Korea's foreign ministry mistakenly calls Czech Republic 'Czechoslovakia'

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Foreign Affairs

Korea's foreign ministry mistakenly calls Czech Republic 'Czechoslovakia'

Posted : 2018-11-28 14:00

Updated : 2018-11-29 10:31

Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

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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.

mj6c2@koreatimes.co.kr