Dangerous Mindsets In Asia: Another Long March By China

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Individuals wearing what looked like uniforms of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) marched along the Han River that runs through the South Korean capital city of Seoul around the end of October.

This occurred during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit held in Gyeongju, South Korea. The group carried red flags. They marched in formation.

In fact, this march was a soft invasion of a city liberated from communist forces by American and Coalition troops over 70 years ago during the Korean War.

Is Beijing conducting a psychological war on the ground in South Korea? Our answer is “Yes,” as we have found several incidents of this kind that appear designed to normalize Chinese military authority for the Korean public. The target of this particular incident was to introduce the PLA into the heart of Seoul. There were other intrusions in what amounts to “testing the waters” by Beijing. They were all an affront to South Korea’s security and to its 70 year alliance with the U.S. that was born in the heat of the battles of the Korean War.

Under Article 60 of the South Korean Constitution, the presence of foreign armed forces on national territory requires their National Assembly’s approval. Yet authorities stood by and did nothing. We view this inaction as complicit negligence. By permitting these symbols of the Chinese military in formation in Seoul, the administration sanctioned the Chinese authority to send Korean citizens a dangerous signal. China’s influence suddenly appears superior to local law. Slowly but surely, Beijing wants the public to accept Chinese authority as a natural, inevitable fact of life. Creating visual dominance is a classic psychological tactic, and it was out in full view that day in Seoul.

In the Name of Culture

This kind of infiltration is in evidence well beyond the capital. It is part of a preplanned pattern. At the Yeoju Ogok Naru Autumn Festival that began at the end of October, a so-called cultural exchange performance featured the Ba Yi Flag. The official battle flag of the PLA, it commemorates the founding of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) military forces on Aug. 1, 1927. Alongside this flag, video footage of Chinese military marches was broadcast on large screens to Koreans attending the event. When questioned, the festival organizers claimed this was an administrative oversight. (RELATED: US-ROK Alliance: Washington Sees Only What It Wants To See)

Unlikely, and very inappropriate. The PLA is a political army. It is the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its presence in a Korean festival is not designed to be a cultural exchange. It is a Political Propaganda Show. Under the guise of harmless entertainment it blurs the lines between friend and foe by using dramatic video images and reverberating sound. These larger than life media displays subconsciously enter the mind and store the fearsome military images of what may be a future adversary.

The Flag Offensive

This psychological warfare is in evidence everywhere, and its goal is to get the population used to it. One recent incident, in July 2025, was reported by tourists on Udo Island in Jeju after spotting a Chinese flag planted along the coast. Local officials responded but only after public outcry. The intent was clear. It was a territorial visual marking exercise. Weeks later in Seoul, the Chinese flag was hoisted above a local elementary school for what administrators called a multicultural program. The South Korean flag was nowhere to be seen — it was not in the same frame.

Flag by flag, planted in many places is precisely how the foreign becomes familiar. When the symbols of a totalitarian regime are elevated above national symbols in schools, the next generation is being conditioned to accept a new hierarchy. Slowly but surely, sovereignty is being eroded in South Korea, and with this loss comes the erosion of the country’s values of democracy and freedom.

The Ultimate Threat

Beijing’s influence operations in South Korea are also apparently turning aggressive. In Daerim-dong, a district in Seoul with a large Chinese population, organized demonstrations accused anti-CCP protests of pushing “hate” against the Chinese. This is a phenomenon we call reverse intimidation. China does not tolerate dissent within its own borders by any of its citizens. However, it mobilizes a sizeable Chinese diaspora to silence critics of China in democratic nations like South Korea.

Furthermore, while Korean police have restricted anti-China demonstrations in other communities, they did not meaningfully intervene to prevent these intimidation tactics against their own citizens. This selective enforcement of the law suggests a disturbing deference to Beijing’s sensitivities. (RELATED: ‘Forced To Choose’: Ambassador Says Key US Ally On Verge Of Tipping Toward China)

Finally, we believe that China poses an ultimate threat to South Korea’s identity and its very future. When Xi Jinping endorsed South Korea’s Demographic Structure Cooperation Initiative at the 2025 Gyeongju APEC Summit, it was not mere diplomatic pleasantry. It was a chilling signal of the end game for this soft invasion currently being enacted in South Korea. Our country has a population crisis and we believe that the CCP leadership’s sudden interest in this is not merely about policy support to overcome it. No, it is about demographic engineering in favor of China.

There are examples of these methods being used by China in the past. Social engineering was practiced in Xinjiang province to great effect. In 1953, the Han Chinese population in Xinjiang was merely 6%. By 2025, through forced migration and systematic displacement, that figure skyrocketed to over 40% (an estimated 10.4 to 11.4 million). The clear message from Beijing to South Korea is that our county might be subjected to a Xinjiang-style Demographic Colonization Model that dismantles the national sovereignty of South Korea.

Destroying the U.S.-South Korea Alliance

Threats to the U.S-South Korea Alliance are not just a domestic South Korean issue. There would be far-reaching consequences. Imagine a future crisis involving China in the Taiwan Strait. If the South Korean public has been psychologically conditioned to accept Chinese authority, will they support the deployment of U.S. forces from South Korean bases to help solve the crisis? Or will they bow to Beijing’s pressure? We can see that happening right now in South Korea — the Chinese indoctrination is part of a strategic preparation for that very moment. It is psychological warfare intended to neutralize the U.S.-South Korea Alliance from within, and to ultimately destroy it.

What can we do to repel this soft invasion spreading like a cancer throughout South Korean society? Building awareness and stopping confusion amongst South Koreans is a good starting point. The South Korean government should immediately establish clear legal guidelines. A line must be drawn between cultural exchange and political indoctrination. We should demand the implementation of rapid response protocols to forcibly remove unauthorized foreign military symbols the moment they appear on our soil. (RELATED: Trump Assembles Seemingly Motley Crew Of Allies To Stop China From Becoming World’s #1 Power)

This issue poses a threat to the U.S.-South Korea Alliance in an insidious way and goes well beyond the visual symbols of a single flag or a local festival. Both countries face a tipping point, as these symbols of infiltration are subtle weapons being activated within South Korea in the midst of normal life. The U.S. should recognize that the strategic and political terrain in South Korea is rapidly shifting beneath its feet.

If both countries do not fight back against this soft invasion today, then the U.S.-South Korea Alliance will be scuttled without a fight, leaving the communist forces in control of this part of Northeast Asia, a vital region globally, and there will be opportunities for them to spread further afield.