Powered by
Sponsored by

Hyundai tweet row: South Korea regrets 'offence', company issues statement

MEA says envoy was summoned on Monday

south korea jaishankar A collage showing Chung Eui-yong (Reuters), on left, and S. Jaishankar (PTI)

A Twitter post by a Hyundai dealer in Pakistan on Kashmir has become a diplomatic issue. The ministry of external affairs announced on Tuesday that the South Korean ambassador had been summoned over the tweet on Monday.

The MEA said India conveyed its “strong displeasure” over the issue to the ambassador. The MEA said it expected Hyundai to take appropriate action to properly address the issue. It noted the matter “concerned India's territorial integrity on which there could be no compromise”.

Interestingly, External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar tweeted he had received a call from South Korea's Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong. Jaishankar noted the Hyundai matter had come up in their conversation. The MEA said the South Korean foreign minister also “regretted the offence” caused to India by the social media post.

The diplomatic developments came shortly after Hyundai Motor expressed regret over the issue. Hyundai on Tuesday issued a statement saying it was “deeply regretting any offence caused to the people of India by this unofficial social media activity”.

Hyundai Motor Company, it said, “does not comment on political or religious issues in any specific region”.

“Therefore, it is clearly against Hyundai Motor's policy that the independently-owned distributor in Pakistan made unauthorised Kashmir-related social media posts from their own accounts,” it said, adding it has ensured that the offensive tweets are deleted.

The issue also figured in Parliament on Tuesday with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal saying in the Rajya Sabha the government had asked Hyundai to be more forceful in its unequivocal apology.

TAGS

📣 The Week is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TheWeekmagazine) and stay updated with the latest headlines