Moscow: Russian news channel RT has apologised for accidentally labelling New Zealand as “Japan”, and Papua New Guinea as “South Korea” in an embarrassing southern hemisphere mix-up.
The mistake came in a segment produced by their US bureau about potential new missile bases in “Japan, South Korea and Australia”. But in a large, erroneous graphic only Australia was correctly labelled.It is the latest in a long line of incidents involving New Zealand and geographic mistakes. The country is left off maps so frequently it prompted the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to star in a special light-hearted campaign in protest, back in 2018.
A spokesperson for RT confirmed to New Zealand news site Newshub that the mistake was genuine.
“Our American early morning news team suffered a little geography mishap,” a spokesperson said. “We ... have corrected ours as soon as it was spotted, and have given our team a new map of the southern hemisphere to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
The segment, aired on 15 August, has since been corrected in the online version and remains available on YouTube on RT America’s channel. The caption makes clear that “this video includes a corrected map”.
New Zealand, a country of 4.7 million people, is so often forgotten on maps that Tourism New Zealand launched an entire campaign based on the phenomenon.
