A past comment by Lee Dong Wook has unexpectedly ignited debate on Chinese social media.
On Weibo, the keyword “Lee Dong Wook, Koreans don’t eat mooncakes” has recently surged to the top of real-time discussion topics. As of August 20th, related posts exceeded 32,000, with views topping 98 million, drawing intense attention.
The controversy traces back to September of last year during Chuseok season, when Lee was chatting with fans on the Bubble platform. When some Chinese fans asked if Koreans also eat mooncakes, the actor replied, “Chinese fans, in Korea we don’t eat mooncakes. We celebrate holidays differently.” He then added, “Let’s stop talking about mooncakes. We eat songpyeon (half-moon rice cakes) instead.”
The remark was later translated into Chinese and circulated online in image form, where it began attracting criticism from Chinese netizens.
In Korea, however, most reactions have leaned toward bafflement. Many commenters questioned why the statement had become a controversy at all, with posts reading, “I don’t even know what mooncakes are,” “He only said Koreans eat songpyeon—how is that offensive?” and “What’s the problem with stating the facts?”
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