[Yonhap Photo]
SEOUL -- The agency of K-pop sensation BTS apologized for controversial clothing and imagery, saying two members, Jimin and RM, have used them inadvertently or unintentionally due to careless management.
Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi canceled an appearance of BTS last week over Jimin's T-shirt with an image that depicted an atomic bomb drop on Japan. It also showed English slogans such as "Liberation" and "Our history", referring to the termination of Japan's 1950-53 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula.
Separately, RM was criticized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights organization, for "mocking the past" by wearing a hat with alleged Nazi iconography during a photo shoot four years ago.
"We sincerely apologize to all those who have been hurt," Big Hit Entertainment said in a statement published on Tuesday night. "There was no intention of any kind," it said, adding the agency and its artists oppose totalitarianism and all organizations with extreme political tendencies.
BTS members are in Japan for the concert tour that would bring them to Osaka later this month, Nagoya in January and Fukuoka in February. "My heart really aches. ... Not only ARMY but also many people around the world must have been surprised and concerned over recent controversies," Jimin said during a dome concert in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Despite controversy over Jimin's T-shirt, BTS topped Oricon's weekly album chart with its Japanese single album "FAKE LOVE/Airplane pt.2" that contained the Japanese version of global hit songs "FAKE LOVE" and "Airplane pt.2" as well as two other songs.
In an article on November 9, Billboard said the canceled appearance of BTS members in a TV show in Japan underlines an "awkward" K-pop relationship between South Korea and Japan.
"Fashion taste aside, what the stories are largely failing to recognize is the ongoing, politically driven tension that has plagued Korean acts in Japan for years, with this being the latest stumble in an already awkward relationship," said the American entertainment media brand.
K-pop began its international expansion largely thanks to its success in Japan but Japanese broadcasters had a general sense to slow down on it from 2011, Billboard said, explaining how K-pop has been up and down in Japan for political reasons.
Ties between the two Asian neighbors have been in the doldrums for many years, with South Korea insisting that Japan should apologize and make amends for abuses during its colonial rule. In particular, Seoul wants Tokyo to address the issue of women forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels.
A fresh diplomatic row erupted this month after Japan lodged a protest against a decision by South Korea's highest court to acknowledge individual rights to compensation for wartime forced labor.
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. was ordered to pay 100 million won ($87,720) to four Korean victims who were forced to work for the Japan steel company. Tens of thousands of Koreans were forced to work under harsh conditions for Japan. Japan has insisted colonial-era issues were settled in a 1965 agreement that restored diplomatic ties with the payment of $500 million.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
