"Yoon's Dinner Restaurant Reminiscent of Rising Sun Flag? Efforts to Hamper Fail"

"Ignoring the Essence and Stirring Anti-Japanese Sentiment Over Restaurant Name"

The Presidential Office on the 9th pointed out regarding the controversy over President Yoon Seok-yeol's dinner in Busan, "Efforts to undermine the essence will ultimately not succeed."

A Presidential Office official met with reporters at the Yongsan Presidential Office that afternoon and stated, "The essence of the Busan event was a bipartisan, whole-of-government, and national effort where the President, the Presidential Office, the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and 17 provincial governors including both ruling and opposition parties gathered to unite their strength for the successful bid and hosting of the Busan Expo."

Regarding the ongoing controversy over the name of the seafood restaurant in Haeundae where the dinner took place and the Rising Sun flag, the official said, "There were attempts to ignore the essence and even stir anti-Japanese sentiment by focusing on the restaurant's name." The official added, "Seeing such behavior, many citizens are suspicious, wondering 'Are these people perhaps opposing the Busan Expo? Since they cannot openly say so, are they bringing up peripheral issues to confuse the main point?'"

Earlier, on the 6th, the Presidential Office explained that President Yoon Seok-yeol's dinner with provincial governors and ministers in Busan was "a symbolic site showing that our politics can achieve cooperation on livelihood issues outside of Yeouido." At that time, regarding criticism over photos from the event, the office pointed out, "There are many attempts in our political and media landscape where the tail wags the dog, distorting the main point, which is regrettable."

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