On Monday, the world-renown K-pop group BTS faced immense backlash from Chinese netizens, following recent leader RM's speech for the annual James A. Van Fleet Awards held on October 7 through a virtual broadcast.
In particular, the non-profit organization called Korean Society hosted the ceremony, which was established in 1995 in honor of General James A. Van Fleet which founded the society and was also the very first president of the said organization.
Each year, the highest honor was given to a personality or group of personalities who have the most contributions to the US-Korea relations, and BTS is the only K-pop group who received the award for this year for their excellent music and message that strengthened the linkage of the two nationalities.
The group then recorded their heartwarming speech, talking about how music connected everyone despite differences in culture, time, languages, etc., the group's seven-year journey, the future that they hold, and many more.
However, RM's speech sparked an issue from Chinese netizens, as it sounded like an insult to them.
To give more details, RM talked about the 70th Anniversary of the Korean War, and said in English, "We will always remember the history of pain that our two nations shared together and the sacrifices of countless men and women."
The part that talked about the countless men and women who sacrificed during the war, according to Chinese netizens, was being disrespectful to their fallen soldiers who sacrificed their lives during the Korean war and being inconsiderate to the said country's history.
It was because China chose to side with North Korea and the Soviet Union during the war, thus, several Chinese lost their lives as well. In China, this is a taboo, and a sensitive topic to be discussed.
Some Chinese ARMYs were also hurt, as it is allegedly indeed problematic. In addition, Chinese netizens also expressed their frustrations and told BTS to get out of China through their largest social media platform, Weibo.
It then became a trending topic on the site, and fans at that time noticed that Samsung China and FILA China deleted BTS-related content amidst the controversy.
Samsung China allegedly removed the current product BTS was endorsing. When fans tried to access the product, they were redirected to pages that are 'not found.'
FILA also deleted its recent posts involving BTS on their Weibo. Chinese fans and netizens expressed that they are truly hurt with the one-sided point of view, and demanded BTS an apology.
Big Hit Entertainment is yet to release a statement.
On the other hand, while others condemn BTS, other ARMYs (fandom of BTS) are confused as to why it should become a controversy when RM didn't even mention China. In addition to this, fans think that it is not RM's fault as he only addressed the relation between the US and Korea, given that they attended a ceremony that promotes the relationship between the two countries.
