Korean airline apologizes for wrong flyer on Mainland, HK

A South Korean airline apologized and revised its promotional flyer after a Chinese student pointed out it made a political mistake by giving Hong Kong and Taiwan equal status as China.

The apology and changes, however, failed to quell Chinese net users’ outrage on Tuesday. They said South Korea’s Jeju Air still wrongly placed the local flags of Taiwan and Hong Kong side by side with Chinese national flag in their new flyers.

The airline apologized on Sunday after the Chinese student, who claimed to be studying in the University of Seoul, had an argument with staff from the advertising agency KPal, who made the flyer.

The student said the Chinese embassy and the South Korean foreign ministry are aware of the issue.

The airline changed it from “China, Hong Kong and Taiwan” to “Shandong, Hong Kong and Taiwan” in the updated flyer.

The original poster was placed on the wall of a building on the campus of the University of Seoul, the student said. The English language flyer for Jeju Air offers internships for “Japanese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Chinese and Hong Kong people.”

According to online screen grabs posted by the Chinese student, identifying herself as @GLITTERIN_99 on Sina Weibo, K-Pal staff had threatened her, saying if she removed the poster from the campus, she “will be punished” by school.

Chinese net users supported the student, saying “You’re not alone on the matter.”

The Chinese embassy and the student have not responded to a request for an interview from the Global Times as of press time.