancellation of the TV broadcast…

Talk on the Korean major board relating to the issue falls into two major camps, with many advocating pressuring the Korean Foreign Ministry to demand Japan stop its “criminal” and “discriminatory” broadcasting.

Even more ominously, another group advocates directly attacking Japanese websites in acts of “cyber-terrorism”.

Such action would not be unprecedented; only recently a sustained DoS attack emanating from Korea attempted rather optimistically to take down 2ch, but failed miserably in the face of those ironclad servers.

As usual, it is not clear whether such statements are overheated froth or a genuine threat, but they certainly illustrate the strength of sentiment amongst the ever maddened Korean nationalists.

A Japanese fan response has seen some interest in establishing their own online petition, asking that broadcast be resumed with any offending portions cut, pointing out correctly no other countries voiced offence at their unflattering portrayals, but it looks unlikely to have any effect.

Probably the most effective response, and the one preferred by the apparently non-confrontational Japanese fanbase, is buying the DVDs and manga; the manga appears to be enjoying a healthy response thanks to all the publicity.

Via Etnews (Korean), you can see the article translated into Japanese here (along with the 2ch response).

The issue should not be underestimated; it has already reached the Korean National Assembly at least once:

Interestingly, we also hear defamatory Korean news broadcasts about the issue, which would never be allowed in Japanese broadcasts:

“When we say ‘perverted’, we hardly need to explain that we’re talking about Japan”, etc.