Hyundai Pakistan Tweet: India summons Korean envoy, displesure over Hyundai Pakistan tweet | India Business News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Amid a major row over a social media post on Kashmir Solidarity Day by Hyundai Pakistan, the government on Tuesday summoned the ambassador of the Republic of Korea to discuss the issue.
In an official statement, the ministry of external affairs said that the government conveyed its strong displeasure to the “unacceptable social media post” to the ambassador.

It was also highlighted that the 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,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

In response, South Korea’s Hyundai Motors expressed regret for the “unauthorised” tweet by its Pakistani partner and has also got the offending post deleted.
Minister of external affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke on telephone with the South Korean foreign minister Chung Eui-yong, where the latter expressed his “regret” over the issue.
“While they discussed several issues, the RoK foreign minister also conveyed that they regretted the offense caused to the people and government of India by the social media post,” Bagchi said.
“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,” he added.
The row erupted on Sunday, a day after Pakistan marked the annual Kashmir Solidarity Day and the posts on behalf of Hyundai’s partner Nishat Group appeared on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram commemorating the sacrifices of Kashmiris struggling for self-determination.
Hundreds of social media users in India backed calls for a boycott, saying Hyundai must apologise for being insensitive to India’s position on the decades-old dispute.

#BoycottHyundai were among the top trends on Twitter in India on Monday, as tweeteratis called for dumping the second-largest carmaker in the country for Tata Motors.
Apart from Hyundai, other consumer brands like Kia, American food chain KFC also faced backlash on social media over tweets by their dealers and outlets in Pakistan.

As the boycotts gained steam, the Indian unit of the South Korean firm issued a statement earlier in the day and said that it has “zero-tolerance policy towards insensitive communication and we strongly condemn any such view”.

Hyundai said it “deeply regrets any offense caused to the people of India by this unofficial social media activity”, adding that it “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 unauthorized Kashmir-related social media posts from their own accounts,” it said, adding it has ensured that the offensive tweets are deleted.
However, as the furore refused to die down and the government had to step in.
Hyundai runs a joint venture in Pakistan that includes one of the country’s top businessman Mian Mansha. While, Kia Pakistan is operated by Lucky Motor Corp, one of the largest business groups in the nation.
In India, Hyundai Motors is the second-largest carmaker after Maruti Suzuki. It currently sells 12 models, including Creta and Venue, in the domestic market.
In a separate statement, auto major Toyota stated that it is a global mobility company that aims to earn the respect and admiration from people in each community in which it operates.
“We are an apolitical entity, and any political statements made by dealers or other associated stakeholders are not authorized by us and do not reflect our corporate stance. We regret any hurt this may have caused,” the company said in a statement posted on social media.
(With inputs from agencies)