Park Ji-sung Asks Fans to Stop Singing Dog-Eating Chant

Former Manchester United football player Park Ji-sung urged fans on Monday to stop singing an infamous support chant that mentions eating dog meat because he is Korean.

“I really request the fans to stop singing that word,” he said on a Man U podcast. “It is true that historically we have eaten dog meat but these days, particularly the younger generation, they really dislike it. The culture has changed.”

Park is adviser for the Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the K-League but played for the English club from 2005 until 2012, when the team grabbed four English Premier League titles and one UEFA Champions League title.

The chant, which is sung to taunt rival team Liverpool FC, goes, “Park, Park, wherever you may be, you eat dogs in your country. But it could be worse. You could be scouse, eating rats in a council house.”

For some reason it survived even after Park retired from football. Park said he felt thankful to fans who supported him when he was new to Man U even though the song was slightly derogatory.

Fans sang the song as recently as Aug. 30 during a match against Wolverhampton Wanderers. At the time, Korean player Hwang Hee-chan visited Wanderers’ stadium to meet fans after signing on with the club.

“Listening to the chant even 10 years later now, I feel sorry for the younger me who tried to overcome this discomfort that I felt back them,” he said. “I also feel responsible for the young people who are still discriminated against as Asians or Koreans, and struggling with that kind of discomfort.”

“I know that United fans don’t mean any offense to him for that song,” he added. “But still I have to educate the fans to stop that word , which is usually these days a racial insult to the Korean people.”