NBC Apologizes to Koreans for Japan WWII Comments During Olympics Opening Ceremony

NBC has apologized for comments from one of their analysts who suggested that Japan’s occupation of Korea between 1910 to 1945 had some positives for the country.

“We understand that Korean people were insulted by these comments, and we apologize.” the network’s Carolyn Manno read on-air Sunday.

The imbroglio got going after an on-air commentator Joshua Cooper Ramo noted the arrival of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the opening ceremony on Friday, and spoke about the painful history between the two countries.

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Japan was “a country which occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945,” Ramo noted. “But every Korean will tell you that Japan, as a cultural and technological and economic example, has been so important to their own transformation.”

The remarks drew outrage domestically in South Korea, where the legacy of Japan’s brutal occupation remains a sensitive topic.

Ramo, a China expert and co-chief executive of Kissinger Associates, previously worked as an NBC analyst in 2008, where he provided commentary for the Beijing Olympics. The network had only planned to feature Ramo for the 2018 opening ceremony and there are no plans to bring him in for subsequent events for the remainder of the Pyeongchang Olympics.

“His assignment had ended,” a spokesperson told TheWrap.

You can listen to the moment that began the outrage above.

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