"Appropriate Measures Will Be Taken"... Disciplinary Procedure Initiated for Staff Who Deleted South African President's Photo

Commemorative photo of the Group of Seven (G7) summit.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has decided to discipline the staff member who deleted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa from the commemorative photo of the Group of Seven (G7) summit.

According to the Ministry on the 15th, the Public Communication Office of the Ministry, which operates the South Korean government's Facebook account, plans to investigate the circumstances with the staff member who edited the controversial photo and proceed with disciplinary measures.

A Ministry official stated, "The staff member judged the photo composition to be awkward and deleted President Ramaphosa of South Africa during the process of enlarging the photo," adding, "Appropriate measures will be taken."

However, the Ministry expects to impose a light disciplinary action, considering that the incident occurred due to a mistake rather than intentional misconduct by the staff member.

Earlier, on the 13th, the South Korean government’s Facebook page posted a commemorative photo of the G7 summit held in the UK along with a post titled "South Korea's Status Seen in One Photo," but deleted President Ramaphosa from the original photo.

Following criticism suggesting that the deletion was an intentional attempt to highlight President Moon Jae-in, the Ministry revised the post the previous morning and restored the original photo as it was.

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