K-pop band apologizes for flight delay in Okinawa

By Ko Dong-hwan

A K-pop boy band apologized on Friday for a controversial flight delay on June 17.

SEVENTEEN, a 13-member group from Pledis Entertainment comprising Korean, Chinese and American nationals, admitted through the agency Friday that they partly contributed to the delay of a flight from Naha Airport in Okinawa to Incheon International Airport.

The agency said the band “arrived at the Japanese airport on time, but the airport held us back because of a problem with our documents regarding re-entry to South Korea, which caused a delay of about 30 minute.”

The agency apologized for “the delay that the band never intended” but added that the flight was “already on a 30-minute delay due to bad weather.”

Asiana Airlines flight OZ171, according to commercial flight logistics records available online, was supposed to land in Incheon at 3:26 p.m. on June 17, but arrived at 4:34 p.m.

The controversy surfaced on June 18 after a Twitter user claimed he boarded the flight with the band and blamed the artists for the delay.

The person said one of the cabin crew in the flight requested seated passengers to wait because “there are passengers who completed the boarding process and haven't boarded yet.”

The Twitter user continued that the band members later appeared and sat in business class, hiding their faces with their hands.

Another passenger also complained online that the band “caused an extra one-hour delay in addition to the weather delay.” He said people who looked like staff took economy seats and the flight “started moving as soon as the stars arrived.”