Im Yong Soo

**Im Yong Soo** is a supporting character in the manga series, *Hetalia*, and the *Tea Leaves* series. He only appears in the manga and not in the anime due to controversy between South Korea and Japan. Im Yong is Yao Wang's younger brother and the personification of South Korea.

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

Im Yong has short, black-brown hair, with a flyaway curl on the right side of his head. The curl is often drawn with a face in the middle, to represent his "Korean spirit" though it appears that it was originally drawn as part of the yin yang symbol. He generally has on a high-spirited facial expression. He dresses in a white and navy blue hanbok with long, oversized sleeves, though it appears to be a mixture of the male and female styles of hanbok as well as hanbok from different eras of Korea, and his *jeogori* seems to be in two pieces rather than one.

His actual height is not stated, but it is mentioned that he is significantly taller than both of his "brothers," and that he happens to be very muscular due to his experience in the military.

### Personality

Im Yong is a free-spirited type, obsessed with video games, dramas, studying abroad, and the internet. He always claims credit for others' inventions, and feels that his older brothers should call him their older brother.

Though he is fundamentally serious and likes to put the family first, he can't keep his hands off his brothers. He often uses phrases like, "Da-ze!" or "Uri nara mansae!", which means roughly "Hooray for our land!". When speaking to elders, however, he adopts more formal and polite speech.

It is said that he loves kimchi so much that he took it up into outer space, making Francis pissed off.

Im Yong has also been shown to be very good at drawing, as can be seen in a comic strip with Yao Wang, in which he tried to teach his older brother how to draw anime.

It is also shown that Im Yong is very bright, seeing that he was able to create the Mind-Reading Binoculars perfectly when Japan failed to do so. But the same comic strip also reveals how clueless he is when he tries to use the binoculars to see what Yao was thinking of him, only to be devastated to see that Yao is glad that Korea took the stuffed animals because he didn't want them. Im Yong concluded that "Im Yong didn't make them" because he believed they didn't work.

## Back Story

Im Yong was originally part of the cast for season 1, and was shown in various promotional images for the series, as well as appearing in the official site's lineup of characters.

However, several South Korean citizens, after learning of the existence of the series, found the character to be mocking and in poor taste. Reasons for the controversy ranged from the character's bluffing and perversion (which was taken as a slight against Korea for its claims about ownership of the Liancourt Rocks, which Japan also claims ownership of), to his hanbok being drawn incorrectly.

An online petition was launched to get the series banned, and over 16,000 signatures were collected. The case gained enough media attention to be brought before the government of South Korea, and the series was deemed to be a "national crime".

Kids Station, the TV network that was to air the *Hetalia* anime, responded that there were never any plans to include a Korea character in the series. Despite the claim, the protests continued and the anime adaptation wound up pulled from Kids Station's lineup due to "various circumstances." It is believed that reported death threats (and a bomb threat) from the protesters may have played a part in those circumstances, though it is unknown exactly how many of the reports were of serious threats and how many were just trolls, as well as if the volume of threats were sensationalized by Japanese media sites (as netoyou from 2ch are known for heavy anti-Korean bias, as well as the site Sankaku Complex).

Though he appears briefly in the first ending theme, Im Yong is noticeably absent from the actual anime. A brief animation error in Episode 14, depicting him as part of the supermarket line from behind, shows evidence that he was originally animated into the series, but that Studio DEEN had to remove any references to him, presumably due to the protests. The part he played in the rest of the episode was completely removed, as was a brief cameo he would have had in Episode 01.

The *Cast Commentary* track on the third drama CD, Prologue 2, contains an appearance by the seiyū **Kaoru Mizuhara**, in the roundtable discussion of recording for the characters in both the drama CDs and anime. Mizuhara's section was thought to suggest that she was to voice Im Yong in the upcoming anime version, though a translation revealed that it was only a "what if" type of idea if she was cast in the anime, with a "Monaco" character being suggested first. As the animation in anime generally comes before the voice recording sessions, it is unknown if the anime production team ever got as far as casting Im Yong for the lines he may have originally had in Episode 14 (or the first episode).

In his unused anime design, Im Yong's dark hair was changed to a chestnut brown shade, and the "Korean spirit" in his haircurl was removed. The navy blue part of his hanbok was also changed to violet and his *baji* (the pants) became a lavender shade. Another detail in his turnaround, somewhat controversial to the protesters, were the "soulless eyes" that were present. Despite that, the chibi version of Im Yong in the ending theme has the correct style of eyes.

