South Korea's Foreign minister visit in Israel

The Marmot’s Hole pointed me to the following Chosun article:

“Foreign Minister Song Min-soon visited Palestine and Israel on Sunday. The Palestinian Authority sent a welcome delegation to meet Song at the border. It provided a Mercedes-Benz sedan flying the South Korean flag and the Palestinian flag and traffic was controlled en route. In Israel, Song was taken to a meeting in a limousine provided by the host government. But the Volvo sedan looked nothing like the sort of limousine that would normally convey a visiting chief diplomat. Not only did it have a scratch mark on the outside door and the letter V missing from the Volvo logo, one of the front tires also got flat during the journey.”

“On arrival at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Song was greeted by a flawed South Korean flag, which had the four trigrams placed at the wrong corners. What Song experienced in Israel was in stark contrast to the warm hospitality he received in Palestine, which has not yet reached full statehood. Israel reportedly apologized for its blunders. But cynics suspect Israel made an “intentional mistake” to express its displeasure that Song visited Palestine before Israel. We doubt that Israel, a country known for precise thinking and action, committed this protocol lapse by mistake. When a senior diplomat receives cold treatment overseas, the people of his nation naturally feel insulted. Whether it committed its errors intentionally or not, Israel lost many points in what until now had been a favorable opinion in Korea.”

It is funny me to read that, since for me this is a symbol of Israeli sloppiness. The flag looks similar, the car is a Volvo. I am sure it was not intended, just the negligence of several officials (who will not be fired for this).

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