South Korea Restaurant Named After Xi Jinping Vandalised by Chinese Nationals Who Fled Abroad, Police Say

A Chinese restaurant in South Korea that bears the name of Chinese President Xi Jinping has been vandalised in a pre-dawn attack carried out by a group of Chinese nationals who police believe fled the country immediately afterwards. The incident, which took place in the city of Seongnam just south of Seoul, has drawn attention to a long-running campaign of pressure against the establishment and its owner over its unusual name.

Surveillance footage captured at the restaurant shows four masked men forcing their way into the premises in the early hours of 24 September. According to police accounts, the intruders smashed furniture and sprayed lacquer across the interior of the business during the raid. The footage has since circulated widely in South Korean media, where the story has been covered extensively.

Speaking to local media, the owner said he had chosen the name because he wanted his establishment to be regarded as the finest Chinese restaurant in South Korea. He stressed that the decision was made for commercial and aspirational reasons rather than for any political purpose, saying there was no political intent behind the branding.

Despite the owner's insistence that the name was chosen without political motivation, the restaurant has found itself at the centre of controversy. The establishment has been operating for eight years, but demands for it to change its name only began to surface over the past year, according to reporting by The Chosun Daily.

The pressure appears to have intensified around a major diplomatic event. The owner said that in August last year, when news emerged that Xi Jinping would be attending the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Summit in South Korea, he received dozens of phone calls relating to demands that he rename the restaurant. The timing suggests the attention was linked to the Chinese leader's expected presence in the country.

Some of those who contacted the owner went beyond simply requesting a name change. According to his account, people claiming to run businesses in China offered him substantial sums of money if he agreed to rebrand the eatery. He described the approach as persistent, indicating that the pressure was sustained rather than a single isolated complaint.

The restaurant's troubles were not limited to phone calls and financial offers. In April this year, someone lodged a complaint with South Korea's Ministry of Intellectual Property concerning a dish on the menu called Xi Jinping Special Rice. The complaint was ultimately dismissed, with the ministry closing the case after finding no issues with the item.

Last week's attack, however, marked the most serious escalation the owner has experienced over the past year. He told local media that the property damage from the vandalism amounted to approximately 15 million won, a figure equivalent to about $11,100 or £8,400. The financial toll adds to the broader disruption caused to the business.

Following the attack, the restaurant was forced to close its doors for five days before reopening on Tuesday. The owner has said that his team is now considering giving the establishment a new name, a decision that would bring an end to a branding choice that has generated both attention and trouble for the business.

Police provided further details about the suspects on Tuesday, saying the four individuals were Chinese men aged between 20 and 40. Investigators believe that after carrying out the attack, the men fled to Shanghai and Yantai, a city located in China's Shandong province, suggesting a coordinated departure from South Korea.

Authorities are now preparing to pursue the suspects through international channels. Police said they plan to request red notices from Interpol for the four men. Such notices are not equivalent to arrest warrants; rather, they are requests to law enforcement agencies around the world to locate and detain a suspect pending possible extradition.

The restaurant itself serves a broad range of Chinese dishes, though its menu also features some South Korean offerings, according to screenshots that have been shared online. Public reviews on Google give the establishment an average rating of four out of five stars, indicating that it has built a reasonably favourable reputation among diners.

The case raises broader questions about the pressures faced by businesses whose branding touches on politically sensitive figures. While the owner has consistently framed the restaurant's name as an apolitical marketing decision, the sustained campaign against it — ranging from complaints and financial inducements to physical destruction — illustrates how commercial choices can become entangled in diplomatic and nationalist tensions.

For now, the owner faces the practical challenge of rebuilding after the attack while weighing whether to abandon the name that has defined his restaurant for nearly a decade. The decision to consider a rebrand reflects the toll that a year of persistent pressure and a violent episode have taken on the business and its staff.

South Korean police continue to investigate the incident, and the planned Interpol requests indicate that authorities are treating the case seriously despite the suspects having left the country. Whether the four men will be located and detained abroad remains uncertain, given the complexities of cross-border law enforcement cooperation.

The episode also highlights the sometimes fraught dynamics between South Korea and China, particularly around high-profile events such as the APEC summit. What began as a restaurateur's attempt to signal quality through an eye-catching name has evolved into a case involving vandalism, international flight and a potential diplomatic dimension that extends well beyond the walls of a single eatery in Seongnam.