A South Korean pop star has become the latest celebrity to spark anger on the Chinese internet after he "liked" a tweet about the divisive issue of pro-democracy unrest in Hong Kong.

Choi Siwon, a member of popular K-pop boy band Super Junior, was forced to apologise twice after liking a post on Twitter by South Korean newspaper The Chosun Ilbo about the Hong Kong protests.

Twitter is blocked in China, but opinions that rile Beijing regularly make their way across the "Great Firewall" of censorship and go viral on Chinese social media.

Choi apologised on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform Sunday night, saying he hoped there would soon be an end to "the violence and chaos" in Hong Kong.

"Since the controversy caused by this behaviour makes you all feel disgusted and disappointed, I express my sincerest apologies to all of you," he wrote on his Weibo account, where he has 16.5 million followers.

Choi also unliked the Twitter post.

He apologised again on Tuesday, writing on Weibo he felt "really sorry for my wrong behaviour on Twitter recently, which has made everyone feel disappointed and hurt everyone's feelings."

"I have never denied...Hong Kong is an integral part of China!" he wrote.

By Tuesday afternoon, the hashtag "Choi Siwon" was the number one topic on Weibo, with 260 million views.

A Choi fan group in China announced on Weibo it was closing as a result of the fracas.

"No one and nothing can shake our own position about patriotism," the group posted Monday.

The Chinese state-run Global Times said Choi had "liked" a post that "glamorized Hong Kong rioters".

Other online users also expressed their anger.

"(I) will not forgive you, because my country is more important," wrote one.

Fans also accused Choi of not being sincere in his apology, and criticised him for posting it only to Weibo and not to other platforms.

Choi had already faced controversy in South Korea when a renowned restaurateur died after being attacked by his family's pet dog in 2017.

A number of international brands and celebrities have found themselves facing Chinese anger after being perceived to adopt a stance on the pro-democracy protests that have rocked Hong Kong for months.

One of the most high-profile rows saw popular Houston Rockets basketball games pulled from the air by state broadcasters after the Rockets general manager posted a later-deleted tweet supporting the protesters.

Chinese state media say Hong Kong elections 'skewed'
Beijing (AFP) Nov 26, 2019 - Chinese state media on Tuesday sought to downplay and discredit the results of Hong Kong elections that delivered a stunning victory for pro-democracy candidates and a stinging rebuke to the pro-Beijing establishment.

Local elections in the semi-autonomous city revealed broad public support for a protest movement that has stirred months of violence, as candidates seeking to loosen control by China seized an overwhelming majority of the 452 elected seats.

But the election winners were not mentioned in Chinese-language state media on Tuesday, including official broadcaster CCTV and Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily.

The People's Daily said "social unrest... has seriously disrupted the electoral process."

An editorial in the English-language version of China Daily said the poll was "skewed by intimidation" and "dirty tricks".

The editorial said "violent intimidation tactics were intended to reduce the exposure and visibility of pro-establishment candidates".

"External forces that have helped stoke the months-long anti-government campaign in the special administrative region also contributed greatly to damaging the election chances of pro-establishment candidates," it said.

A commentary in English on official news agency Xinhua said that the election "fell victim" to "rioters".

"Campaigns of some patriotic candidates were seriously disrupted, and their offices were trashed and set ablaze," it said Tuesday.

"One candidate was injured in an attack. Harassment on patriotic candidates occurred on the voting day."

The commentary went on to give its support to city leader Carrie Lam, and said the "Hong Kong community should also correctly understand the relationship between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland".

The Tuesday front page of the nationalistic Global Times said the election had sparked "reflection" but warned it was "highly politicized amid ongoing social unrest".

The article went on to quote experts saying there was "no need to over-interpret the victory of pan-democrats".

Global Times said that "under the plurality voting system... the opposition won 80 percent of seats with only 60 percent of the vote".

On Monday evening, the flagship Chinese news programme Xinwen Lianbo also did not mention the Hong Kong elections.

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Hong Kong's district polls outcome: what does it mean?
Hong Kong (AFP) Nov 25, 2019
Hong Kong voters gave the territory's China-controlled administration a bloody nose in Sunday's local district council elections, a result that pushes the city's months-long political crisis into uncharted territory. Here are some of the key questions about the ballot. - Why is the result important? - Pro-democracy groups have seized on the council polls as a chance to prove the depth of public support for the protest movement, which Beijing-aligned Chief Executive Carrie Lam has dismissed a ... read more