One of the most important holidays in South Korea has caused a stir in the entertainment industry! We tackle who was involved and why it was "such a big deal" to one of the most popular K-pop groups!
Famous K-pop star Jaemin from NCT is currently facing harsh criticism for greeting fans during the Korean holiday from Japan on National Liberation Day (Thursday, August 15, 2024), and no apology, unlike Yeonjun (TXT) and Felix (Stray Kids) who recently experienced a similar problem.
On August 15 KST, NCT's Jaemin greeted fans on Weverse with a message in Japanese, reading, "Just arrived," after arriving in Tokyo, Japan for NCT Dream's scheduled performance at "Summer Sonic 2024".
However, not long afterward, the post was deleted. Many fans suspected that the post was deleted to prevent issues that might arise from Jaemin's use of Japanese on Korea's National Liberation Day.
Eventually, word of Jaemin's recent Weverse posts made their way to various online communities, where the idol faced criticism for his use of the Japanese language on a historically significant day in Korean history.
Earlier, idols like TOMORROW x TOGETHER's Yeonjun and Stray Kids' Felix faced similar criticism on this day, prompting both to apologize for their careless actions.
Let's take a look at some of the comments:
"The only one who didn't say a word apologizing for his actions? How full of sh*t. This traitor."
"JYP and HYBE both apologized, but SM refuses to budge. Now we know which company is the most pro-Japanese."
"Okay but he's born and raised in Korea?? He's never lived abroad??? Is his brain just empty????"
"We all know how much NCT loves Japanese women~"
"Open any SNS app and all you'll see is the national flag on August 15. So why...?"
"How can a Korean person possibly forget that August 15 is Liberation Day?"
"At this point, all entertainment companies should have some kind of policy about what is acceptable on SNS on important dates."
"Okay but who is this nobody anyway..."
"Why are there such few idols uploading the national flag today? Is that really so hard? To have pride in your country?"
"If you love Japanese so much why don't you move there."
"This one is famous for only replying to Japanese fans on Weverse too."
"So many NCT members are just uneducated."
However, when Jaemin did not issue a similar apology, Korean netizens (fans) once again grew angry. Some commented, on this as being a bit over the top and I have to agree with this. Even though the 79-year liberation is in the past, it is still a raw topic for the older Korean generation, and understandably so.
That said, is it worth making headlines for something that a K-pop idol said? My answer is "no", I think that more things are going on in Korea right now than having to worry about a meaningless comment, even though it should not have been said I believe that it was to get attention and to make the topic go viral which it has.
Let us know your thoughts on this viral comment in the comments below.
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