KDCA's Chuseok Material Under Fire for Using 'Mooncake' Image

The KDCA produced promotional material ahead of the Chuseok holiday covering respiratory infections, tick-borne infections, and precautions against infectious diseases contracted while traveling abroad.

However, the material used an image of mooncake, the representative food of China's Mid-Autumn Festival, which has nothing to do with Korean Chuseok, and this stirred public outrage. Even though content promoting Korean Chuseok is full of Korean symbols such as songpyeon, the full moon, and yakgwa, using an image representing Chinese culture is seen as a sign that the national agency lacked even minimal cultural and historical review.

Some suggest the error may have been a simple mistake in the design process, possibly involving the use of AI tools.

Yet for an official promotional piece from a national agency, even choosing a single image should involve at least basic cultural and historical review, and the absence of such a basic check is hard to excuse. Calls are growing for the KDCA to clearly explain to the public how the material was produced and checked.

Some comments also raised suspicions about the special hiring of foreign nationals within the civil service and criticism related to national identity, reflecting heated reactions.