Seongnam restaurant named after Xi Jinping to rebrand after alleged vandalism attack

A Seongnam restaurant named after Chinese President Xi Jinping is changing its name after being vandalized over the holidays, allegedly by Chinese nationals who flew home immediately after the attack.

Police on Monday requested arrest warrants for four Chinese men who are suspected of fleeing to China. If the warrants are issued, police plan to request red notices from the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol.

"I went to the district office this morning and filed a report to change the restaurant's name," the owner of the restaurant "Xi Jinping" in Bundang District, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, said in a phone interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday.

"I was very afraid that even with the suspects out of the country, someone else could break in and commit a crime. I decided to change the name before anyone around me gets hurt."

The Bundang Police Precinct is tracking four Chinese men suspected of breaking into the restaurant early Thursday and spraying lacquer and paint across the premises. Investigators found that a substance believed to be pesticide had also been sprayed on food ingredients.

The suspects left Korea on flights to Yantai, Shanghai and other Chinese cities the same day, police said.

The owner put the property damage at about 15 million won ($11,000).

"That is just the damage from two computers and the restaurant's fixtures that have been destroyed," the owner said. "We had planned to reopen on Sunday, but we have not been able to open for days since the incident, so the damage is much bigger once you add lost business."

The restaurant plans to reopen soon and replace its sign with the new name this week. It remained temporarily closed as of Monday, and YouTubers and others have been staging one-person protests against the Chinese Communist Party at the site for days.

The restaurant has been an internet meme since it opened in 2018. Online communities dubbed it "the Chinese restaurant Chinese people cannot go to," often mentioning it alongside restaurants with names such as "Tiananmen" and "Mao."

It has not been confirmed whether the suspects were aware of the restaurant's online reputation beforehand.

"That is something we need to look into after we first take the suspects into custody," police said.

Shop names and displays have drawn real-world attacks before when they became entangled in political, religious or cultural disputes.

In July last year, a customer assaulted the owner of a chicken restaurant in Namdong District, Incheon, for displaying a message on the shop's electronic sign commemorating the victims of the Sewol ferry, which sank in April 2014 and claimed 304 lives.

Some observers say this case is unusual, however. The suspects are likely foreigners who committed a crime in Korea over a restaurant name.

"In Korea, people tend not to treat even those in power as sacred, but in China, simply using the name of the country's top leader for a restaurant can be taken as an insult," said Lee Jae-mook, a professor of political science and diplomacy at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.

"This is a case in which the political, social and cultural differences between the two countries came out through violence."

BY LEE AH-MI [[email protected]]