Japanese Media Highlights Criticism Toward LE SSERAFIM Due To Anti-Japan Sentiment In Korea
It is known that the girl group LE SSERAFIM is under fire due to the anti-Japan sentiment in Korean society
On May 21st, Japanese media outlet JB Press reported that LE SSERAFIM, a HYBE girl group with Japanese members, is being attacked by Korean netizens as a result of anti-Japan sentiment.
LE SSERAFIM has two Japanese members, Sakura Miyawaki, who used to be active with AKB48, and Kazuha Nakamura.
Having been active as an idol long before her debut with LE SSERAFIM, Sakura Miyawaki has contributed greatly to the group’s popularity after their debut and she’s still the most popular member of the team.
Recently, not only Sakura Miyawaki but the entire group LE SSERAFIM has been harshly criticized as a “right-wing girl group”.
Korean netizens claimed that there was right-wing content in the promotional videos for “Burn The Bridge”, a song from LE SSERAFIM’s first full album “Unforgiven” released in May last year.
Back then, several netizens argued that the scene showing red ink spreading on a white floor at the beginning of the video symbolized the “Rising Sun Flag”. Also, they pointed out that the red sunset background symbolized the “Japanese flag”, and the scene of injecting blue liquid into a tree against the sunset background symbolized the Korean (blue) spirit being injected into Japan.
Such claims began to circulate online last year but they were considered “distorted theories with malicious intentions”.
However, as an anti-Japan sentiment recently arose on the Internet space, such claims attracted attention again.
It is reported that LE SSERAFIM’s music videos on YouTube are full of critical comments, such as “Traitor idols”, “It’s not a joke that they introduced the Japan flag”, “I wonder if this is K-pop or J-pop”, etc.
