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View all search resultsSEAblings power
Southeast Asia's netizens have spoken as one against racial discrimination by some Korean creators and backed their unified voice with action, showing that the region is no lightweight when it comes to cultural inclusion or consumer power.
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The members of South Korean girl band Blackpink are projected on giant screens during a Born Pink World Tour concert on March 11, 2023, the first of their two-date Jakarta show at the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta. (Antara/Rianti)
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tories of unpleasant encounters with racist treatment in South Korea have long circulated quietly among travelers, students and migrant workers from Southeast Asia. But what was once sporadic and largely anecdotal has now erupted into a bold, undeniable issue as these experiences have been thrust into the spotlight via heated exchanges on social media.
The latest flare-up stemmed from a K-pop concert in Malaysia, when a South Korean “fan site master” was caught bringing in professional cameras in violation of an existing ban, sparking online criticism. This quickly escalated into racist attacks by some South Korean netizens, or “Knetz”, who mocked the facial features and darker skin tones of people from Southeast Asian countries.
In response, the region’s netizens rallied together under the SEAblings (Southeast Asian siblings) movement, a hashtag that gained regional prominence last September following the protests in Indonesia, to assert Southeast Asian solidarity and push back against online racism.
The movement eventually called for a boycott of South Korea’s cultural exports, including K-dramas, K-pop, movies, fashion and K-beauty. The cultural exports have even become the country's major economic driver and ranked fourth in 2025 behind semiconductors, automobiles and petrochemicals.
The Korea Creative Content Agency reported that the Korean content industry’s cumulative exports reached US$10.3 billion by the third quarter of 2025, the highest total ever recorded in the first three quarters of a given year.
Full-year exports are expected to surpass $15 billion, highlighting the economic weight of K-culture. Beyond their commercial impact, cultural products are also a key pillar of South Korea’s soft diplomacy, helping to cement its global influence.
Southeast Asia remains a huge market for K-culture. Aside from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand consistently rank among the world’s top K-pop and K-drama audiences, particularly on social media.
