Ohtani may be South Korea's most-beloved Japanese athlete. His charm is winning over historic rivals

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ designated hitter Shohei Ohtani prepares to bat in the first inning of the exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will meet in a two-game series on March 20th-21st in Seoul for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series. (AP Photo/)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ designated hitter Shohei Ohtani smiles during the first inning of the exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will meet in a two-game series on March 20th-21st in Seoul for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-Joon)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ designated hitter Shohei Ohtani swings during the first inning of the exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will meet in a two-game series on March 20th-21st in Seoul for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ designated hitter Shohei Ohtani , left, and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto , right, applaud in the first inning of the exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will meet in a two-game series on March 20th-21st in Seoul for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-Joon)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ designated hitter Shohei Ohtani returns his bench after he was struck out during the second inning of the exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will meet in a two-game series on March 20th-21st in Seoul for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-Joon)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ center fielder James Outman hits during the second inning of the exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will meet in a two-game series on March 20th-21st in Seoul for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-Joon)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ designated hitter Shohei Ohtani is stuck out during the second inning of the exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will meet in a two-game series on March 20th-21st in Seoul for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-Joon)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ designated hitter Shohei Ohtani reacts after he was struck out during the second inning of the exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 17, 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will meet in a two-game series on March 20th-21st in Seoul for the MLB World Tour Seoul Series. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-Joon)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani reacts during a news conference ahead of a baseball workout at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani attends a news conference ahead of a baseball workout at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani attends a news conference ahead of a baseball workout at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, March 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka walk with security during the baseball team’s arrival at Incheon International Airport, Friday, March 15, 2024, in Incheon, South Korea, ahead of the team’s baseball series against the San Diego Padres. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, front right, and his wife Mamiko Tanaka walk with security during the baseball team’s arrival at Incheon International Airport, Friday, March 15, 2024, in Incheon, South Korea, ahead of the team’s baseball series against the San Diego Padres. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani, center, walks with his wife Mamiko Tanaka, center left, through a terminal during the baseball team’s arrival at Incheon International Airport, Friday, March 15, 2024, in Incheon, South Korea, ahead of the team’s baseball series against the San Diego Padres. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

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CORRECTS DATE - Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani gestures as he walks with security guards during the baseball team’s arrival at Incheon International Airport, Friday, March 15, 2024, in Incheon, South Korea, ahead of the team’s baseball series against the San Diego Padres. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

By HYUNG-JIN KIM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Shohei Ohtani may be South Korea’s most-beloved Japanese athlete, a testament to his charm in softening any lingering animosity between the two neighbors.

Since his arrival in South Korea with his wife for the Major League Baseball opener on Wednesday against the San Diego Padres, the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar has been the focus of keen, special attention.

Many Korean fans are wearing Ohtani jerseys and rooting for him at the stadium. The Korean national team manager covets his autograph and myriad media reports and social media posts are praising him.

This is nothing new for the two-way baseball sensation, who in December signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract to join the Dodgers. But a Japanese receiving such a treatment in South Korea is extremely unusual, because of historical grievances stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

“Our social atmosphere has often made it difficult for us to openly say we like Japan,” said Lee Jong-Sung, a sports culture expert at Seoul’s Hanyang University. “I think Ohtani would perhaps be the first Japanese athlete who we can say we like. Maybe, some even consider him an honorary Korean citizen.”

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Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, right, talks with interpreter Will Ireton during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea Thursday, March 21, 2024, in Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Betting scandal with Ohtani’s interpreter is far from the first in professional sports

Many of Ohtani’s South Korean supporters say they like him because of what they call his good manners as well as his baseball excellence.

“Ohtani has been nice to Korean fans, so I think that’s why everyone likes him,” Park Sungjin, a 40-year-old physician wearing an Ohtani jersey, said before the Dodgers’ exhibition game with South Korea’s Kiwoom Heroes on Sunday.

“We have historical issues to be settled with Japan, but whether to like Ohtani is another matter,” Hwang Seon-young, another Korean Othani fan, said at the Gocheok Sky Dome.

Ohtani, who is lauded in Japan as “the perfect person,” knows how to captivate Korean fans. Before his departure to South Korea, he posted an Instagram photo showing him making a “finger heart” gesture with a Korean national flag emoji.

After his arrival in South Korea, he told reporters that he’s always respected South Korea’s national teams and called South Korea “one of my favorite countries.”

“The country that Ohtani likes the most is South Korea. The Japanese who South Koreans like the most is Ohtani,” reads a Korean message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Relations between South Korea and Japan have improved significantly since last year, with the South’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, taking a major step toward addressing disputes over Japan’s colonial-era mobilization of forced Korean laborers — one of the long-running sticking points in improving bilateral ties.

In 2019, a forced-labor issue triggered widespread public campaigns in South Korea to boycott Japanese goods and services.

Ties between Korea and Japan have experienced on-again, off-again fluctuations. So if anti-Japan sentiments deepen in South Korea again like in 2019, Ohtani fans may feel a challenge in publicly expressing their likings of the 29-year-old.

But despite their often-rocky political relations, South Korea and Japan are closely linked to each other culturally and economically. Many younger South Koreans don’t harbor the same strong resentment against Japan as their elders, and they often view Japanese athletes as just foreign athletes.

“They view Japanese players more comfortably. They just think there is Ohtani in Japan while we have Son Heung-min,” Lee, the university professor, said of a prominent Korean footballer with Tottenham Hotspur.

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Ohtani may be South Korea’s most-beloved Japanese athlete. His charm is winning over historic rivals

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