Read the room or lose the market: Lessons from South Korea’s latest corporate gaffes

TWO recent controversies, both playing out in Seoul but with global implications, offer the corporate world a hard lesson about survival in the digital era.

The first involved the Disney+ drama Perfect Crown, a romantic fantasy starring the singer IU that became one of the most globally watched Korean series – until mid-May, when it stood accused of depicting Korea as a vassal state to China.

The problem: a coronation scene in which the Korean king wore nine ceremonial tassels instead of 12, and officials shouted “1,000 years!” instead of “10,000 years!”