I O N F A U X P F A S H
The managers of hugely popular South Korean boy band BTS have issued an extensive apology after controversy erupted in the lucrative Japanese market over a T-shirt worn by one of the vocalists showing a nuclear blast.
In a 1,000-word statement released in Korean, English and Japanese, management firm Big Hit Entertainment repeatedly offered its “sincerest apologies.”
It sought to distance the septet from the row, saying it bore responsibility, and went on: “Big Hit does not condone any activities of war or the use of atomic weapons.”
Responding to further accusations the stars had used Nazi imagery, the company said it opposed all organizations “oriented towards political extremism and totalitarian beliefs including Nazism.”
Known for their boyish good looks, floppy haircuts and meticulously choreographed dance moves, BTS have become one of South Korea’s best-known and most valuable musical exports.
They have sold 380,000 tickets for their current Japanese tour, and their singles sell hundreds of thousands of copies each.
But South Koreans bitterly resent Tokyo’s brutal 1910-45 colonization of the peninsula, which came to an end with Japan’s World War II defeat.
Historical issues still weigh heavily on the relationship between the neighbors even while they share widespread business and cultural connections.
Japan’s TV Asahi last week canceled a performance by BTS after a photo went viral of band member Jimin wearing the offending shirt.
The garment featured the phrase “PATRIOTISM OUR HISTORY LIBERATION KOREA” repeated multiple times alongside an image of an atomic bomb explosion and another of Koreans celebrating their independence.
As the row escalated, images emerged of a concert last year where BTS wore uniforms and waved flags that critics said recalled Nazi symbols, and a 2014 photo shoot that shows leader RM wearing a cap bearing an SS Death’s Head logo.
In its statement, published on Facebook late Tuesday, Big Hit said the performance in question was intended to criticize totalitarianism and was “in no way associated with National Socialism.”
Rather, it said, it referred to a song “Classroom Idea,” by veteran South Korean band Seo Taiji, which “levies social criticism against rigidly standardized education.”