On the afternoon of December 14th, NCT hosted a live broadcast called “NCT Universe Countdown Live” to celebrate their comeback. During the broadcast, an emergency disaster text message notification alarm began to sound on mobile phones due to an earthquake that occurred on the sea near Seogwipo, Jeju Island. After checking the text message, the members said, “Jeju Island? Is it an earthquake?”
Then Doyoung mentioned the song “Earthquake” in their album. Immediately, Mark sang a verse of this song, and Johny even did a dance move. Other members around hurriedly stopped them, but the scene was already shown on the live broadcast. As a result, netizens criticized NCT members’ thoughtless actions amidst the situation when the earthquake damage had not been known yet.
Eventually, NCT members posted apologies on their personal Instagram. Mark, who sang the song, said, “I want to aplogozie for what I did on today’s comeback live. I’m so sorry that I have shown careless and rash behavior without considering the situation properly. I will reflect on myself deeply and promise not to do that again.”
Doyoung said, “I would like to apologize to those who must have been hurt and felt uncomfortable with my rash remarks. I have no excuse because this is definitely my mistake and my wrongdoing. I will try not to repeat mistakes like this in the future.”
Johnny also apologized, saying, “I’m sorry for my rash behavior during today’s comeback live. I will think and act more carefully in the future. I’m really sorry. I want to apologize to everyone who felt uncomfortable because of my action.”
At 5:19 P.M on the same day, a 4.9 magnitude earthquake hit Seogwipo-si, Jeju Island, 32km to the southwest. It is reported that some local people felt the earth shake. As of 6 P.M, no damage to human life was reported.
