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NBC correspondent’s ignorant comment angers Korean people

NBC correspondent’s ignorant comment angers Korean people

Posted February. 12, 2018 07:47,   

Updated February. 12, 2018 07:47

한국어

An NBC Sports commentator has made an ignorant comment about Korea-Japan relations during the live broadcast of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, sparking fury among Koreans.

NBC’s Joshua Cooper Ramo introduced Japan as “a country occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945” during the Parade of Nations at Saturday’s opening ceremony. “But every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural and technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation,” he said.

His incorrect and insensitive comment has immediately enraged Korean-Americans first. NBC has received a barrage of complaints from the outraged people, saying “how insulting” and “the Korean government should make an official protest.” Many in South Korea have also flocked to the NBC’s official Twitter account to write comments urging the U.S. broadcaster to apologize. Currently, the account is not accessible from Korea.

The public outrage has not faded at all. Some even requested the expulsion of the NBC press corps on the presidential office’s national petition website. Professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women’s University has posted a video clip that contradicts Japan’s distortion of history to glorify its military aggression, saying, “We should refrain from emotional reactions and let the world know about the atrocities Japan had committed to Asian countries.”


Ji-Sun Choi aurinko@donga.com