I think its more a case of right wing South Koreans being racist to North Koreans and then Western media picking up on the story becuase it fits a racist portrayal of Asian people in the West.
Like Chosun Ilbo publishes these stories once a week, they are all absurd and most traffic in some kind of South Korean stereotype about North Koreans, but the only stories that eventually get picked up in the West are the ones which play on broader Asian stereotypes understandable to more Westerners. For example, some racist screed about North Korean workers stealing stuff at the Kaesang Joint Industrial project might circulate in South Korea but would be unintelligible to people in the US due to the specific subject matter and becuase racist South Korean stereotypes about the North don't line up with American stereotypes.
I think its more a case of right wing South Koreans being racist to North Koreans and then Western media picking up on the story becuase it fits a racist portrayal of Asian people in the West.
Like Chosun Ilbo publishes these stories once a week, they are all absurd and most traffic in some kind of South Korean stereotype about North Koreans, but the only stories that eventually get picked up in the West are the ones which play on broader Asian stereotypes understandable to more Westerners. For example, some racist screed about North Korean workers stealing stuff at the Kaesang Joint Industrial project might circulate in South Korea but would be unintelligible to people in the US due to the specific subject matter and becuase racist South Korean stereotypes about the North don't line up with American stereotypes.