On January 16, NewJeans Minji published an apology for her “kalguksu incident” through the fan communication app “Phoning”. Here, the female idol explained the reason for her remarks and actions in the incident, and expressed that she is reflecting on her “immature attitude”.
However, what exactly is the “kalguksu incident”, and how serious is it to the point Minji had to apologize?
First, it is important to know the context. NewJeans Minji’s “kalguksu incident” stemmed from kalguksu, a traditional Korean dish of knife-cut noodles, which is often eaten in the summer and can be found almost everywhere in Korea.
Previously in a broadcast, kalguksu was mentioned, and Minji suddenly said to herself “What is kalguksu?” in Korean, leading to many people questioning how come Minji has never heard of the dish.
At the same time, many accused Minji of “faking her image” as a girl who studied overseas by “pretending” not to know a Korean dish. According to them, there’s no way Minji, who grew up in Gangwon-do, Korea, would not know about the dish, leading to them showing the female idol with criticisms.
These harsh comments would continue for an entire year, before Minji addressed it on a livestream on January 2, 2024.
At the time, Minji asked the negative commenters if they really think she doesn’t know about kalguksu, and even told them to “think about it twice”. She then questioned the netizens if they know how many types of kalguksu there are and which ingredients are used in the dish.
While Hanni tried to lighten the mood, Minji’s response still angered a lot of people, who now complained about the latter’s harsh tone. Some even mocked Minji’s English abilities, as the female idol said part of her response in English.
Additionally, various negative topics started to pop up on Korean forums, where netizens expressed they have “different thoughts about NewJeans’s image after Minji’s rebuttal”. According to these people, NewJeans are not humble due to becoming successful at a young age.
However, many people still defend Minji, calling the entire “kalguksu incident” ridiculous and emphasizing that Minji only rebutted sharply after being attacked for an entire year.
Meanwhile, it was revealed through Minji’s apology that she never ate kalguksu due to being a picky eater. However, she knows about the dish, and the question “what is kalguksu” is just a subconscious slip of tongue as she thought about the taste and texture of it.
Source: Krb
