Missile defence dispute hits Sydney as Chinese student accuses Korean restaurant of discrimination

TENSIONS between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have spilt over into Sydney’s Little Korea, with a bizarre dining dispute.

IT’S big trouble in little Korea.

As tensions between the US and North Korea rise, the complicated relationship between South Korea and China has turned sour.

And it’s beginning to spill over into the heavily Korean suburb of Strathfield in Sydney’s inner-west, with a Chinese student accusing a Korean barbecue restaurant of “discriminating” against Chinese people by forcing them to sit together in an unairconditioned back room, while Koreans sit in the main dining area.

Amy Chan, 20, said she and a friend went to dinner in the popular area on Saturday night and were “very surprised” to be led past the front room, which had a number of empty tables, to a back room which was “nearly full” with about four groups of Chinese people.

“It was definitely all Korean people sitting outside,” she said.

“The water they serve us is not cold, tap water, but outside the water is cold water with ice. I ask to sit outside because inside is very hot, they are trying to refuse me and said, ‘Here have airconditioner.’ But the airconditioner didn’t work.”

Ms Chan said a customer at the next table agreed that it was odd. “I tell my friend, ‘Don’t you think it’s strange why all Chinese people are sitting inside?’” she said. “Another lady with her husband, she told me, ‘I feel it’s so strange as well.’”

The Western Sydney University arts student, originally from Hong Kong, said only after she repeatedly complained to the waitress about the heat were they led to a table in the front room.

“Later on, when we sitting outside, I see some Korean people come in and they sit at the outside, and some Chinese people come in and they bring them to the back,” she said.

“Strathfield is mostly Korean people, I think maybe the owner want to have more Korean customer. I was talking Mandarin with my friend ... honestly Chinese people actually speak very loud, I think maybe that is the reason they want to separate Chinese people.

“But that is very mean. I feel very disappointed. It shouldn’t be happen in Australia. But I already order my food, just want to quickly finish.”

Tensions on the Korean peninsula are heating up. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The owner of the restaurant, however, has strongly denied discriminating against anyone, saying Saturday was always a busy night and customers were seated wherever there was room.

“No way,” he said. “The majority of our customer, 99.9 per cent are Chinese. I like Chinese customer, how I can discriminate against Chinese? One of my staff is a Chinese guy. I don’t know why she say that.”

The owner said if anything, he preferred Chinese customers to groups of noisy young Koreans who “come in here drinking”. “If possible send her back, I give her free meal,” he said.

Whether Ms Chan was imagining the insult or not, her complaint neatly illustrates heightened sensitivities among Chinese nationals towards South Koreans, sparked by a dispute over a controversial US missile defence system.

China’s government has been angered by and demanded the removal of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, with the dispute beginning to affect South Korean brands in the country.

Hyundai Beijing was last month forced to cease production at four Chinese factories due to a local supplier refusing to provide parts, the Financial Times reported, while food and retailing conglomerate Lotte Group has closed 74 Lotte Mart stores in China amid widespread boycotts in recent months.

While the Chinese government has repeatedly denied orchestrating the boycotts, patriotic Chinese have jumped on board. Ms Chan said even when she suggested going to a Korean restaurant to eat, at first her friend didn’t want to.

“Chinese government and Korean government have some international argument,” she said. “My friend, they all stop buying Korean products, because if Chinese people don’t buy Korean products, don’t go to Korea for travel, then Korean people don’t have money.”

In recent months, educators have increasingly come under fire from Chinese students — some of whom have secretly recorded lessons and released footage online — raising concerns about the influence of China’s Communist Party in Australian universities.

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Originally published as Missile defence dispute hits Sydney as Chinese student accuses Korean restaurant of discrimination