The JoongAng Ilbo reported on the Chinese social media platform "the countries that Koreans most want to travel to," with "Taiwan" written in seventh place and accompanied by the so-called Taiwan national flag,on July 15. Source: Sina Weibo

The JoongAng Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper, said in response to a controversial post on its official Weibo account that was deleted on Saturday morning, that the incident was a mistake made by its staff member and that the outlet will perfect their management system to prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future. The newspaper told Huanqiu that they "always respect the One-China principle."

On July 15, the JoongAng Ilbo reported on the Chinese social media platform "the countries that Koreans most want to travel to," with "Taiwan" written in seventh place and accompanied by the so-called Taiwan national flag.

"A part from the US and Southeast Asia, which country do Koreans most want to visit?" read the official Chinese edition of South Korea's Joongang Ilbo's account, posted on Weibo on July 15, with a link to the Chinese version of the report.

Citing a survey conducted by Visa, a global financial services company, the report said that, with the gradual restart of overseas travel blocked by COVID-19, the countries that South Koreans most want to travel to are Japan (20.5 percent), followed by Vietnam (9.7 percent), Thailand (8.2 percent), the US (6.5 percent) and Singapore (5.2 percent).

The post sparked a backlash among Chinese internet users, with many saying the report violates China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. "Openly supporting 'Taiwan independence' on Chinese social media platforms?" many netizens reacted angrily, pointing out JoongAng Ilbo's "blatant defiance towards the One-China principle."

Moreover, some "pro-independence" media on the island of Taiwan, such as the "Liberty Times" even hyped the reports of the Korean media to advertise the so-called Taiwan independence.

A review of the Chinese and Korean articles of the Joongang Ilbo found that the articles only mentioned the top five most popular destinations for South Koreans to travel, without mentioning the island of Taiwan at all, and did not use controversial pictures.

Sakong Kwansook, head of the Chinese edition of Joongang Ilbo and a researcher at the China Institute of Joongang Ilbo, said in an email to Huanqiu on Saturday that other images were used when the original images in the Korean report could not be uploaded on Weibo due to copyright issues, and the erroneous post has now been identified and deleted.

The newspaper said the incident was the fault of the staff members in charge of social media operations, and that the newspaper would strengthen its management in the future to prevent similar mistakes from happening again.

In the joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, it is stated that the government of the Republic of Korea recognizes the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, and respects China's position that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of China. Source:Chinese Foreign Ministry

Joongang Ilbo also stressed that it has always respected the One-China principle, which was included in the Joint Communique between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea on the establishment of diplomatic relations on August 24, 1992.

In the joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, it is stated that the government of the Republic of Korea recognizes the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China, and respects China's position that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of China.

Global Times