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| Park Jin-young or JYP is an artistic genius who appears so engrossed in the bottom line of his franchise as to give up loyalty to his charges and his identity. Courtesy of JYP Gallery |
By Oh Young-jin
Park Jin-young is an artistic genius and excellent businessman. Park's JYP Entertainment (initials of his name) is one of the two remaining pillars supporting the nation's K-pop franchise.
YG, the third, has been reduced to a shadow of its former self for the unfolding scandal over Seungri of its top gig, BIG BANG,, while Big Hit Entertainment has only BTS (I know only BTS should be more than enough) to show for its business sustainability.
But the 47-year-old singer of such hot sexy hits as "Elevator" (1995) and incubator of g.o.d., an early generation K-pop pacemaker, and Wonder Girls, doesn't have the guts to speak for himself, his gig and, more importantly, his charges.
Recently, Sana, one of the three Japanese members of the popular girl group, TWICE, got hammered for "innocuous" comments she posted on instagram marking the changeover of her country's monarchs.
Neither Park nor his agency stepped in to defend the 22-year-old singer or clarify why she made the comments.
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| JYP's cash cow _ TWICE Courtesy of JYP Gallery |
In one episode of his YouTube roving talk show, What's up man?, Joon Park, the member of the defunct g.o.d., visited Park's brand new building to highlight the care he takes of star wannabes in his stable as shown in an all-organic cafeteria but obviously JYP's care stops at boosting their physical nutrients.
It is not hard to imagine how devastating it was for Sana after tens of thousands of people ― supposed fans ― expressed disappointment and criticism for an expression of interest in an important affair back in her mother country.
Sana is entitled to expressing her thoughts about the important affair of her motherland about the passing era of the emperor she was born in.
Little appears harmful but TWICE's Korean fans took an apparent offense at the fact that the outgoing and incoming kings were the descendants of Hirohito, who led Japan during the colonial period when Korea was under its occupation.
Japan and its deeds are very touchy issues for Koreans. Therefore, Park should have done something, anything for the distressed Sana, which would do a great service for the fans, who are now left perplexed as to the absence of his intervention.
But his business acumen has prevailed, apparently making him bury his head to wait until it blew over. From a parochial sense, his action could have made sense to protect his business interest because TWICE, his cash cow, targets the lucrative Japanese market.
This, however, raises questions on important issues such as JYP's identity, independence and loyalty. Is Park willing to deny being Korean? Is he ready to sacrifice his sense of independence and conscience as artist and is he going to give up loyalty to his young performers, all for better numbers on the bottom line?
More worrisome is JYP's behavior is becoming habitual.
Remember last November when a Japanese right-wing politician criticized Dahyun, another TWICE member, over the photo of her wearing a T-shirt from Marymond that supports comfort women, the former sex slaves who were forced to serve Japanese imperial soldiers.
Dahyun's photo was taken in September 2017, more than a year before Onodera Masaru's tweet explosion.
The right-wing lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is well-known for his hostility toward peoples of different ethnicities, Koreans included. The Dahyun incident coincided with BTS's member, Jimin wearing the T shirt bearing the image of an atomic explosion, stoking anti-Korean sentiment in Japan.
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| Park Jin-young, founder of JYP Entertainment, one of K-pop's two representative franchises. Yonhap |
Then, Park opted to remain silent.
Perhaps what formulated Park's hands-off attitude is his experience from the "flag incident" in November 2015. Tzuyu, TWICE's Taiwanese member, waved her country's flag and that of South Korea, "Taegukgi" during her appearance with other members in MBC TV's My Little TV program.
Huang An, a Taiwanese entertainer, accused Tzuyu, then only 16, of pursuing the island's independence, and touched off a firestorm in China against her. Irrespective of her political views, if she had any at such a tender age, she was made part of a fierce presidential election campaign in her motherland.
According to some reports, the Tzuyu factor helped strengthen the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate and eventual winner Tsai Ing-wen. Tsai seeks to remain separate from China, representing the majority of Taiwanese. But there are pro-China elements among Taiwanese, making the equation complicated.
Tzuyu was "forced" to read a tearful apology on YouTube, saying that she believed in the one-China policy and she was sorry.
It is still unclear whether she understood what she said but her apology drew a lot of flak to Park for allegedly exploiting the minor without the consent of her parents, but it helped ease the anger of Chinese, a far bigger market than Taiwan.
Park said that he had thought he was a legal guardian as the employer of the Taiwanese artist, explaining why the Taiwanese starlet went out on a limb and apologized without the consent of her parents. Few had objected to his porous claim.
As before, Park could get away this time over his inaction on Sana. He would be mistaken if he believes he can next time for muddling through without taking a stand. Besides, it is not cool. Not being cool is the cardinal sin in the entertainment world.
Oh Young-jin (foolsdie@gmail.com, foolsdie5@koreatimes.co.kr) is the digital managing editor of The Korea Times.