## Storyline History

### Tea Leaves and Opal Necklaces

Im Yong wonders about his twin sister and why she is using missiles near Kiku. One day after school, Mi-Soon comes to him and gives him her reasoning. She says that the world is ending and she wants him to come up home before things get worse. Mi-Soon says that she is firing the missiles to put Kiku out of his misery. Her words like Im Yong so shaken up that he contacts his old therapist for help.

Im ends up confiding in his classmate about his sister. Later, he goes to his therapist and notices that she looks worn down. She invites him in despite his reservations. Mi-Soon later comes to visit him and tries again to convince him to come back with her. She tells him her reasons that the world and vows that she won't give up until he says yes.

### Tea Leaves and Diamond Bracelets

Im Yong finds himself having serious headaches lately and ends up staying home from school. One night, he heard a child laughing in his house. When he goes to investigate, he finds that he is all alone in the house.

### Tea Leaves and Sapphire Earrings

Im Yong is still talking to Mi-Soon. She tries to get him to join her but he is rather hesitant about this. He asks her to tell him the truth and she tells him about the Woman in Red. Mi-Soon pushes him to make a decision and tells him to meet her at I am a Burger on Saturday. When Im Yong gets there, he sees his twin in traditional clothing.

### Tea Leaves and Purple Robes

Im Yong and Mi-Soon meet up and talk. She tries to get him to see that he is in danger but doesn't understand her. She says that she misses him and hands him the notes. Mi-Soon also adds that she is risking her life doing this. Later on in the evening, Im Yong reads over the notes. At first, they don't really make sense. But then he comes across two pictures: one of a man covered in bandages in a wheelchair and the other of a man nailed down to across, bleeding through bandages. The first picture is captioned "Patient Ten" and the other one "Michael". Vietnam calls to check on Im Yong. She says that she will come over to his house tomorrow. He rushes her off the phone when he suspects that Mi-Soon is watching him from next door. Im Yong then just goes to bed early. In the end, he agrees to reunite with his sister. Ivan seems to be worried about what would happen if the twins reunited.

### Tea Leaves and Black Lipstick

Im Yong is adjusting to life in the army. He mostly works in the tech department. Im Yong is assigned to patrol the base at night. He has a mentor to guide him on that first night. While on the first patrol, he wanders off the path when he hears something off in the distance. Im Yong wanders off into the woods and comes across this strange house. Once he goes inside, he feels like he's stepped back in time. The furniture looked like it came from the fifties. Im Yong follows the sound to the hallway. When he peeks into one of the rooms, it looks like there is a banquet happening inside. Only... the guests look a little bit off. They were all mannequins dressed up in traditional clothing. There were sounds, but they weren't making any noises. Suddenly, the maid who was a mannequin catches him and pushes him out of the house just as a little girl mannequin looks up at him. Im Yong makes it back to the path safely. His superior is angry that he strayed away from the path. Im Yong reports what he saw. His superior panics and reports over the radio that things are worse than previously believed. He and his unit investigate all of the strange things going on around the base.

### Tea Leaves and Pink Stockings

Im Yong, Mi-Soon, and their unit go out to the location where another unit has gone missing. The vehicle stops at the gate. Everyone gets out to investigate. Everything starts out fine at first. The unit walk down the path to investigate.

## Relationships

### Mi-Soon Soo

*Main Article: Mi-Soon Soo*

Im Yong and Mi-Soon are twins. They used to be so close, but then the Korean War tore them apart. Im Yong thinks that his sister is misunderstood, but she might push him back down the dark path he had to climb out from.

### Yao Wang

*Main Article: Yao Wang*

He is obsessed with Yao and wants to be acknowledged by him, but his feelings are unrequited. When he "invented" a pair of mind-reading binoculars and saw that Yao despaired of his very presence, he believed that they were broken and as a result, he denied making them.

In another modern strip, he and Yao worked together in animation production.

### Arthur Kirkland

*Main Page: Arthur Kirkland*

Im Yong, after telling Kiku and Yao that they should call him "big brother" and he should be the boss of them, was turned into a child by Arthur in order to "help" Kiku and Yao. He said that, because he was so cute that even if he was loud they would forgive him. Yao and Kiku admitted he was cute and that it could work out as Arthur had intended, however they left him with Arthur after finding that he still had a strong interest in their chests (young Im Yong was seen with a bump on his head, as well.)

