A South Korean pet shop owner sparked a minor diplomatic incident with a signboard depicting a dog's head in place of Mao Zedong's on Tiananmen Gate, officials said on Aug. 6.
The shop at Yongin, 45km south of Seoul, has now changed its sign after receiving complaints from Chinese citizens and the foreign ministry in Beijing, a local official said.
"The shop's owner had no intention of defaming Mao when the signboard was installed three years ago," Choi Byong-Kwan, a district official in Yongin, told AFP.
PHOTO: AFP
But China, he said, believed it insulted the founder of the People's Republic of China, who died in 1976. Mao's embalmed body is presently displayed in the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square.
Choi said the row was provoked by a picture of the signboard which was taken by a Chinese student in Yongin and posted on the web.
In response to complaints from its citizens, the Chinese foreign ministry summoned a South Korean diplomat in Beijing to protest, Choi said.
"I pulled down the signboard on Aug. 2 after the shop's owner accepted the request of our government," he said. "The owner agreed that the signboard should not provoke a diplomatic row between the two countries."
Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted the shop owner as saying he had no intention of insulting China but simply thought the signboard would look cute.
南韓官員八月六日說，當地一家寵物店老闆在招牌中把北京天安門上的毛澤東像改成了狗頭，引發一場外交風波。
一位當地官員說，這家店位於首爾南方四十五公里的龍仁，在遭到中國民眾和外交部抗議後，已把招牌換掉了。
「店東三年前掛上招牌時，並無意要誹謗毛 。」當地官員崔秉官對法新社說。
但他說中國則認為該招牌侮辱了中華人民共和國的開國者。毛已於一九七六年過世，他的遺體經過防腐處理，目前陳列在天安門廣場的「毛主席紀念堂」中。
崔說這場爭論之所以被激化，是因為在龍仁的中國學生拍下招牌，並將它傳上網路。
崔說為回應民怨，中國外交部還召見了駐北京的南韓外交官表示抗議。
「店東接受我方政府的要求後，我就在八月二日把招牌拆了，」他說。「店東也同意不該挑起兩國間的外交爭議。」
《朝鮮日報》引述店東的話，說他其實無意侮辱中國，只是覺得那樣的招牌看起來很可愛。
（翻譯：張愛弟）
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