MBC Issues Apology after Backlash Due to Headline on NewJeans Minji’s “Kalguksu” Controversy
A recent incident involving NewJeans’ Minji on a web show sparked a wave of criticism, as Korean netizens accused her of not knowing Kalguksu (a famous Korean noodle dish), with some even claimed the idol was intentionally crafting an image of a person who studies abroad.
The controversy arose when Minji innocently asked, “What is Kulguksu?” on the show, prompting her to later clarify that she was unfamiliar with the traditional dish’s flavors, not oblivious to its existence.
As Minji recently took a flight to France for her overseas schedule, iMBC added fuel to the fire by bringing up Minji’s controversy on X to allegedly make fun of her. iMBC’s tweet featured a three-word poem: “Kal-guk (sharp) beauty Guk-jejeok (global) Su-ryeomham (elegant),” a wordplay on the first three syllables of Kalguksu noodles.
Outraged fans quickly flooded iMBC with requests to take down the tweet and apologize to Minji. In response, the tweet was deleted, and a day later, iMBC released an apology:
“iMBC Entertainment acknowledges the significance of artists’ intellectual property.
A recent headline in our image article about NewJeans stirred controversy, prompting us to promptly remove it.
We extend our apologies if this incident may have caused any harm to the artist and their company.
iMBC is committed to diligently managing content to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.”
Source: K crush
