'K-pop agencies need lessons on cultural differences'
Tzuyu, a Taiwanese member of K-pop girl band TWICE, waves the Korean flag and the flag of the Republic of China on MBC’s online show “My Little Television” in November. / Courtesy of MBC
By Baek Byung-yeul
While Taiwanese member Tzuyu of the multinational K-pop girl band Twice has been embroiled in a controversy after waving the Taiwanese flag during an online broadcast, calls are mounting for K-pop agencies to learn cultural differences when attempting to expand overseas.
“The biggest problem in this issue is that no one including Tzuyu and her agency JYP Entertainment even knew the seriousness of the situation from the very first,” culture critic Bae Kook-nam told The Korea Times, Sunday.
“When Tzuyu held up the flag of the Republic of China in an online broadcast last November, Chinese people who watched it showed immediate displeasure over her action. But no one recognized this would be an issue,” he said.
Tzuyu, a Taiwanese native singer, waved the flag of the Republic of China during a web broadcast of MBC TV’s “My Little Television” in November 2015 while her Japanese members held the flag of Japan. Inspired by personal broadcasting on YouTube or Twitch, the show features celebrities host their own programs on a local video streaming platform and later air the final edited version through the MBC TV’s broadcasting channel.
Though the footage was shown only in the online portion and cut out for the official broadcast, the 16-year-old has incurred Chinese displeasure as mainland Chinese believe the Republic of China, the government of Taiwan, should be part of the People’s Republic of China, which governs the mainland China.
Faced with the unexpected uproar, JYP Entertainment had to back down and apologize to prevent further blowback from the flag controversy as China is a major market for “hallyu,” or the Korean wave.
Tzuyu responded with a videotaped apology through her band’s YouTube channel on Friday evening and Park Jin-young, chief of her agency JYP Entertainment issued an apology on the same day, announcing a halt of Tzuyu’s activities in China.
Despite the apologies, video clips of Twice were removed from Chinese video websites and Tzuyu’s name was blocked on the Chinese social network service Weibo, along with Taiwanese president-elect Tsai Ing-wen as of Sunday. Another JYP Entertainment group 2PM also cancelled their appearance in China after the controversy.
“To think about it in simple terms, it can be compared to a Korean celebrity singing Kimigayo (the national anthem of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945),” critic Bae said, emphasizing the need for education about cultural differences to Korean entertainment agencies when performing abroad.
“When planning to perform abroad, Korean entertainment agencies should be more aware of their culture, politics and history to prevent this kind of case. Because everyone can see anything in the Internet era,” he said.
The critic added K-pop boy band 2PM would be a good example of building friendly relations with overseas fans.
“For instance when severe flooding occurred during the 2011 monsoon season in Thailand, 2PM donated boats and food to relieve flood victims there. Their donation exemplified how K-pop bands should serve for their international fans,” the critic said.
Bae also pointed out Korean media’s “why so serious” reaction over their initial reports that completely ignored historical relations between Taiwan and China.
“When the controversy surrounding Tzuyu had erupted a few days ago, some Korean media reacted questioning why this made headlines there. These responses just came from their ignorance about historical background of Taiwan and China,” he said.