"Why is the Rising Sun Flag on the Taeguk Pattern?"... The Strange Taegukgi Appearing in French News

French LCI Channel Sparks Controversy for Incorrect Taegeukgi Insertion
Red Circle Drawn Instead of Taegeuk Pattern

A French news channel has drawn criticism from netizens for displaying a graphic of South Korea's Taegeukgi flag resembling the Japanese Rising Sun flag.

On the 31st of last month (local time), French channel LCI reported on the Korean Peninsula issue around 2:37 PM while covering remarks made by North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un on the fifth day of the Workers' Party plenary meeting. At the time, Chairman Kim defined inter-Korean relations not as relations between compatriots but as "hostile relations between two states," drawing a line by stating, "Unification cannot be achieved."

While reporting this news, LCI inserted graphics of the flags of South and North Korea as the background screen, but they included an incorrectly shaped Taegeukgi. Instead of the Taegeuk symbol in the center of the flag, they drew a red circle. At a glance, the graphic could be mistaken for the Rising Sun flag, leading to a flood of criticism from netizens. The video, also uploaded on LCI's YouTube channel, has been viewed by 120,000 people so far.

[Image source=LCI YouTube]

Netizens commented, "This doesn't seem like a simple mistake but rather intentional," "It's offensive. If you know Korean history, there is no more insulting 'mistake' than this," "Look at the level of French media," "Issue a correction and apologize to the Korean people," and "How would you feel if the colors of the French flag were changed to something else?"

Overseas netizens also responded, "South Korea's flag must have a mix of red and blue. The flag in the video is wrong and diplomatically rude," and "If you know the history between Korea and Japan, drawing the Republic of Korea's flag like this is a huge mistake."