Moon Jae-in's 'Lunar New Year Greetings in 4 Languages Excluding Japanese' Controversy... Cheong Wa Dae "Excluding Japan Which Does Not Celebrate Lunar New Year"

President Moon Jae-in sent Lunar New Year greetings in Chinese, Vietnamese, and English on his social networking services (SNS) such as Twitter and Facebook on the 12th. Photo by President Moon Jae-in Facebook capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Nana Han] President Moon Jae-in attracted attention by sending Lunar New Year greetings in four languages excluding Japanese through SNS on the 12th, the Lunar New Year holiday. The Blue House stated, "Japan does not celebrate the Lunar New Year, so the Japanese greeting was excluded."

On the afternoon of the same day, President Moon posted on his social media accounts such as Twitter and Facebook, "I send New Year's greetings to the neighboring countries celebrating the Lunar New Year. I hope 2021 will be filled with health and peace," adding, "I look forward to the day when we can all take off our masks and meet again."

President Moon's Lunar New Year greetings were translated and posted in Chinese, Vietnamese, and English in that order.

As some media outlets simply reported that Japanese was excluded, Kang Min-seok, the Blue House spokesperson, issued a written briefing in the afternoon to clarify the facts.

Spokesperson Kang explained, "Japan does not celebrate the Lunar New Year (Gujeong), so there is no Japanese greeting. English was included because it is an official language in countries like Singapore and Malaysia that celebrate the Lunar New Year."

China celebrates the Lunar New Year as the traditional holiday called 'Chunjeol (春節)', and Vietnam celebrates it as 'T?t (T?T)'. Singapore and Malaysia also observe the Lunar New Year as a holiday. In contrast, Japan only commemorates the New Year's Day (Sinjeong) on January 1st of the solar calendar as a holiday.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.