### Wang Ja Long

*Main Article: Wang Ja Long*

Their relationship has been shown during the 2011 Halloween event, when Wang Ja told Im Yong that "You really like teacher, don't you?" while Im Yong said that he didn't like him but that Yao likes him, instead. During the Christmas 2011 event, Im Yong is fearful of damaging the "cool and cute and sensitive image" he believes Wang Ja has for him if Wang Ja catches Im Yong playing an MMO in a jersey, but Wang Ja appears unfazed and barges in when overhearing this sentiment.

### Kiku Honda

*Main Article: Kiku Honda*

Im Yong claims to hate Kiku, but is constantly copying his style and creations, and believes that he has ownership over his breasts. At one point, he wanted to dig a tunnel to connect both their countries. He tried to justify his complicated relationship with the claim that *tsundere* originated from him.

In the original *World Conference* strip, it is shown that he will go out of his way to disagree with any of Kiku's opinions, preferring to side with Alfred instead - even when Kiku and Alfred have already agreed.

## Trivia

* An initial character design by Hidekaz Himaruya reveals that Im Yong was originally going to be a female character. In the early design, the female South Korea is depicted wearing a hanbok with long, flowing oversized sleeves. Her hair appears to be tied back into braids. Further liner notes in the special edition of Hetalia: Axis Powers volume 2 suggest that the female Korea was to be an aspiring idol who decided to travel to the United States. The design for the female Korea was later reused for the character Sena, the lead of another, short-lived webcomic by Himaruya, entitled MoeKan. Himaruya's initial design of a male South Korea had no haircurl, though some later preliminary designs presented a Korea that looked more melancholy than how he appeared in the series.
* Im Yong's birthday was originally listed as being May 1st, 1919. The date was later retconned to August 15th (no year given) by the time the published version of the manga was released. The retconned birthdate corresponds with the date for the Korean Liberation Day in 1945, as well as the date for the formation of South Korea in 1948.
* Although referred to as simply Korea most of the time, the nation name being listed as Daehan-minguk (Republic of Korea) on his original profile first indicated that he is meant to represent the southern half, which also tends to be referred to as simply Korea. Though he has only appeared in one modern-day strip, his flag confirms that he represents South Korea (though the original Korean flag was similar before the split). In 2007, Himaruya stated that he had a male North Korea character in mind that would be a musician who was fond of reading and dancing, as well as being more timid in personality than South Korea. However, it is unlikely that he will appear any time soon due to controversy, as well as a friend of Himaruya's (on whom he was based) having moved away. The unused female South Korea design is sometimes substituted by fans as a possible "North."
* While the nation of Korea has been around since 2333 BC, Korea is portrayed as seemingly the youngest of the Asian nations (though he claims they should call him their big brother). It is currently unknown if he represented ancient Korea and the Three Kingdoms in the past as well, or if a character (or characters) for them will exist.
* Shortly before the anime was set to air, it garnered quick controversy due to the presence of South Korea being made known. The South Korean government declared the series as very offensive, and internet protests sprung up over the depiction of the character. As noted in the "Appearances" section, the protesters cited Himaruya's incorrect way of drawing the male hanbok as one reason for the character being offensive, although they also cited his perverted behavior and actions as not being understandable, and his birthday (presumably the May 1st version) being incorrect. As well, Im Yong's praise for Kiku in certain strips comes off offensive, as while Im Yong does not appear in the WWII-centric strips, both nations share ongoing disputes due to the colonization of Korea as part of the Japanese empire from 1910-1945.
* Though Im Yong has been cut from the anime series, he briefly appeared as a chibi in the ending song Marukaite Chikyuu.
* Im Yong's habit of claiming things originated from him most likely comes from the taegeuk on his flag. The taegeuk refers to the ultimate reality from which all things and values originate according to oriental philosophy. However, the stereotype of Korea claiming origin for various things is also one present in the Japanese media and a few other series, which only serves to further the national tensions between South Korea and Japan.
* Im Yong is briefly shown wearing rectangular-rimmed glasses when alone in his house during the Christmas 2011 event.

## Sources

* Basic Info: http://hetalia.kitawiki.net/index.php?title=Korea