- SEOUL: Russia is to give three rare one-year-old Siberian tigers, two males and one female, to South Korea to boost ties between the two countries, South Korean newspapers reported.
- The proposal to give the tigers arose from a translation error during a 2009 visit by a Russian official, Russian news agency Itar Tass said at the time.
The official was said to have passed a stuffed tiger and commented how nice it was - a remark mistranslated as pledging the tigers. "The two governments, through diplomatic channels, have recently decided to forge ahead with the transfer of the tigers to Korea within the first half of the year," a Korean diplomatic source was quoted as saying.
Siberian tigers served as the mascot for the 1988 Olympic games in South Korea and as the badge for the national soccer team in the 2002 World Cup.