Jun Ji-Hyun has disappeared as the face of a China's mobile phone brand in the latest tension between Korea and China regarding the THAAD deployment. The tension has spilled into the entertainment industry, and the China's government decided to ban of Hallyu star in China.
Jun Ji-Hyun is replaced with the Chinese model and actress Angelababy as the brand image of the Chinese mobile phone as reported by KPop Herald. Angelababy, which is also known by Angela Yeung Ming is a Hong Kong-born actress and model.
The sudden replacement of Jun as the model for the Chinese mobile phone is the latest news of the escalating tension between China and Korea since July. The tension began after the South Korean government signed an agreement with the US government to deploy the anti-missile defense unit in South Korea.
The Chinese government, according to Korea Times, has denied the allegation of banning Korean celebrities and Korean culture import. However, some sentiments from the ruling communist party indicated that state television had banned the appearance of Korean celebrities.
South Korean government has signed an agreement with U.S. government to prepare a deployment site for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) on July 13, 2016. The area selected is Seongju in North Gyeongsang province in the southeast of South Korea.
The chosen area in Seongju has raised questions and suspicion from China because deployment anti-missile system in the area will leave the capital city Seoul to be vulnerable to North Korean missile attack. THAAD has an effective range of 200 kilometers, while Seongju is located 210 kilometers of Seoul. The coverage area which effectively covered with the THAAD in Seongju is Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province, Daegu province and Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, where many U.S. military facilities resided.
Residents of Seongju have protested their area to become the location of THAAD and asking Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo for an explanation. Watch the report from Arirang News regarding the criticism of China for the THAAD deployment in Korea which led to the banning of Korean Hallyu in China below:
