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Surveillance footage captured four masked men breaking into the Chinese restaurant in Bundang District Seongnam Gyeonggi Province around 2:40 a.m. on September 24 during the Chuseok holiday. The suspects spent about an hour smashing furniture and spraying red and black lacquer across walls fixtures and the exterior sign while also applying a substance believed to be pesticide on kitchen ingredients according to the Korea Herald. Police identified the four Chinese nationals aged in their 20s to 40s but determined they had already departed the country hours later.
The men took a taxi to temporary lodgings in Seoul’s Seongdong District before heading to Incheon International Airport and boarding flights to Shanghai Yantai and other Chinese cities Bundang Police Station reported. Investigators plan to seek arrest warrants and if approved will request Interpol Red Notices to prompt Chinese authorities to detain the suspects pending extradition proceedings the Korea Herald reported. No motive has been officially confirmed but police suspect the restaurant’s name prompted the targeting.
The owner who has run the establishment since 2018 told local media he selected the name Xi Jinping simply because he wanted it to become the premier Chinese restaurant in South Korea with no political intent. The Chosun Ilbo reported that the business began receiving demands to change its name about a year earlier including dozens of protest calls in August 2025 ahead of the APEC summit in Gyeongju that Xi was scheduled to attend. Two months before the latest incident unknown individuals had sprayed black paint on the sign prompting a prior police report that yielded no arrests.
Damage from the attack totaled around 15 million won or roughly $11,000 including ruined computers equipment and all contaminated food supplies that had to be discarded the owner told JoongAng Ilbo. The restaurant closed for five days and reopened on September 29 but the owner has since filed paperwork to rebrand citing fears of repeat targeting even after the original suspects left the country. In a telephone interview with the JoongAng Ilbo he said the safety concerns for himself his staff and neighbors outweighed any attachment to the original name.
The eatery had become an internet meme soon after opening in 2018 with online communities in both countries dubbing it a place Chinese people could not visit alongside other outlets with names such as Tiananmen and Mao the Korea JoongAng Daily noted. Neighbors recalled early discussions about whether using the Chinese leader’s name for a commercial venture was appropriate though the business had operated without major disruption until the past year. The episode underscores contrasting cultural views in South Korea and China over employing political figures’ names in business according to experts cited by local outlets.
South Korean authorities have initiated formal requests for judicial cooperation with China through international channels to pursue the suspects the National Office of Investigation stated. The case remains under active investigation as property damage with no arrests made to date. The owner and employees are evaluating several alternative names before finalizing the rebranding.
