A claim has been repeatedly shared in Chinese-language social media posts that a South Korean politician proposed changing the country’s name to a transliteration of the English word “Korea”.
But the claim is false. No such proposal has been made. The claim has circulated online since as early as 2008.
The claim was shared on a Taiwanese online news website, SET News, on July 19, 2024.
“Lee Sang-hoon, a member of South Korea’s National Assembly, proposed a bill for the name change, saying at the beginning of 2024 that the new name ‘Korea’ expresses the identity and characteristics of Korea in a concise and clear way,” SET News reported, citing social media posts.
“The South Korean government did not immediately accept this proposal, but it has not rejected it either, and is still in the process of planning and evaluation.”
But the claim is false.
Keyword searches found the claim about a South Korean proposal to change the country's name first appeared on a Chinese online forum in 2008 and cited South Korea's Yonhap News Agency as the source.
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Similar claims circulated online in 2011, 2012 and 2018.
But a keyword search found no report about a change in the name of the country published by the Yonhap News Agency.
Additionally, there is no lawmaker in South Korea with the name Lee Sang-hoon.
A search on South Korea's National Assembly website found two lawmakers who have similar names – Lee Sang-sik and Lee Sang-hui – but neither had ever proposed a bill to change the name of the country.
Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.
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