Hyundai issue | MEA conveys displeasure to Korean Ambassador : Rashtra News
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Hyundai in a fresh statement expressed regret to the “offence caused to the people of India.”
Union Minister Piyush Goyal said in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the issue of some companies including automobile giant Hyundai posting tweets on Kashmir solidarity day observed by Pakistan “has been taken up both with the Government and with the company concerned.”
The Ministry of External Affairs conveyed to the Ambassador of South Korea that Hyundai Pakistan’s social media post on the so-called Kashmir Solidarity Day is “offensive.”
The announcement came soon after the External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar discussed the issue with his counterpart in Seoul Chung Eui-yong on Tuesday. Hyundai in a fresh statement expressed regret to the “offence caused to the people of India.”
“They have already issued a clarification. Yesterday, we have also asked them to be more forceful in their unequivocal apology on this issue,” Mr. Goyal stated while responding to a zero-hour submission made on the subject by Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi.
The MP said, “certain companies have been offering their support and posting content on Kashmir Solidarity Day observed by Pakistan. The content they have posted on their platform calls for freedom for Kashmir. These companies are doing business, both in India and Pakistan, yet have posted content in solidarity with Pakistan over Kashmir. Such posts that are challenging the sovereignty of our country should not be acceptable. It is surprising that it has been ignored till now and also keeping in mind that these companies have been flourishing in India for past many years.”
Mr. Jaishankar said on Twitter, “Received a call from ROK Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong today. Discussed bilateral and multilateral issues.” The communication took place after Hyundai Pakistan put out a social media post on Kashmir on February 6 as a mark of solidarity with Kashmir. India also took up the issue with the headquarters of Hyundai through its mission in Seoul.
“The strong displeasure of the Government on the unacceptable social media post by Hyundai Pakistan was conveyed to him. It was highlighted that this matter concerned India’s territorial integrity on which there could be no compromise,” said Official Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi on the message conveyed to the ambassador of South Korea or Republic of Korea (ROK).
The Kashmir related social media messages were posted by a number of Pakistan-based MNC outlets. The list also included American fast food chain KFC, Pizza Hut, Atlas Honda Limited, and Isuzu.
“India welcomes investments by foreign companies in various sectors. But, it is also expected that such companies or their affiliates will refrain from false and misleading comments on matters of sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said Mr Bagchi.
The Korea-headquartered Hyundai Motor Company on Tuesday reiterated its commitment to India while expressing regret over “offence caused to the people of India” by the unofficial social media activity.
Since Sunday, a lot of brands, particularly Hyundai India and KFC India, have been facing severe backlash on social media platforms following messages by their dealers and outlets in support of the ‘freedom struggle in Kashmir’. Many people have also shared screenshots of similar messages posted by accounts related to global brands such as Suzuki, Toyota, Dominos, Kia, Honda, Pizza Hut and Bosch. The posts have now been deleted.
“As a business policy, Hyundai Motor Company does not comment on political or religious issues in any specific region. Therefore, it is clearly against Hyundai Motor’s policy that the independently-owned distributor in Pakistan made unauthorised Kashmir-related social media posts from their own accounts,” Hyundai Motor Company said in a statement issued on Tuesday.
The company said once the situation was brought to our attention, it made the distributor acutely aware of the inappropriateness of the action. “We have since taken measures to ensure the distributor, which misused the Hyundai brand identity, has removed the social media post and we have put in place processes to prevent future recurrence,” it said.
It further added that its subsidiary, Hyundai Motor India is not associated with the distributor in Pakistan, and it “strongly rejects distributor’s unauthorised non-business related social media activity”.
Hyundai Motor Company has been investing in India for many decades and remains strongly committed to Indian customers. We deeply regret any offence caused to the people of India by this unofficial social media activity,” it added.
On Monday, KFC India had also issued an apology “for a post that was published on some KFC social media channels outside the country”.
“We honour and respect India, and remain steadfast in our commitment to serving all Indians with pride,” it has said.
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( News Source :Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Rashtra News staff and is published from a www.thehindu.com feed.)