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iKON’s Junhoe slammed by fans for willing to experience Israel ‘politics’: 'Apologize'

Despite mistranslation of certain words, fans still find iKON joking about Israel insensitive

K-pop idols have often come under fire for being culturally insensitive and unaware of the current political situations around the world. Many fans claim that this is because they are too busy with their busy careers and so are not in touch with the news nor their studies with many even dropping out of school. However, with more and more fans trying to be vocal and speak up about the cultural appropriation and racism that is prevalent in South Korea, they hope that their idols are better educated. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case for iKON’s Junhoe.

For the last couple of years, the situation between Israel and Palestine has been talked about all over the world including on social media. The ceasefire in mid-2021 which was not followed led to people everywhere doing their best to educate others and send resources to those who were caught in the crossfire. With a majority of the people supporting Palestine, those who are still on good terms with Israel are looked down upon. In particular, South Korea and Israel have a good political relationship with them even signing a free trade agreement in 2021.

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iKON's Junhoe wants to visit Israel

And so we have a lot of K-pop idols who are either not aware of the conflict between Israel and Palestine or are told to talk positively about Israel for political reasons. But this has not gone well over with fans, especially Muslim fans who find it insensitive. And the latest idol to come under fire happens to be Junhoe aka Ju-ne from iKON. A clip of him from March 2021 started making the rounds on Twitter where Jinhwan asked him where he would like to visit. Junhoe says that he wants to go to Israel and also experience the political climate. We then had Yunhyeong and Chanwoo laughing and saying that he would be constantly calling them and asking for their help to leave.

Fans and non-fans found the whole interaction insensitive and called iKON out on Twitter for their remarks. Those who knew Korean explained that there had been a mistranslation. Junhoe meant to say that he wanted to experience the scenery and the atmosphere and not the politics. However, there are no mistranslations for Yunhyeong and Chanwoo who joked, “I think he’s just going to stay in the hotel,” and “Please pick me up.” With their comments, fans conclude that they clearly know about the unrest in Israel and hence shouldn’t have said it in the first place.

'He still needs to apologize'

Many were upset over the insensitive remarks and tweeted, “But despite this, what Ju-ne said was insensitive. Topics related to religions and such sensitive national situations should be treated with care.” Another angry fan posted, “This is for you mfs acting dense on purpose in my mentions, doing mental gymnastics trying to excuse this with "it's a mistranslation". if you think it's justifiable you might as well go ahead and block me.”

One iKONIC shared, “I f*cking stanned that guy. Thought of him as one of the most talented vocalist in the industry. Loved the group. So yeah. As a Muslim, this Koo Junhoe ain’t shit. And neither is anyone defending his actions.” Another said, “Kpop agencies want kpop to be global but won’t educate themselves or their idols on global issues, and when international fans speak up they don’t give a f*ck. how’s that supposed to work?” Some fans tried to justify his words, “Check 1st the time of interview around march2021 and the war is around may2021... So the atmosphere and politics around that time is good.”

Another tried to explain his reason for bringing up Israel, "iKON have international fans. But these fans have to remind themselves that the members are catholics. June is religious. What he means by Israel is the land Jesus was born and walked. He simply wants to feel it spiritually. He's not talking about conflicts happening." However, others are pushing for an apology, “He still need to apologise & explain himself for bringing up sensitive issue. Learn from the mistake & there's always room for improvement as long as people are willing to educate & be educated.”

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.