[Photo by Yoo Dae-gil]
The career of Tiffany, a member of South Korea's prominent girl group Girls' Generation, is in crisis for using the politically sensitive emoticon of Japan's imperial army flag.
The 27-year-old posted a photo of herself, Sooyoung, and Yuri at SM Town's Tokyo show on Sunday, a day before the August 15 Liberation Day marking an end to Japan's harsh 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula. The photo was accompanied by the caption "Babes" along with the Japanese "rising sun" emoji.
Definitely, she used the flag emoji to show she was in Japan, but it sparked a furious reaction at home because the "rising sun" flag has long been seen in South Korea and other Asian countries as the symbol of Japan's imperial army before and during World War II.
Tiffany (Stephanie Young Hwang) edited her post to delete the caption but the situation got worse the next day because of her Snapchat. Again the caption "Tokyo Japan" used the rising sun flag.
Some sympathetic fans insisted the US-born singer probably did not know the flag was a painful reminder of Japan's colonial rule and wartime cruelty.But online communities were abundant with a flurry of angry posts that prompted Tiffany to apologize for her "inconsiderate" behavior.
"I apologize for causing concern to many people with my mistake during such an important and meaningful day," she said, calling for forgiveness.
Tiffany made her solo debut this year while playing an active role as a unit group "TaeTiSeo" involving Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun. She has also appeared on a popular TV reality program.
The Tiffany scandal came as relations between the two Asian neighbors have been in the doldrums over territorial and historical disputes. Many South Koreans still harbor deep resentment against Japan over its colonial rule, and South Korea insists Japan should apologize and make amends for past wrongdoings.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
