Chinese Restaurant Suspected of Being Chinese Police Station in Korea Connected to China’s State Media CCTV and Xinhua
2022-12-26, Tara O
In a strange turn of events, the Chinese restaurant on the Han Gang (한강, Han River), Dongbang Myungjoo (동방명주), suspected to be a Chinese police station in Seoul, Korea was discovered to have a related office in Yoido, on the street in front of the National Assembly (equivalent to the US Capitol building where Congress meets). The name of the office is revealed to be “HanGang Cultural Media,” according to the sign. (59:05) It turns out HanGang Cultural Media shares an office, including a media production studio, with China’s state mouthpiece CCTV, which is located on the 9th floor of the building. HangGang Cultural Media opened its office in this building in December 2020, which is after the restaurant opened on the Han Gang (Han River), which was in 2018. Questions abound as to why a Chinese restaurant has a media studio, and why it is sharing space with a Chinese government mouthpiece near the seat of power for South Korea’s government.
The building information board on the first floor, which shows which organizations have offices on what floors, did not have the names “HanGang Cultural Media” nor “CCTV” on it. (1:02:42) Upon visiting the office, the employee of HanGang Cultural Media told the Youtubers conducting an investigation to leave, saying he does not know anything. The employee on the CCTV side of the office also told them to leave, directing them to refer to the (Chinese) embassy’s formal response (1:01:43).
The company “HanGang” (한강) was established in 2015. (1:04:58) In 2018, it opened the Dongbang Myungjoo restaurant on the Han Gang (Han River) in the Songpa District of Seoul. (Note: Numerous news articles referred to the restaurant as located in the Gangnam District, but it is in the Songpa District, which is right next to Gangnam. See the maps here.) The restaurant opened while Moon Jae-in was the president and Park Won-soon was the Seoul mayor. The restaurant then opened an office, HanGang Cultural Media, near the National Assembly in 2020, which shares office space with CCTV’s Korea branch. It is an odd connection.
HanGang Cultural Media uses the name “HG 문화미디어” (HG Cultural Media) in Korean. The address is shown as the office in Yoido, Seoul (서울 영등포구 국회대로62길 21, 9층).
It is also known as or related to HG F&B. (1:07:35) On the registration form, it shows HG F&B as well as HG F&B Dongbang Myungjoo (Dongbang Myungjoo is the name of the restaurant). (1:08:46) The form shows that it will issue 1,000,000 stock shares at ₩5,000 each, for a total of ₩5 billion (~$4.5 million). Its board member name is listed as Wang Haijun (Chinese pronunciation) (pronounced as Wang Hai-goon in Korean).
The above registration form pertains to HG Culture Media (에이치지문화미디어). (1:09:39) It was initially registered as HanGang Culture Media (한강문화미디어), but changed to HG Culture Media (also notice that the form shows “Culture,” while the office sign shows “Cultural.”) The office sign at the same address shows “HanGang Cultural Media” as shown in the office photo in Yodio, so it operates as HanGang Cultural Media as well as HG Culture Media/HG Cultural Media.
HG Cultural Media has posted information in Chinese, which states, “HG F&B under HG Group, is a cultural dining out limited company….(It is) the first Chinese food prosperity (promotion) base approved by the Chinese Foreign Ministry to operate abroad.” (1:06:56) Why does a Chinese food restaurant need permission from the Chinese government to operate abroad?
The HG Culture Media’s office address is also referred to as the “Xinhua Network Korea Channel”—Chinese state media Xinhua’s Korea branch. (1:15:51) This indicates that the HG Culture Media, which shares an office with CCTV, is the Korea branch of Xinhua or Xinhua’s front company, which is linked to the Dongbang Myungjoo (HG F&B Dongbang Myungjoo on Han Gang) restaurant suspected of being a Chinese police station.
HG Culture Media stated that as a media content creator for broadcasting, it is the sole collaborator with the Chinese state media’s Korea branch, which could be CCTV and/or Xinhua. (1:12:20) The statement also shows that it worked on VOTE KOREA 2020. (1:14:31)
VOTE KOREA 2020 was a project put on by the National Election Commission (South Korean government) and SBS (TV broadcaster) that featured 17 artists, many of whom were news announcers at SBS, introducing their art and linking their art to elections in an attempt to encourage people to vote. Amidst Korea exporting its famed K-POP and K-Drama, why did the South Korean government under Moon Jae-in and SBS give a contract to a Chinese company to make materials for VOTE KOREA 2020?
A Chinese business operating in Korea with the approval of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs with ties to the propaganda-making CCTV and Xinhua on one hand, and South Korea’s National Election Commission and a Korean broadcaster on the other hand, collaborating to make election media content is extremely disturbing. Was China, through HG Culture Media, involved in the April 2020 Elections in Korea, which was surrounded by election fraud controversies, as many suspect? See here, here, and here for details on the election fraud issue.
The April 2020 general election resulted in a 3/5 majority (180 of 300 seats), up from 120, for the then-ruling Democratic Party (Deobureo Minjoo Party) during the Moon Jae-in administration, which gave the Party the power to pass any laws without considering any other parties, with the exception of making changes to the constitution. The election strategist for the Democratic Party of Korea Yang Jung-cheol (양정철), instead of rejoicing at the landslide victory for his party, said he was “terrified” by the outcome that “they” “gave” and quickly resigned the next day and left the country. Nine months prior (July 9-12, 2019) to the 2020 general election, Yang Jung-cheol visited Beijing to sign an agreement between his political party and the Chinese Communist Party. The other top leaders of the Democratic Party kept absolutely silent, not even responding to any of the accusations of election fraud.
In light of all of these strange connections among the Chinese Restaurant Dongbang Myungjoo, HG Culture Media, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CCTV, and Xinhua, HG Culture Media and the restaurant deserves closer investigation. It is well known that many Chinese companies act as extensions of the Chinese Communist Party. How many other similar organizations are operating behind the scenes in Korea that have yet to be uncovered? Perhaps the Chinese restaurant and HG Culture Media turn out to be much more than extraterritorial Chinese police stations.
