"Unacceptable" "Baseless Defamation" Dispute Between Chinese State Media and South Korean Embassy in China

Weekday Korean Embassy Sends Protest Letter to Media Criticizing President Yoon
Media Responds with Another Protest Editorial, Escalating Dispute

During the week, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in China and Chinese state media have continued a 'protest' dispute over reports related to President Yoon Suk-yeol's visit to the United States.

On the 8th, China's state-run Global Times (GT) and its Chinese-language counterpart, Huanqiu Shibao, published rebuttal editorials stating that they "cannot tolerate" the protest letter sent by the Korean Embassy in China on the 4th regarding excessive slander against President Yoon Suk-yeol. The two media outlets emphasized, "We cannot tolerate interference in an aggressive manner in the independent reporting of another country," and added, "Intense emotions and crossing the line in language should not come from diplomatic institutions." These media outlets are subsidiaries of the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, and are classified as having strong nationalist tendencies even within China.

Global Times (GT) published an editorial on the 8th criticizing the South Korean Embassy during the week, stating that "intense emotions and crossing the line in language should not come from diplomatic institutions." (Photo source = Screenshot of Global Times editorial)

Earlier, the Korean Embassy in China sent protest letters to these media outlets, accusing them of publishing unfair slanderous articles about the Korean head of state and diplomatic policies on April 26, April 30, May 3, and May 4. In their editorials, these outlets described "the dignity of Korean diplomacy as shattered" and wrote, "Among all past Korean governments, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has been evaluated as the most lacking in national independence consciousness toward the United States, and this visit to the U.S. has unquestionably proven that evaluation," sparking controversy.

In response, the Korean Embassy in China stated in the letter that the related reports "use sensational, provocative, and inappropriate vocabulary to unilaterally disparage not only our head of state but also our government's diplomatic policy, which seeks peace and stability in the region, from a very biased perspective without objective evidence. This directly contradicts the principles China itself has declared." The letter further added, "These series of reports do not help the healthy and mature development of Korea-China relations at all and only foster negative perceptions between the two peoples, so a more cautious attitude should be shown in publishing such articles."

On the 8th, Huanqiu Shibao and GT stated in their editorials, "Since the Korean Embassy in China unusually made its protest public to the Korean media and public opinion is boiling in Korea, we find it necessary to respond publicly," and argued, "It is difficult to avoid differences of opinion on some issues between China and Korea, but the problem lies not in making these differences loud and disruptive, but in how to resolve, manage, or control them." They continued, "Since its inauguration, the current Korean government (Yoon Suk-yeol administration) has catered to the destruction of regional stability by the U.S. and Japan, made several wrong remarks on major issues involving China's sovereignty such as the Taiwan issue, harshly interfered in China's internal affairs, and now is even targeting Chinese media with its firepower." They also added, "The phrase that responsible media must adhere to reporting principles should be directed at Korea's conservative media, which is full of anti-China remarks."

Furthermore, they claimed, "If Korean diplomacy continues in this direction, the result may not only be a deterioration of China-Korea relations or a loss of dignity in front of the U.S. and Japan, but the Northeast Asian situation could become even more unbalanced or even collapse, which would be an unbearable situation for Korea." They also stated, "Frankly speaking, we doubt whether Korean diplomatic authorities truly understand and grasp the realities of international politics and have the healthy and mature development of China-Korea relations in mind," and emphasized, "We also express our protest against such protests."

Regarding the editorial, a representative of the Korean Embassy in China said on the 8th, "We urged the prevention of recurrence regarding the unreasonable criticism of our head of state and diplomatic policies, and we express considerable regret and dissatisfaction that (Huanqiu Shibao and others) did not accept this," adding, "For the interdependence, reciprocity, and healthy and mature development of China-Korea relations, it is necessary to respond cautiously." The representative further explained, "Unreasonable critical articles by Chinese state-run media about the Korean head of state and diplomatic policies could negatively affect China-Korea relations."

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