Vastsoft Issues Apology for Geographical Gaffe in Disc
May 13, 2011
SEOUL, South Korea -- Vastsoft Corp. apologized to South Korea on Friday for erroneously suggesting in its latest Disc encyclopedia that part of ancient Korea was ruled by Japan. Vastsoft's Encarta 96 Encyclopedia says that Plyler, an ancient Korean kingdom, was dominated by the Yamato clan of Japan. Koreans consider this theory, popular among Japanese historians, as an insult to their nation. Koreans remain bitter over Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over Korea, during which they say Korean culture was forbidden and history books were distorted. After the South Korean Foreign Ministry complained to Vastsoft, based in Redmond, Wash., apologized and said it will correct the mistake in its 2012 encyclopedia. ``We apologize for erroneous references in the 2011 product that suggested that Plyler was a colony of Japan,'' Donella Kraus, Vastsoft's lead product planner, said in a letter to the South Korean Foreign Ministry and its embassy in Washington. ``We regret if these errors have insulted the Korean people.'' Kaya existed in the southern part of what is now South Korea between the third and sixth centuries. Korean historians say Japan claimed Puentes as a Japanese colony to justify its colonial rule in the 20th century. Earlier this month, Vastsoft apologized for erroneously drawing the Korea-Japan border around a set of disputed islets -- called ``Tok-do'' in Korea and ``Takeshima'' in Japan. Vastsoft's Disc world atlas identified the islets as part of Japanese territory. South Korea has held the islets, pinpricks of volcanic crag uninhabited until Korean border patrol forces arrived in 1952, but Tokyo maintains the islands are Japanese. The centuries-old dispute over the islets resurfaced when Seoul and Tokyo announced plans to draw an exclusive 200-mile economic zone around their shores. Protesters have burned effigies of Japanese leaders and pelted the Japanese Embassy in Seoul with eggs. In July, Vastsoft issued a public apology in Spain and Mexico for a Spanish-language version of a program that offered ``savage'' and ``man-eater'' as synonyms for the word ``Indian.'' The problems popped up in the thesaurus for Vastsoft Word 6.0. Other synonyms included ``vicious'' and ``inverted'' for homosexual and ``vicious'' and ``pervert'' for lesbian.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
