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Moon uses wrong greetings in Malaysia

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President Moon Jae-in speaks during the joint press conference with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on March 13, the second day of his three-day state visit to the Southeast Asian country. Joint Press Corps
President Moon Jae-in speaks during the joint press conference with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on March 13, the second day of his three-day state visit to the Southeast Asian country. Joint Press Corps

By Jung Da-min

The presidential office is in the hot seat after it was realized that President Moon Jae-in gave by mistake an Indonesian greeting while visiting Malaysia from March 12 to 14.


Moon used the wrong greeting due to "confusion," according to Cheong Wa Dae deputy spokesperson Ko Min-jung, Wednesday.

"There was confusion in the process of writing the local greeting to express familiarity with the people in the host country," Ko told reporters.

After the meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on March 13, President Moon greeted the joint press briefing saying "Selamat sore," which means "good afternoon" in Indonesian, instead of using the Malaysian expression "Selamat petang."

This could have been regarded as rude to the host country, but Malaysia did not make an issue of it, Ko said.

"We will do our best to prevent a similar situation from happening again," Ko said, acknowledging it was a mistake that should never have happened.

It later became a controversy with some professors in South Korea expressing concern over possible diplomatic discourtesy.

Opposition parties demanded punishment for those who prepared Moon's greeting.

"Cheong Wa Dae should be blamed for what happened in Malaysia. That was too big a mistake that could have caused a diplomatic row," the main opposition Liberty Korea Party said in a commentary.

Moon made a three-day state visit to Malaysia from March 12 to 14, the first time in nine years for a South Korean President to visit the Southeast Asian country. The trip came a year ahead of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

It was the second leg of his tour of three ASEAN member nations, also including Brunei and Cambodia.




Jung Da-min damin.jung@koreatimes.co.kr


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