ILLIT Moka Draws Flak For Introducing Herself in Japanese During Korean Event: 'Just Go Back!'

ILLIT Moka is drawing flak for introducing herself in Japanese during a Korean university music festival.

On May 24, 2024, a post titled "Moka introduces herself in Japanese in a Korean university" was uploaded to a popular South Korean online community forum named Nate Pann.

In the post, the user shared a screenshot of a YouTube Shorts video featuring Moka, who spoke Japanese despite performing at a Korean university music festival.

On May 9, ILLIT performed at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, a university that specializes in teaching over 45 languages. During the event, Moka asked the audience if anyone was majoring in Japanese language. Shocked by the number of students majoring in Japanese, Moka introduced herself in Japanese after already introducing herself in Korean.

Moka was a trainee for three years and is fluent in Korean. However, that did not stop Korean netizens from hating the female idol. Without knowing the reason why Moka spoke Japanese in the first place, Korean netizens questioned her Korean skills and joked that she should go back to her country.

Anti-Japanese sentiments were also seen in the comment section, with some netizens asking entertainment companies to stop debuting Japanese idols in K-pop groups. They claimed that the most popular groups overseas are ones with all Koreans or groups with barely any Japanese members in them. Others stated that Japanese individuals who want to be idols should pursue J-Pop instead.

Others noted that even though they performed at a university specializing in foreign studies, it is still tactless to seek Japanese speakers at a Korean music festival. One netizen even stated that when aespa performed at Kyunghee University, Ningning never mentioned China or Chinese, despite the university emblem originally being Chinese characters.

Some comments read,

• "If you are going to do this, just go back to Japan."
• "Moka calls herself a K-pop idol, but she isn't even able to speak Japanese. If you are going to do this, just go back to Japan. You are still young enough to join AKB."
• "I don't have any hatred towards Japanese idols, but why do Japanese, who are Japanese to the core, keep coming to K-pop? Anyway, it is obvious that the most successful groups overseas are fully Korean or have barely any Japanese members, so please stop putting Japanese people in K-pop groups. The Japanese music market is big enough, so why not take a slice of that pie? Why are we helping Japan?"
• "I don't know what was going on in her head. It's not like a Korean going to Japan and greeting people in Japanese, but a Japanese person coming to Korea and greeting in Japanese. What's the point?"
• "They said that Hankuk University of Foreign Studies has a department for Japanese. Ningning didn't go to Kyunghee University and asked "Where's the Chinese department?" in Chinese. Seriously, if Japanese people are that proud of being Japanese, then go back and live in Japan, why work in K-pop?"

What do you think of the situation? Tell us in the comments below!

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Written by Alexa Lopez