Nichkhun CF controversy

[porandojin.livejournal.com]

Nichkhun, an idol of Chinese/Thai origin and member of a Korean boyband – who has for some time been one of the most popular boy idols on the Korean entertainment TV circuit since being “discovered” by none other than JYP – has taken the rap recently for appearing in a TV commercial for a drink back in Thailand which has the Japanese Empire flag in the background as he says hello in Japanese.





He has apologized and said the production company CG’d it in later and he and his management were not aware of the finished commercial. (...) Most netizens seem to defend Nichkhun himself but are surprised at the lack of foresight by the Thai commercial production company, but then again it was aimed at the Thai audience, and they are not likely to know/care about the meaning it seems to hold to the Asian countries invaded/inconvenienced by Japan (...)

sources http://www.rjkoehler.com/2012/02/22/a-question-of-flags/
http://www.youtube.com/user/Realjangkoku

Comments

[aniloratka.livejournal.com]

idk why it's such a big deal, ok maybe I get it, but uh

[crystalheng.livejournal.com]

What's shady is that Block B's CEO tweeted the link to the article just seconds after its release, then deleted it the tweet moments later.

[okdubu.livejournal.com]

lol wow wut

[aloakley.livejournal.com]

omg i feel confused now. where's the controversial bit? how is saying hello in japanese controversial when all these korean groups are trooping off to japan?

[ginevragirl.livejournal.com]

It's because the Japanese Empire flag was used, and not the current Japanese flag. The Empire flag is back when Japan was invading other countries and such. I don't want to lessen the offense, but I would kind of liken it to using the Confederacy flag in the US. It's not really kosher, and there's conontations that go along with it.

[pistachier.livejournal.com]

I like your username OP, keke

[evivante.livejournal.com]

Um, what's the issue? Pls explain to me coz I don't get it =/ maybe I'm just dense.

[porandojin.livejournal.com]

@0:34

[initialc.livejournal.com]

That commercial is all green screen. Not surprised he didn't know.

[crystalheng.livejournal.com]

http://www.6theory.com/forums/topic/block-bs-company-ceo-spreading-malicious-rumor-about-nichkhun/

Anyhoo, from what I know, it isn't an issue with the Thais.

[evivante.livejournal.com]

This isn't an issue with anyone (in the K-pop industry at least) at all except for maybe the graphics department of this advertising, who chose to put those stuff in the commercial.

[evivante.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this explanatation. History was my favorite subject but it is only limited to American and European at the most. I just realized that I hardly know anything about Asian History (despite being one).

[gyuri.livejournal.com]

Does anyone actually have a screen shot of the CEO's tweet??

[taecmyheart.livejournal.com]

https://twitter.com/thesoulowner/status/171912008239812609

There are twitpics in that tweet. Sorry I'm on my phone rn.

[miszmba.livejournal.com]

when is this all going to blow over already

[falling-empress.livejournal.com]

IAWTC, it's not even cute.

[brianathebard.livejournal.com]

I think I get it now, but biases aside I agree with the netizens, there's no use blaming this on Nichkhun. Either he was just dancing with a green board and would have no idea it was being CG'd in, or he wouldn't even know what that meant. I just learned that this symbol is offensive now, so I hope everybody comes out of this with more knowledge.

[aniloratka.livejournal.com]

+1

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

Japan and Korea are like Lannisters and Starks at this point.

[niav.livejournal.com]

Except conflicts between Japan and Korea have actually taken the lives of millions of real people while conflicts between the Lannisters and the Starks have not because they are fictional characters from a series of fantasy novels, so that comparison is insensitive at best.

[hpn88.livejournal.com]

wow I thought the stupid fanwar was almost over. guess not

[geniebsmart.livejournal.com]

Well I learned something new today o__O
The thing is...why in the world the Japanese Empire flag? Why couldn't they use the regular flag? OTL

[porandojin.livejournal.com]

outside of ROK and China ts quite a popular design

http://www.google.pl/search?ix=seb&q=japan+t-shirt&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=pl&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=sfRDT_DgJ8m3-wbxqr3xBQ&biw=1255&bih=679&sei=tPRDT-_TEMfz-gaK3Jm1BQ#um=1&hl=pl&safe=off&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=japan+flag++t-shirt&pbx=1&oq=japan+flag++t-shirt&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=4690l6856l0l7353l6l6l0l1l0l0l66l294l5l5l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=ba85d80f61e95689&biw=1255&bih=679

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

How is this Khun's problem. Complain to the advertising agency for not proper research.

[aniloratka.livejournal.com]

I guess block b's CEO want it to be a Khun's problem

[porandojin.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_Sun_Flag

[thewarpedmelody.livejournal.com]

lol then when DBSK sang Rising Sun it was not an issue?

[honeebs.livejournal.com]

Learn from your mistakes King Khun.
What have you learned? Start asking what you'll be pimpin' for a buck rather than just taking it and letting your peers (consumers) be treated like fucking fools. Because they are not.
We know you have a voice, you use it everyday on twitter and for apologies and shit start using it in business. Don't be a puppet all of your career.
----
Ultimately the blame goes to the production company but does JYPE or "model" have a say!?! They should. Same old same, advertisers think the world is stipud and don't give a fuck. Moving on, back to business.

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

what.

this doesn't show that he doesn’t know what he's selling, he knows the product, the product has nothing to do with the ‘scandal’, you can't blame him for something that happened in post production.

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

how this is khun to blame? it's not his fault that they added said flag in the post-production, he shouldn't he held responsible over it. plus i think that the company's real intention was to choose a japanese flag to portray how popular nickhun is around asian/to show that he’s an asia star but ended up choosing the wrong one.

[lysblack.livejournal.com]

OP JYPE's response:

http://www.allkpop.com/2012/02/jype-responds-to-nichkhuns-controversial-thai-cf

[tofucakes.livejournal.com]

good response. i'm glad they took responsibility for not following up instead of just shifting all the blame onto the production company.

[evivante.livejournal.com]

S I G H

[brianathebard.livejournal.com]

mte. people forgave nichkhun for his stupid comments like yesterday and they just want to keep tarnishing his angel wings.

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

If the flag was later added to the commercial without him knowing about it then why blaming him?
Blame the production company for being insensitive but don't shoot the messenger.

BTW: imperial flag (Flag of the Japanese Emperor)=/= War flag of the Imperial Japanese Army
Visual aid:
Japanese flag


Flag of the Japanese Emperor (imperial flag)


War flag of the Imperial Japanese Army

[brianathebard.livejournal.com]

ty! very helpful.

[asth77.livejournal.com]

idk it's not even an issue since most of netizens say it's not his fault. Next.

[in-noctem.livejournal.com]

This wasn't spread by cho pd though right? That isn't even his twitter.

[jaerotic.livejournal.com]

Not Cho PD so people should stop saying CEO because that's what he uses.
The guy's Jay Kim, stated to be President.
There are screencaps that show he did it and man I just wanna shout at him to back off.

[mingobus.livejournal.com]

I honestly didn't even know that flag was offensive... I've actually seen that sun (big red circle w/ bold red lines coming out) on a lot of vector art and art that tries to emulate the Japanese style. Pretty surprised.

[avieyal.livejournal.com]

Me too. And I'm from a country previously "inconvenienced" (lol) by Japan. Perhaps the sentiment carries more weight in Korea.

Well. Now we know! ^^

[iznanassi.livejournal.com]

Isn't that sun super popular in fashion anyways?