Young Cream, a member of K-pop group M.I.B., has stirred up controversy after posting a picture of the South Korean flag to Twitter with the red parts of the flag changed to blue.
The rapper posted his reasoning beneath the picture, where he claimed that the red of the South Korean flag made him think of the Japanese naval ensign, which features an image of the rising sun, as well as the swastika flag used in Nazi Germany. This is similar to the flag used by the Japanese military during WWII.
But South Korean netizens hit back at Young Cream, calling him “unpatriotic” and telling him to apologize to fellow band member KangNam, who is Japanese.
When the story hit the Japanese Internet, netizens were quick to point out that Young Cream must be losing his mind.
From Record China:
Korean Singer Apologizes After Photoshopping South Korean Flag In Blue Saying “I Hate Japan’s Rising Sun Flag!”; Korean Netizens Say “Korean Idols Are So Low Level…”, “He Should Apologize To Japanese Bandmates”
On February 6, Young Cream (real name: Kim Ki Seok) uploaded a picture of the South Korean flag, the Taegukgi, which had been colored completely blue, and commented: “I don’t really like the red in the Taegukgi. Do you know what the red in the Nazi swastika and Japan’s rising sun flag mean? If I were president, I’d change the South Korean flag”. When fans pointed out “You shouldn’t me making that kind of comment”, Young Cream responded “You guys with no logic, sense, or knowledge can live like that for the rest of your lives. Why should I apologize for being honest?”.
However, there were floods of criticism from fans, saying “You’ve insulted South Korea and desecrated the Taegukgi”, and on February 7, Young Cream deleted the picture and comments that had cause the problem. He apologized, saying “Now that i think of it, it was a crazy, reckless thing to say. What’s more, I’ve hurt the fans who were trying to help me. I’m really really sorry”.
Korean netizens left various comments regarding this incident:
“His comments to fans were just too awful”.
“He has no common sense and no manners. He has no right to be an artist!”.
“I don’t suppose he meant it in a mean way, but he chose the wrong words”.
“Can he deal with the red blood that is running through his own body?”.
“Not even an elementary school student would come up with something like that”.
“Apologize to Kangnam (the Japanese member of MIB)”.
“He’s bitter because Kangnam is the only one who’s popular, so did he just try to make himself stand out?”.
“And it’s all thanks to Kangnam that MIB got famous in the first place…He’s destroyed MIB’s image in a split second. It’s better if Kangnam leaves the group and starts a solo career”.
It’s regrettable, but with what he’s said I have no choice but to sympathize with the Japanese”.
“This is the kind of post that makes you understand just how low Korean idols are”.
“If the Korean peninsula becomes unified, then we’d change the flag to a new one, wouldn’t we?”.
Comments from 2ch.net:
足4の字固め(静岡県)＠＼(^o^)／:
Definitely went too far.
マスク剥ぎ(東京都)＠＼(^o^)／:
It’s terminal for him now.
超竜ボム(dion軍)＠＼(^o^)／:
Dude must be sick.
32文ロケット砲(家)＠＼(^o^)／：
This guy’s an idiot w
Doesn’t he have any patriotism?
ニールキック(チベット自治区)＠＼(^o^)／:
Try going to China, man w
ときめきメモリアル(SB-iPhone)＠＼(^o^)／:
Get him to a hospital.
He’s sick w
16文キック(大阪府)＠＼(^o^)／:
Isn’t the color red associated with South Korea?
In soccer and stuff, they use passionate, spicy, kimchi red.
And Japan wears blue.
ラダームーンサルト(東京都)＠＼(^o^)／:
Isn’t it better if he makes his blood blue, too?
テキサスクローバーホールド(愛知県)＠＼(^o^)／:
Ban red throughout the entire globe ww
ときめきメモリアル(新潟県)＠＼(^o^)／:
Bet this guy would make kimchi blue if he could.
Comments from Yahoo! Japan:
ponponpon:
So now we finally get to the stage where they even see the red in the Taegukgi as being the rising sun flag?
The illness is getting worse ^^;.
hoshino-yumeo:
The flag of the Unification Church actually has the rising sun on it, but I wonder why that hasn’t been seen as a problem. The way he thinks is strange.
nai*****:
Umm, isn’t the one with no logic, no sense, and no knowledge, in fact, YOU?
sea*****:
It’s not only the idols who are that low level.
hfx*****:
It’s pretty funny when it comes to this.
He’s gone way off course.
トンスルフラペチーノ:
Do these symptoms of rage also appear for him when he sees the anuses of stray dogs and cats?
joe*****:
The way he’s going about destroying himself is amazing (笑)
yui*****:
Well, I think all national flags must look like that to him.
I think that whenever sunlight looks red he’ll be shouting about it.
And that’s why I don’t think we should have become involved in any of this.
nmq*****:
Looks like it’s terminal for him.
Not much we can do about it, he’s beyond help.
He’ll be like that until the day he dies.
