The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism created a card news containing the phrase "Declining Japan" on the Korea Policy Briefing website on the 8th, sparking controversy.
[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has drawn criticism after producing a card news containing the phrase "declining Japan" and then revising it amid controversy. There has been ongoing criticism that the government’s official use of a negative term like "declining" to describe another country is a diplomatic faux pas.
On the 8th, the MCST’s Public Communication Office posted card news titled "Declining Japan, South Korea’s Advancement to a Developed Country" on the Korea Policy Briefing website.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism posted a card news on the Korea Policy Briefing website on the 8th containing the phrase "Declining Japan." It has since been corrected. / Photo by Korea Policy Briefing website capture
The card news summarized an article contributed by Professor Kang Cheol-gu of the Department of Japanese Studies at Paichai University. The MCST extracted the phrase "Declining Japan, South Korea’s Advancement to a Developed Country" from the article to create the card news.
In his article, Professor Kang wrote, "While South Korea achieved remarkable economic growth amid the COVID-19 situation, Japan has continued to experience a decline in national power due to failures in COVID-19 prevention and economic recession, revealing a gradual decline in the mutual importance of trade between Korea and Japan."
The card news included statements such as "Japan’s national power continues to decline due to COVID-19 prevention failures and economic recession; Asahi Shimbun criticizes 'Japanese government incompetence'" and "South Korea’s national power shows remarkable growth; United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) changes South Korea’s status from developing country to developed country." The MCST also mistakenly referred to the "United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)" as the "United Nations Trade and Development Organization."
This led to criticism that using disparaging terms about a specific country in official government promotional materials is a diplomatic blunder. It is also reported that a citizen filed a disciplinary complaint against the card news producer through the National Petition System.
Regarding this, an MCST official explained to the media, "The card news was produced to publicize Professor Kang’s article, and we judged that it was appropriate to faithfully reflect the original content as much as possible."
As the backlash grew, the Public Communication Office revised the card news content and reposted it.
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