Winter Olympics silver medallist Kwak Yoongy’s defiant podium act after attacks from China

It looked like a bit of harmless fun - something to celebrate his Winter Olympic swansong as a silver medallist by paying tribute to his nation’s most famous band.

But there was more to South Korean speed skater Kwak Yoongy’s BTS dance on the Beijing podium after his team finished runners-up to Canada in the men’s 5000m short track relay on Wednesday night.

Watch South Korean skater Kwak Yoongy’s defiant podium act in the video above

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And it’s sure to stoke the fire between his country and hosts China amid a war of words over allegations of bias, for which Kwak has already faced attack.

The pink-haired Kwak sent social media into a frenzy when he performed part of the dance from the K-pop boy band’s hit song Dynamite, with bandmember RM among those to notice.

“Yoon Gy, I saw your good Dynamite,” RM said on Instagram.

According to Korean news agency Yonhap, Kwak explained after the race that the dance was a tribute to RM, who had supported the athlete when he was bombarded with hate on social media after speaking out about alleged pro-China judging at the Games.

“I’m a fan of BTS but I also felt that I wanted to repay RM however I could, for the support I received when I was having a rough time during the early stages of the Olympics,” Kwak said, according to Koreaboo.

Kwak had spoken out strongly after China benefitted from a series of contentious decision by speed skating officials last week.

Chinese star Ren Ziwei took gold in the men’s short track 1000m after a controversial final in which Hungarian Liu Shaolin Sandor, who crossed the finish line first, was disqualified.

In the same event, two South Korean competitors - world-record