Bottles of Evergrande Spring mineral water Photo: IC

South Korean star Kim Soo-hyun Photo: CFP

It seems that whenever politics makes its way into the entertainment world, it's celebrities that tend to get caught in the cross-fire.

Take the recent controversy surrounding Asian heartthrob and South Korean star Kim Soo-hyun for example. Adored by millions of fans in South Korea and China and long occupying headlines in both countries, his most recent appearance in the news has been rather unpleasant.

What's in a name?

A week after accepting a 6 million yuan ($964,033) endorsement deal for the Evergrande Group's Chinese mineral water brand Evergrande Spring, the star has found himself trapped in a cyber war between people in China and his home country of South Korea. The point of contention between the two sides? The name of a mountain.

The group has long stated that the water for its Evergrande Spring brand originates from the Changbai Mountain range, which stretches from the Northeast Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning to the North Korean provinces of Ryanggang and Chagang and serves as the border between China and North Korea.

Yet, despite the fact that the mineral water is not sold in South Korea, South Koreans netizens are upset that the mountain range is being referred to by its Chinese name rather than its Korean name Baekdu Mountain. Their logic being that since the range of mountains is located on the Korean Peninsula, it should be referred to by its Korean name.

As news of the endorsement deal spread across the Internet, Kim together with You Who Came from the Stars co-star Jun Ji-hyun, who also signed a similar endorsement agreement with Evergrande, became embroiled in this "territory dispute," even being called "traitors."

This rising pressure is not just coming from the Internet. On its news program on Saturday, the Seoul Broadcasting System announced that "Baekdu Mountain" was the "spiritual mountain" of the Korean nation. The report went on to state that previously both Chinese and South Korean beverage companies had hoped to gain access to the mountain's water resources, but that "the Chinese government has used resource protection as an excuse to only allow Chinese companies to exploit the water resources there in a limited fashion, thereby revealing its desire to monopolize Baekdu Mountain's water resources."

On Monday, despite the two having already shot an advertisement, the agencies for the two stars, Kim's KeyEast and Jun's Culture Depot, announced that the stars would be withdrawing from the endorsement deal. Some within the entertainment industry speculate that this may lead to the duo having to pay over several billion South Korean won (several million dollars) in compensation for breach of contract.

Of course the Chines side was not without its opinion and netizens were quick to react. Sina Weibo user qianyuegege posted: "I don't have any feelings for Kim either way, but as I recall the Changbai Mountain range acts as the border between China and North Korea. If North Korea doesn't have an opinion, why does South Korea think it's a big deal?"

Patriotism or cyberbullying?

As information about the controversy continued to spread, many Chinese netizens, not looking to be left out, also began posting vicious messages online telling Kim to "get out of China" and calling for a boycott of the star. Reading these posts, I couldn't help but wonder just what the actor did to deserve such comments.

It seems that whenever a difference of opinion in the political world reaches entrainment circles, plenty of people use this as a great excuse to vent their anger about political issues, taking the celebrities who are standing on the frontline as their punching bags.

Back in 2001, when Chinese superstar Zhao Wei wore a dress with a Japanese military flag on it, she was condemned nation-wide for her actions. Even though she claimed she had no idea that the pattern on the dress was related to the Japanese military and apologized a million times, people continued to attack her online using language that I myself found unbearable, while one extremist went so far as to throw human waste at her while she was on stage.

It's not just celebrities that suffer from political backlashes, sometimes even ordinary citizens get trapped in the middle. As tensions rose between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands two years ago, a handful of "patriots" went about smashing Japanese brand cars and Japanese restaurants to show their "patriotism." However, most of the cars and restaurants damaged were actually owned by Chinese. When this insanity was at its peak, a call for everyone to stay rational could get you labeled as a "traitor" by some extremists.

What I myself find strange, is that in this case Kim didn't actually say or do anything related to politics to trigger this outrage, in the end he is just an entertainer, not a politician. Yet, people on both sides seem to have taken this opportunity to express hatred caused by political divisions, while others come across as people who are tired of seeing the Korean star's face pasted everywhere and have finally found an good excuse to let out their feelings.

Since when has social media become a place to vent anger and curse at someone for no reason? In my opinion it's all a bit ridiculous and uncalled for. Cursing an entertainer doesn't solve anything and certainly doesn't prove your so-called patriotism.

"These so-called patriots can't think for themselves. They are blindly led by public opinion and swear at him even though they're not clear about what's going on. Cyberbullying is deadly," Sina Weibo user lanwu guaiguai commented on a post I wrote about the issue on my personal Weibo.

No matter how things turn out in the end, the biggest winner among this chaos has got to be the Evergrande Group itself. If Kim goes through with his decision to pull out from the endorsement the group will receive a nice hefty sum as recompense. Meanwhile, the whole Internet storm has won the group a huge amount of support in China for stating that Changbai Mountain belongs to China, and has acted as a great means of free advertisement.