Singer and composer Yoo Hee Yeol admitted to the allegation of plagiarism.
On June 14th, Yoo Hee Yeol posted an apology through the official Instagram of his label Antenna. He said, “First of all, I would like to apologize. Since last fall, I have carried out a project to present a piano piece once a month under the title of ‘Yoo Hee Yeol’s Life Music’. On Tuesday, June 14th, there was a report on Instagram that the second track ‘Very Private Night’ of the project and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s ‘AQUA’ sounded similar.”
He continued, “As a result of the review, I came to agree that the main theme of the songs are similar enough. Because he is the musician I have been most influenced and respected for a long time, I unconsciously wrote the song in a similar way that remained in my memory, and I thought it was my pure creation at the time of release. However, I have to acknowledge the similarity between the two songs.”
He added, “Above all, I would like to apologize for making Ryuichi Sakamoto-sensei and his fans. I have postponed the release of the LP, and will contact Sakamoto to sort out the credit and copyright issues. I apologize again for causing inconvenience and disappointment to those who have been waiting for music to come out in a long time.”
Meanwhile, Yoo Hee Yeol is currently the host of KBS2’s ‘Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook‘.
Source: Wikitree
