South Korea boy band takes f lak over T-shirt

The managers of popular South Korean boy band BTS have issued an 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. “Big Hit does not condone any activities of war or the use of atomic weapons.”

Responding to further accusations the K-pop stars had used Nazi imagery, the company said it opposed all organisations “oriented towards political extremism and totalitarian beliefs, including Nazism”.

Known for their boyish good looks, floppy haircuts and sleek dance moves, BTS have become one of South Korea’s most valuable musical exports.

They have sold 380,000 tickets for their Japanese tour.

But Koreans bitterly resent Tokyo’s brutal 1910-45 colonisation of the peninsula.

Japanese television station TV Asahi cancelled a performance by BTS last week after a photo of member Jimin in the offending shirt went viral.

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.