Posters posted to Pokemon Korea's Instagram page outlining its Pokemon Run Online Challenge. The red circle highlights the company's policy excluding foreigners from participating. (Instagram) Pokemon Korea came under fire Tuesday after revising a notice for its “Pokemon Run with SK Telecom” online challenge to exclude foreign nationals from participating.The event is being run through the RunDay app from June 8 to 30. Participants who complete a 1-kilometer challenge through the app can apply for a promotional Magikarp card using their RunDay user code.The company had initially posted a notice on its official Instagram page stating that foreign residents in Korea were also eligible to participate following identity verification. However, it later reposted the notice with revised wording barring foreign nationals from taking part.Foreign users expressed frustration online.“Today the event started, and they revised the rules to exclude all foreigners from eligibility,” one user wrote on Reddit. “Feels pretty bad from a company like Pokemon doing this to foreigners.”Some online users called the event discriminatory.Pokemon Korea denied the accusations, saying the initial notice was incorrect and that the event had always been planned for Korean users.“The Pokemon Run Online Challenge was planned for Korean users, and participation eligibility was adjusted so that the event could be run more smoothly,” a Pokemon Korea official told The Korea Herald.“The standard is not meant to discriminate against certain nationalities, but is part of the event’s operational policy.”The official said the online event was planned after an offline Pokemon run event drew larger-than-expected crowds, causing confusion and leading to the event's cancellation. The official said the exclusion of foreign users was intended to ensure the online event could proceed without disruption.However, the official did not explain how excluding foreign users would lead to smoother event operations. The company also did not immediately clarify why the initial notice said foreign residents were eligible to participate.SK Telecom said the event was organized by Pokemon Korea and that it was not involved in the decision to exclude foreign nationals.