A South Korean television reporter said on air that it was “lucky” those killed in the Asiana Airlines accident were Chinese, not Koreans. His statement has engendered a fierce response not only from those who are Chinese, but also Koreans as well. Yoon Kyeong-min, who works at South Korean network Channel A, said, “It’s been reported that two Chinese people, not Koreans, were killed in the plane crash. If we look at it from our point of view, this is lucky.”
Some Korean commentators said the remarks were inexcusable, asking, “What will Chinese people do if they see this broadcast?” They added that the issue was even more sensitive because the victims of the crash were so young.
Weibo users in China responded after the video of the broadcast went viral. One wrote, “They need to issue an apology to the Chinese public! And they must apologize to the families of the victims!”
However, others had a gentler perspective; one person wrote, “Let’s look at this from a different perspective. If it had been a Chinese airline and two passengers had died, would we rather that they be Korean [foreigners] or our own countrymen? This is all that the broadcaster meant.”
Channel A issued an apology, stating, “We apologize that we did not report the news smoothly during the live broadcast of the Asiana Airlines crash. [We] would like to note that when we said it was fortunate in our case that there were no Koreans among those killed, it was a simply a comment for emphasis. We apologize to our viewers.”
Photo source: The Chosun Ilbo
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