'Remove Xi Jinping collection': Man arrested for SNU library disturbance

A man in his 40s has been arrested for a violent outburst at a library in Seoul National University, demanding the removal of a collection named after Chinese President Xi Jinping.

He is being held on suspicion of possessing a dangerous weapon in public area without justifiable reason, special violence and special intimidation — "special" is used for aggravated offences involving a weapon — according to Seoul Gwanak Police Station.

The suspect is accused of a violent act at around 12:15 p.m. last Friday at the Central Library of the SNU, specifically at the Xi Jinping Collection Room on the fourth floor, which consists of China focused books and other materials.

He purportedly shouted, "Why is a Xi Jinping archive here?" and argued that the room should immediately be closed. The suspect was found in possession of another weapon by police, who arrested him on site after shooting him with a stun gun.

No injuries occurred due to the incident. It was found that the suspect was not a member of the school, and had not been intoxicated at the time of the crime.

A warrant for his continued arrest was issued by local court Sunday and authorizes the suspect to be detained for further investigation for up to 10 days by the police, though prosecutors can hold him for longer.

The Xi Jinping room of the library in SNU, widely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea, opened in 2015, with 9,297 books and 755 DVDs about China and ethnic Chinese living here that Xi pledged to donate in his 2014 visit here, under administration of ex-President Park Geun-hye.

Officials are investigating exactly why the suspect committed the crime, but researches indicate that anti-China sentiment here in recent years remains fairly high, although possibly not as high as few years ago.

Hankook Research has conducted annual surveys on South Korean sentiment toward China since 2023. In 2024, it showed that 30 percent of respondents regarded China as an enemy while only 8 percent regarded it as a friend. This was lower than 44 percent thinking of the country as an enemy in the 2023 survey. The vast majority of those who responded thought that the country was neither friend or foe to South Korea.

In the 2025 survey, 46 percent of the respondent said that Seoul-Beijing relations were neither good or bad, as opposed to 45 percent who thought it was bad. It indicated that anti-China sentiment was not as bad as in 2023, when 73 percent of the respondents thought the relations between two countries was bad and 20 percent said it was neither good or bad.

A small percentage of respondents thought South Korea had good relations with China, at 2 percent in both 2023 and 2024, rising to 6 percent in 2025.

While not as high as before, the 2025 survey indicated that the majority of people here regarded China as a threat to the reunification of the Koreas, national security and the economy, 63 percent, 60 percent, and 51 percent, respectively.

In a possibly related incident, a 42-year-old Korean dressed up as Marvel Comics character Captain America attempted to gain unauthorized access to the Chinese Embassy in Seoul in February.

He later said his actions were intended to demonstrate the anti-China sentiment in the country.

The man, who turned out to be supporter of now-ousted ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, blocked the elevator with other supporters, urging embassy employees and reporters to curse at Xi and liberal politician Lee Jae-myung.