Lufthansa hit for removing Dokdo from in-flight maps
Lufthansa A350 at Incheon International Airport. / Courtesy of Lufthansa
By Jung Min-ho, Kim Jae-heun
Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr
German airline Lufthansa has come under criticism in Korea after deciding to remove Dokdo, Korea’s easternmost islets that Japan falsely claims as its own, from its in-flight maps.
“The software has been updated and will be installed on the aircraft at the end of this week at the latest. The name of the island will not be shown anymore,” Lufthansa told The Korea Times Tuesday.
The company also said it had no intention to insult any party and regretted any inconvenience the decision might cause.
The decision came after a Japanese passenger’s complaint about the description of Dokdo, which was written in English and Japanese, on a Tokyo-Munich flight in December. The passenger claimed the name should be “Takeshima.”
It is unclear whether Lufthansa will remove Dokdo from the aircraft for that route only or all of them, including planes that fly from Korea’s Incheon to Frankfurt and Munich.
The company was not available to comment immediately after the statement.
But either way, the decision has already angered many Koreans.
Some people say they should boycott Lufthansa. Hundreds of people have signed a petition matter on the Cheong Wa Dae website urging the government to act.
“Lufthansa accepted the Japanese person’s opinion to change the name of Dokdo without checking facts,” said the person who posted the petition.
“Dokdo has always been Korea’s territory that it controls … We urge Lufthansa to retract the decision. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to look into the matter and prevent such incident from happening again.”
Ample evidence shows Dokdo has long belonged to Korea, which fully controls the territory. Korean residents, government officials and coast guards live there.