IKEA sorry for East Sea blunder

Swedish furniture giant IKEA on Wednesday apologized over what it said was a poor choice of words in naming the eastern body of water of the Korean Peninsula.

“We apologize for the naming of the East Sea on the world map (sold at IKEA stores),” IKEA Korea retail manager Andre Schmidtgall said during a press conference at the Seoul outlet in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province.

“We’re in close contact with our product development team at the headquarters in Sweden to make modifications,” he said.

In the run-up to the opening of the world’s biggest IKEA outlet on Dec. 18, the Swedish firm has faced heavy public criticism here over its choice of words regarding the East Sea, as well as for controversial pricing policies.

Last week, IKEA Korea’s Korean-language website named the waters east of the Korean Peninsula as the Sea of Japan in a map posted on the site.

The naming of the waters has long been a source of tension between the two countries, with Korea calling it the East Sea and Japan calling it the Sea of Japan. Tokyo also insists on sovereignty over Dokdo, Korea’s easternmost island.

IKEA’s name for the East Sea led to consumers finding a world map that the retail giant is currently selling in stores in Japan, the U.S. and the U.K. that also use the Japanese name of the waters.

“We’re very much aware of the sensitivity of this topic. The first action we’ve taken, before making modifications of the name, was not to sell this product in Korea,” the retail manager said. 

Beyond the online fury regarding the East Sea, IKEA was also criticized for product pricing, which consumers here claim was marked higher than in other countries.

“Every IKEA outlet has the same quality of products but they are priced differently based on different factors,” said Andrew Johnson, IKEA Korea sales manager.

According to IKEA officials, the company’s pricing depends on demand, logistics set-up, currency, customs, VAT and IKEA’s internal range changes.

“The more volumes we sell, the bigger chance of getting direct shipping, which will lower the consumer price,” Johnson added.

For instance, popular IKEA products in South Korea, such as PELLO arm chair and PS TV cabinet, are priced lower than other countries.

The PELLO arm chair will be sold at 39,000 won ($35.2), while it can be purchased at 55,000 won in the U.S. and 51,700 in China.

IKEA PS TV cabinet will be sold at 59,900 won, about half the price sold in the U.S., 109,000 won ($99).

“We have one goal for our global business: to have the lowest price for every home furnishing category we offer in the market,” retail manager Schmidtgall said. “That would not change in South Korea.”

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)