Swedish furniture and appliance giant Ikea will open its first outlet in South Korea next month, but the company is already in hot water. South Korean nationalist sensitivities were enraged when Ikea launched a website ahead of the opening that included a world map with the waters to the country’s south and east labelled “Sea of Japan.” In South Korea, which was a Japanese colony for 50 years and nurses much resentment against the Japanese, those waters are called the “East Sea.” South Koreans are also incensed that for some products Ikea plans to charge almost double the sticker price in other countries.
