Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 15 November 2018

BTS's agency apologizes over band member's A-bomb shirt

By HYUNG-JIN KIM Before its division into North
Associated Press and South Korea after the
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) liberation, the Korean Pen-
— The agency for K-pop insula was colonized by
superstars BTS apologized Japan in 1910-1945. Many
Wednesday for members in both Koreas still harbor
wearing a T-shirt depicting strong resentment of the
the explosion of an atom- Japanese colonial mas-
ic bomb and a hat with a ters. But in South Korea, it's
Nazi emblem. extremely rare for anyone
Japanese TV broadcast- to publicly celebrate the
ers recently canceled or atomic bombings.
stopped discussing possible The bombings killed more
appearances by the band than 200,000 people in Ja-
in that country after im- pan. Many Koreans were
ages spread on social me- living in Japan at the time,
dia of a singer wearing the including laborers who
shirt. The South Korean boy were forcibly mobilized
band ran into more trou- by the Japanese, and es-
bles after news broke that timates of the number of
another member wore a Koreans killed in the bomb-
hat featuring a Nazi symbol ings range from 20,000 to
in a magazine photo book 50,000.South Korean politi-
and band members flew In this Dec. 2, 2016, file photo, members of South Korean K-Pop music band BTS pose for photos cians criticized the Japa-
flags with what appeared on the red carpet of the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Hong Kong. nese broadcasters' deci-
to be Nazi swastikas during Associated Press sion to cancel BTS appear-
a concert in the past. discomfort due to our short- atomic bombing juxta- ed States dropped atomic ances, accusing Japan of
"We would like to again comings," the band's agen- posed with the celebration bombs on the Japanese harboring "self-centered
offer our sincerest apolo- cy, Big Hit Entertainment, of Korea's 1945 liberation cities of Hiroshima and Na- views on history" and letting
gies to anyone who has said in a statement. from Japan at the end of gasaki before Tokyo's sur- politics interfere with cultur-
suffered pain, distress and The T-shirt portrayed an the World War II. The Unit- render. al exchanges.q