Government Missing Self-Praise? ... Controversies Over Diplomatic Blunders Including 'South African President Deleted' and 'Declining Japan'

G7 Photo Cropped Out South African President Followed by 'Japan Criticism' Promotional Material
"Sounds Like a Drop in National Dignity" Faces Backlash and Correction
Critic Lee Jong-hoon Calls It "Distortion of Facts, Deception of the People"

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism posted a card news titled "Declining Japan" on the Korea Policy Briefing website on the 8th. It has since been corrected. / Photo by Korea Policy Briefing website capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) has once again been embroiled in a controversy over 'diplomatic impropriety.' Following the incident last month where the South African President was cropped out of a group photo from the Group of Seven (G7) summit promotional material, this time the ministry produced a card news containing the phrase 'Declining Japan.'

Among citizens, voices criticizing the government poured out, saying things like "Do we have to belittle other countries to promote our own country?" and "It sounds like a statement that lowers our national dignity." Although Korea is promoted daily as an 'advanced country,' the government's attitude toward other countries is criticized as being far from that of a developed nation. A political commentator criticized MCST's recent promotion as "an act of distorting facts and deceiving the public."

On the 8th, the MCST's Public Communication Office posted card news titled "Declining Japan, South Korea's Advancement to Developed Country Status" on the 'Korea Policy Briefing' website. This card news introduced an article contributed by Professor Kang Cheol-gu of the Department of Japanese Studies at Paichai University, excerpting parts of the article to create the content.

The card news included statements such as "Japan's continued decline in national power due to COVID-19 prevention failures and economic recession, Asahi Shimbun criticizes 'Japanese government incompetence'" and "South Korea's national power has grown dramatically, UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) changes South Korea's status from developing country to developed country."

The problem lies in the fact that MCST produced official promotional material containing disparaging terms such as 'declining,' 'decline in national power,' and 'incompetence' targeting a specific country. MCST even mistakenly referred to the 'United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)' as the 'United Nations Trade Development Organization.'

This led to criticism from some quarters that using derogatory terms about other countries in official government promotional materials is rude. It is also reported that one citizen filed a disciplinary complaint against the card news production staff through the National Petition System.

The promotional poster for the Group of Seven (G7) summit released by the government last month. On the left is the promotional material initially published by the government, with the image of Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, partially cut off. On the right is the poster corrected with the original photo. / Photo by Korea Policy Briefing website capture

Meanwhile, on the 13th of last month, MCST stirred controversy by posting a poster of the G7 summit group photo on the 'Republic of Korea Government' social media account, cropping out South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The photo showed the leaders gathered for a commemorative photo at Carbis Bay in Cornwall, UK, where the G7 summit was held, including President Moon Jae-in. However, the portion showing President Ramaphosa, located at the far left, was deleted. Some speculated that the photo was intentionally edited to make President Moon, positioned in the center, stand out more.

The promotional material included phrases such as "South Korea's status seen in one photo" and "This scene and this moment represent South Korea's status. We have come this far." Citizens who saw this criticized it, saying, "Is deleting another country's president the nation's status?" and "It's rude and embarrassing."

As the controversy over the promotional material spread, MCST explained, "There was a mistake in the image production process," and "Since it was produced to promote (Professor Kang's) article, the original content was reflected." However, criticism continues that by repeatedly releasing 'self-praising promotional materials' lacking respect for other countries, the ministry is damaging the nation's dignity.

Political commentator Lee Jong-hoon described the MCST promotional materials as "amateurish," stating, "Even if there are diplomatic conflicts with Japan, it is taboo for government agencies to use derogatory expressions about a specific country. It is fundamentally something that should not be done and could cause diplomatic problems."

He added, "Deleting another country's president from a photo can also be interpreted as ignoring that country," and criticized, "They tell Japan not to distort history or facts, but the government's actions are currently doing just that. It seems they think it's acceptable to slightly alter and selectively obscure facts, but this is distorting the truth and deceiving the public."

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