"How Could a Public Institution Make This Mistake?" Japan Shinkansen Appears in Korea Railroad Corporation's Gwangbokjeol Content

Insert images of Mugunghwa and Japan's Shinkansen in the post
Seokyeongdeok "Unacceptable, the company should not make excuses"

On the occasion of the 77th Liberation Day, a controversy arose as Japan's Shinkansen appeared in the content produced by the Korea Railroad Corporation. Photo by Korea Railroad Corporation Instagram

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Gun-chan] The Korea National Railway Corporation issued an official apology after controversy arose over the appearance of Japan’s Shinkansen in content produced to commemorate the 77th anniversary of Liberation Day. Professor Seo Kyung-duk strongly criticized the incident, saying, "There should be no more excuses blaming the contractors."

On the 15th, the Korea National Railway Corporation posted a card news-style content titled "77th Anniversary of Liberation Day Special" on its official Instagram. Among the posts was one with the Taegeukgi flag as the background, stating, "1945 is a meaningful day marking both our country’s independence from Japanese colonial rule and the establishment of the Republic of Korea government in 1948. Today, on Liberation Day, we want to talk about the story of railroads, which became a symbol of modernization after the ordeal of plunder."

Below this post, an image of Japan’s high-speed train Shinkansen was inserted alongside the Mugunghwa flower. After criticism arose, the Korea National Railway Corporation belatedly deleted the post and issued an apology on the 16th. The corporation said, "There was an inappropriate image used in the Liberation Day special content," and apologized, stating, "As an institution responsible for fostering a proud railway culture, there is no excuse for using an inappropriate photo that caused great discomfort to those using the Korea National Railway Corporation’s SNS."

The Korea Rail Network Authority belatedly deleted the post and issued an apology on the 16th. / Photo by Korea Rail Network Authority Instagram

Professor Seo Kyung-duk of Sungshin Women’s University voiced criticism regarding the controversy. On the 16th, he posted on his Facebook, "The Korea National Railway Corporation is causing a major uproar by using a photo of the Shinkansen high-speed train with Mount Fuji in the background in SNS content commemorating the 77th anniversary of Liberation Day," and pointed out, "This issue is even more controversial because the Taegeukgi design is used as the background and the Mugunghwa flower is drawn in the lower left corner."

Professor Seo emphasized that while the contractor’s fault is significant, the public institution should have exercised caution. He explained, "In the past, there was controversy when kimchi was labeled as 'pao cai' in a video produced by a public institution," adding, "At that time, the officials apologized, saying the contractor was responsible for content development and the error was not caught during the final review process."

He then criticized, "How can a Korean public institution make such a mistake when producing Liberation Day content? This is unacceptable, and there should be no more excuses blaming the contractors responsible for SNS work." He added, "I hope this incident serves as a turning point so that such mistakes are never repeated by Korean public institutions."