Jeju Air's ad embroiled in political controversy

By Kang Seung-woo

Jeju Air, the nation's largest budget carrier, is embroiled in an improbable controversy concerning the “One-China” policy.

A job advertisement recruiting non-Korean students studying here for “global joyber” -- an internship position to promote the appeal of Korean travel as well as the airline -- drew the ire of a Chinese student who complained the ad ignored China's politically-related principle.

An English language poster said the company was looking for “Japanese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Chinese and Hong Kong people” for the job. The Chinese student studying at the University of Seoul took issue with K-Pal, an advertising agency that made the poster, claiming Taiwan and Hong Kong were part of China.

According to the student, she first saw the poster in an elevator at the school's dormitory.

After several exchanges of words between the two sides, the agency reworded the ad into those “from Shandong, Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as Japan and Vietnam.”

However, the company has yet to drop the flags of Hong Kong and Taiwan in the updated poster.

The Chinese student took the issue to her social network service accounts and state-run China Central Television (CCTV) reported it.

She also said the Chinese Embassy here and the Korean foreign ministry are aware of the issue.

According to the official English-language website of China News Service, Chinese net users supported the student, saying “You're not alone on the matter.”

The issue occurred as relations between Korea and China are thawing slightly after a U.S. missile defense system-sparked a diplomatic standoff that sharply reduced the number of Chinese tourists to Korea and hit the local airlines and tourism industries hard.

Beijing's One-China policy regards Taiwan as a renegade province, not a country.

It is not the first time that a Korean company was involved in a brouhaha over Chinese policy.

In 2016, Woori Card came under fire from China after its ad said a Woori Card affiliated with Union Pay can be used in five countries -- Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, China and Japan.