SEOUL: A South Korean YouTuber who was targeted by a racist gesture during a recent World Cup match has been invited by FIFA to attend South Korea’s group-stage match against Mexico.
In a statement released on Wednesday (June 17), the football governing body said Yoon Su-jin, known as YouTuber Inocat, had accepted its invitation to attend the match between South Korea and Mexico in Guadalajara.
Though kickoff is on the morning of June 19 in Korea, it is June 18 in Mexico, the International Day for Countering Hate Speech. FIFA said it plans to use the occasion to deliver a message of inclusion and respect.
This comes after Yoon, who has more than 6.6 million subscribers on YouTube and more than two million on TikTok, shared details of the incident on Instagram following South Korea’s opening match against the Czech Republic in Mexico last week.
In the video she uploaded, titled “Am I too sensitive?” a man is seen making a slant-eye gesture from the bleachers behind her, prompting a backlash on social media over racist behaviour among football fans.
Soon after the incident, FIFA said it had identified the man responsible for the gesture and blocked access to his ticketing account.
The man was later identified by Mexican media as the president of a local engineering college. He offered a public apology and was removed from his position as president of the college, according to the New York Post. - The Korea Herald/ANN
