Korean netizens protest rookie girlgroup member whose father supported Thailand’s military dictatorship

Korean netizens are protesting against the debut of Sitala, whose father contributed to Thailand’s military dictatorship.

Grandline Entertainment have recently unveiled the four members of their new girl group H1-KEY. However, controversy arose as a member’s father contributed to Thailand’s military regime.

Rapper lIlBOI’s agency, Grandline Entertainment, recently unveiled Sitala, the last member of H1-KEY, on November 30th. Sitala from Thailand showed her passion for her debut by saying, “I will show you various charms and performances.” She picked her father to be her role model and said she wanted to show a good image in Korea. 

However, after the news of Sitala‘s debut was delivered, Thai people responded negatively through SNSs such as Twitter. This is because the idol’s father publicly supported the military regime while working as a film director in Thailand.

Thailand has been under a military dictatorship ever since the military coup in 2014. In this country, anti-government protests demanding democracy are held periodically. Meanwhile, the military forcibly suppresses protesters demanding democracy to maintain the government’s power.

A Thai criticized, “The government has taken away the dreams and hopes of all people, especially teenagers. Many young people have been imprisoned, but Sitala was given such a good opportunity”. Another Thai also gave a negative response, saying, “Sitala’s family supported the dictators”. In particular, Thai people have posted more than 1,000 comments on H1-KEY’s account.

After this was revealed, Korean netizens on Instiz showed various reactions, saying, “Although it’s not related to our country but…”, “The company didn’t know about this, right?”, “I’m interested in other members because they look pretty and attractive.”

Sitala has not released any statement about the issue yet.