A digital media wall in Gyeongju's Bomun Tourist Complex displayed a figure in Chinese-style clothing under the country heading "China" and captioned the outfit as hanbok, drawing criticism that the error plays into Chinese claims over Korean traditional dress.
The Gyeongsangbuk-do Culture and Tourism Organization, which operates the screen, said Tuesday it had suspended transmission and corrected the content.
The LED screen was installed at Hoban Square for last year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. It was recently moved to a plaza near the waterside performance venue in the Bomun complex and relaunched as the "Post-APEC Media Wall," cycling through content introducing the traditional dress of the 21 APEC member economies.
Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, raised the issue on social media Tuesday, saying the screen showed a person wearing Chinese style alongside the country name "China," but that it had identified the clothing as hanbok.
"China is continuously claiming hanbok is theirs, so it is unacceptable for us to make a mistake like this," Seo said. "The Gyeongsangbuk-do Culture and Tourism Organization must correct the error quickly and take care that it does not happen again."
A resident who saw the screen said the content risked causing confusion at a time when China has been attempting to absorb hanbok into its own catalog of traditional clothing.
The organization said the screen had been undergoing test runs for several days when the error was discovered.
"The error occurred during a trial run ahead of the official launch on Oct. 1. We completed a full review and correction as soon as it was found. We are deeply aware of the sensitivity of national cultural content and the seriousness of the matter, and we will strengthen expert screening in advance and conduct thorough final checks so that there is no disruption to events or to regular operations," the organization said.
North Gyeongsang Province issued a formal warning to the organization for failing to review the content in advance, saying the importance of accurate labeling of traditional dress outweighed that the problem originated as a technical error during testing.
"We have instructed the organization to strengthen expert screening in advance and put a thorough inspection system in place so that this does not happen again," said Lee Dong-jin, head of the tourism policy division at North Gyeongsang Province.
yoohong@heraldcorp.com
