The Ministry of External Affairs expressed strong displeasure over a now deleted social media post by Hyundai Pakistan. Following the ‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ post, India’s Ambassador in Seoul had contacted the Hyundai Headquarters for an explanation. The MEA had also summoned the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea on Monday, seeking an explanation for the “unacceptable” post.
“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. We expected the Company to take appropriate action to properly address these issues,” read a statement from the MEA shared on Tuesday afternoon.
South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong also called External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today morning. “Received a call from ROK FM Chung Eui-yong today. Discussed bilateral and multilateral issues as also the Hyundai matter,” the EAM had tweeted earlier today.
“The RoK Foreign Minister also conveyed that they regretted the offence caused to the people and Government of India by the social media post,” the MEA added in its statement.
Amid outrage over the post in question, Hyundai Motors had also shared a statement conveying regret to the people of India. The company said that it did not comment on political or religious issues. In its official statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that while India welcomed investments by foreign companies, it also expected organisations and their affiliates to “refrain from false and misleading comments on matters of sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The Hyundai India Twitter handle also said in a statement that the independently-owned distributor in Pakistan had gone against company policy to make “unauthorised Kashmir-related social media posts” from their own accounts. “We have since taken measures to ensure the distributor, which misused the Hyundai brand identity, has removed the social media posts and we have put in place processes to prevent a future recurrence,” the company said, emphasising that the Hyundai Motor India subsidiary was not linked to the Pakistani distributor.
