Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Korea's foreign ministry mistakenly calls Czech Republic 'Czechoslovakia'
Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha / Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
By Jung Min-ho
Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrongly called the Czech Republic “Czechoslovakia” on its official Twitter account, Thursday.
On the day President Moon Jae-in arrived in the Czech Republic as part of his eight-day overseas trip, the ministry said: “President Moon @moonriver365 embarks today on visits to Czechoslovakia, Argentina (G20) and New Zealand, on a trip spanning across continents.”
Czechoslovakia, or Czecho-Slovakia, was a sovereign state formed in 1918 in Central Europe after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of the First World War. But due to various issues between Czechs and Slovaks, it split into the two sovereign states ― the Czech Republic and Slovakia ― in 1993.
The ministry's posting immediately met with ridicule and criticism on social media.
“I took it as a message that Moon is going to Czechoslovakia through the time machine,” one person joked.
“Minister Kan(g) Kyung-wha, it is Cxech (sic), not Czechoslovakia. It has been 26 years since it split into Czech Republic and Slovakia. It is a huge mistake for the ministry to use the wrong name. Excuse my spelling. You got it wrong first,” another person said on Twitter.
The ministry deleted the posting, but has not issued a statement about the error.