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Days after The Chronicle reported a deadly knife attack on a Korean citizen at the Golden Tulip Hotel, a five star hotel in Accra, the Korean Embassy has written to the paper affirming the report, but said the named diplomat was not the victim.

The paper reported on April 16, 2019, that the Commissioner of Korea Customs, Mr Yung-Moon Kim, was robbed at knife point in his hotel room, but the embassy has corrected that it was rather a different person who travelled with the Commissioner.

“By this rejoinder, the Embassy would like to correct the information in the article, which stated that the victim of the robbery was Mr. Yung-Moon Kim, Commissioner of Korea Customs. The victim of the robbery was rather a staff of a non-profit organisation travelling with the Commissioner of Korea Customs,” the Embassy said.

The three paragraphed riposte, signed by one Betty Borketey, who introduced herself as Secretary to the Counselor/Deputy Head, Embassy of Republic of Korea, failed to mention the actual victim’s name, or any other information on the steps the embassy had taken, and the status of events, since the victim was travelling with the diplomat from Korea.

Read the rejoinder below;

REJOINDER: DIPLOMAT ROBBED AT KNIFE POINT AT GOLDEN TULIP

“The attention of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea was drawn to an online news article on the website of The Chronicle on April 16, 2019, with the headline -“Diplomat robbed at knife point at Golden Tulip.

“By this rejoinder, the Embassy would like to correct the information in the article, which stated that the victim of the robbery was Mr. Yung-Moon Kim, Commissioner of Korea Customs. The victim of the robbery was rather a staff of a Non-Profit Organisation travelling with the Commissioner of Korea Customs.

“In this regard, the Embassy would kindly like to request The Chronicle to correct this mis-information and issue a publication to this effect, and also ensure that other online newspapers that picked up the story will also do same.”

The Chronicle’s investigations revealed Mr Yung-Moon Kim had arrived in Ghana to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Korea and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

It is worth mentioning that the paper visited the Korean Embassy, stationed at Cantonments, a suburb of Accra, on two occasions before the publication.

On the first day, the reporter arrived at the embassy after half past midday, but was told to go and come later, as the office was on break.

Four days later, the paper went to the Embassy again, this time, well within time. At the reception, which is on the left immediately one enters through the main gate, the personnel (a lady) who attended to the reporter over a glassed counter said a letter should be written to the Embassy before it could grant an interview.

She made the suggestion after the subject had been introduced, without confirming or denying the fact, and insisted, when the reporter tried to explain things further, that since it had to do with an interview, the Embassy should be written to, an advice which sent the reporter out of the place.