Corned Beef, the Latest Target of the SEAblings Alliance

Although distances are vast, fierce arguments can occur across countries in the digital realm. Social media, particularly X, formerly known as Twitter, has been bustling over the past few days. Southeast Asian netizens have been in conflict with South Korean netizens.

Indonesian, Malaysian, and other netizens in the region are busy engaging in typing battles with South Korean netizens. They insult each other, including debates over who is better in terms of economy, culture, and education. This typing contest has now escalated into jokes, mockery, and heart-wrenching insults.

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According to a netizen using the account @satzze, the "thumb war" transnationally began from a concert of a Korean artist, Day6, in Malaysia at the end of January. Many fans of the artist came from Korea to attend the event.

The problem is that they brought professional cameras with large and long lenses. They were busy taking photographs. This behavior was not in accordance with the rules at the performance location. Therefore, they were reprimanded.

"They were reprimanded, but it didn't work. Furthermore, such behavior is actually against the rules. As a result, Korean netizens didn't accept it and instead resorted to racism against Southeast Asians," Dikara wrote on Thursday (February 12, 2026).

Another account, @EdoVibeQueen, added that Korean netizens continued the argument by urging Southeast Asia to stop listening to K-pop. Unfazed, Indonesian netizens joined in.

Indonesian netizens are promoting No Na, an all-female music group from Indonesia based in the United States. However, the debate escalated as Korean netizens mocked the concept of the group. Netizens from the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam eventually intervened to defend Southeast Asia.

Not only that, netizens from India and Pakistan became incensed. This was due to several Korean netizens also making racially charged mockeries towards citizens of the two countries. The situation in cyberspace turned chaotic, although it still elicited laughter.

Now, netizens from Africa and Latin America are joining in, saying they won't tolerate racism from anyone.

In the altercation, many unique terms were thrown around. Southeast Asian netizens, especially Indonesians, called South Korean netizens Kornet (Korean netizens).

Meanwhile, they call themselves SEAblings. SEAblings is a portmanteau of Southeast Asia (SEA) and siblings, which gained popularity last year. At that time, Southeast Asian netizens supported protests in Indonesia by ordering food from online motorcycle taxi drivers in August 2025.

A number of netizens from Malaysia and the Philippines wrote that, in fact, arguing with Korea is not exciting. They are not creative. They just get angry. It is different when arguing with fellow Southeast Asians.

Netizens from Indonesia have stated that Korean netizens are stressed, angry, and trying to win in this online dispute. Meanwhile, SEAblings are provoking anger and turning the argument into entertainment.

Not only is it unique, but a number of viral tweets have also emerged. One of them is from Ve with the account name @LacedbyTears, expressing astonishment at why South Korea, as a developed country, is unable to speak English.

A Korean netizen replied, "Ve is fluent in English. However, Ve lives in poverty." The response was written in Hangeul, the Korean script.

”Speak English, please. I don't understand what you said,” wrote Ve in response, Tuesday (10/2/2026), essentially asking Korean netizens to speak English instead of Korean.

Ve imitates the way Koreans generally speak by using suffixes at the end of sentences. This post has been viewed more than 24 million times and shared 80,000 times.

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The quarrel with Korean netizens continues, even in other languages. Indonesian netizens are collectively responding to every tweet from Korean netizens using regional scripts, such as Javanese, Sundanese, Rejang, and Lontara.

Equally playful, other netizens responded with Morse code, modified styles with the insertion of certain syllables, or exaggerated typing. Exaggerated typing typically combines capital letters, lowercase letters, and other symbols to form sentences.

”H3h k4m03 tuCh guGs d1 4jaKz eA,,,!!(¬_¬")  j4Di3 jAn94nS kUtz cH4mP03r ruZ4N Ki3tA EoHhzz...!!” tweeted Meng pyong pyong from the account @A_papipapipum, who was more or less asking the person he was talking to not to interfere.

Another netizen added, "Kafalofo mifisafalnyafa kifitafa pafakefe bafasafa befegifinifi sifitufu kifirafa kifirafa bifisafa teferjefemafahifin gafa yafa?" he wrote. This means, "If we use language like this, can we translate it or not?"

Although amusing, the argument gradually felt intense. The jokes from ASEAN netizens or the insults from South Korean netizens increasingly veered towards racism, hate speech, physical bullying, and xenophobia.

These concerns are justified. Some Korean netizens, for example, have compared the faces of Southeast Asians to monkeys.

"I am Korean and this is very embarrassing. I have visited many Southeast Asian countries and they are the warmest, kindest, and most beautiful people I have ever met in my life. We should learn from them, not feel superior," tweeted another netizen, Rota, from the account @rotagons.

Meanwhile, another account from Southeast Asia mocked the appearance of South Korean citizens by referencing the high interest in plastic surgery in the country. There were also comments that alluded to the suicide cases in the country. South Korea is one of the countries with the highest suicide rates among the countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

A digital activist from Thailand, Yammi, has spoken out on X. Yammi is an internet user who called for Southeast Asian solidarity for the wave of protests in Indonesia last year. The movement popularized the term SEAblings.

"I do not like to see Korea and Southeast Asia fighting. This is beyond control. I do not understand how both sides are still angry. However, now they are also angry with me," tweeted Yammi.

In addition, there are concerns that several new accounts continue to emerge to exploit the situation. A number of netizens suspect that these accounts are deliberately imitating those from other countries to achieve high levels of interaction that ultimately lead to profit.

At least one positive aspect emerged from the cyber dispute. Several Indonesian accounts, for instance, initiated discussions about the knowledge of regional language scripts.

"Actually, Koreans, if they want to insult Indonesians, just say that Koreans still proudly use the Hangeul script, a heritage of over six centuries. Indonesians, on the other hand, have even forgotten their own regional scripts, with several Nusantara scripts threatened with extinction," tweeted @inganggita.

Other netizens agreed, stating that they are not proficient in their own regional script, such as Javanese. They are confused about the purpose of using that script.

Other accounts disagree. One account uses the example of La Galigo, an ancient literary work of the Bugis people of South Sulawesi, which uses the Lontara script. Several accounts show examples of other regional scripts, such as Lampung and Batak.

Meanwhile, another account argues that it is difficult to compare local script knowledge in the context of Indonesia and South Korea. This is because Hangeul is the official language of that country. In Indonesia, the unifying official language is Indonesian, and not all regions have their own scripts.

"Honestly, seeing this war actually made me want to learn Sundanese script again," wrote Isshaa via the account @changshuzii.